Final answer:
Thomas C. Foster's view suggests that literary theorists' tendency to detect sexual themes in nonsexual stories is a product of historical, cultural, and psychological influences, including reaction to studies of sexuality, cultural constructions of gender roles, and the omission of certain details in literature.
Step-by-step explanation:
Thomas C. Foster, in his works on how to read literature like a professor, implies that the reason literary theorists, and by extension literature teachers and professors, often find sexual content in stories that are not overtly sexual, is rooted in a complex web of historical, cultural, and psychological factors. One of these factors could be attributed to influential works like those of Alfred Kinsey, and the attention his studies brought to the prevalence of homosexuality. The reaction to such studies led to a hyperawareness and often persecution of sexualities outside the heteronormative standard. Additionally, gender and sexuality theorists often look to history, literature, and culture for what is omitted, as much as for what is included, to understand the societal construction of sexuality and gender, and how these constructions have shaped literary interpretation.
Another aspect that fosters blames for the prevalence of finding sexual implications in texts is the social construction of deviance and the historical association of certain behaviours or attributes with femininity or masculinity. This has led to a complex understanding of characters' sexuality in literature where effeminacy in male characters might flag them as sexually deviant. Consequently, literary analysis often uncovers underlying sexual themes in actions, dialogue, and even narrative structures that may not be explicitly sexual. Finally, Foster also suggests that the way literature is interpreted is affected by unconscious biases and cultural stereotypes which shape how readers and theorists view characters and their relationships, further influencing the sexual analysis in literature.