The Estrangement Principle argues for a wider range of possible associations with art made by queer people by unraveling the difficulties of the "queer art" label. Goldberg invokes the lives and works of artists Renee Gladman, Jocelyn Saidenberg, Jack Waters & Peter Cramer, and others to bring into focus the problematics of categorisation in art and literary histories.

This book-length essay mixes cultural criticism, close readings, and personal anecdotes, all the while developing a deftly wrought tension between a polemical voice and one of ambivalence. The Estrangement Principle is an exercise in contradiction with the ultimate goal of resisting the practice of movement naming.