Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Heteronormativity?HistoryExamplesImpactExpanding Your Worldview
Table of ContentsView All
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Table of Contents
What Is Heteronormativity?
History
Examples
Impact
Expanding Your Worldview
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Heteronormativity is the assumption that everyone is straight. It’s the idea that romantic and sexual relationships are always between one man and one woman. Heteronormativity assumes heterosexuality is the defaultsexual orientation, and the only normal or natural way to express sexuality and attraction.
History of Heteronormativity
In 1868,Karl Maria Kerbeny definedthe terms “heterosexual” and “homosexual.” However, it’s important to note that heteronormativity existed long before these terms were defined. Heteronormativity has been the dominant display in both the imagery and storytelling of man/woman couples and the nuclear family, as the standard way people are assumed to be.
Glossary of Must-Know Gender Identity Terms
Examples of Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity presents in numerous different ways. These are a few examples of how heteronormativity is displayed.
Media Representation
Queerness As Confusion
When people who identify as LGBTQIA+come out, they are sometimes told they’re going through a phase. People may assume they aren’t really sure of themselves or their sexuality. The idea that any sexual preference that isn’t heterosexual may be a phase is heteronormative because it assumes that all people are straight, and anyone who isn’t is just confused.
Impact of Heteronormativity
The idea that being straight is the only normal way to put people in a box—and excludes those who don’t fit into it—is problematic for several different reasons.
It’s Homophobic
When people only see examples of straight couples, it promotes the idea that there is something abnormal about not being straight. In truth, equivalents of same-gender relationships exist throughout the biological world, and it isn’t abnormal. It’s a natural part of life.
However, only showing straight couples as the norm gives the message that it isn’t OK to be attracted to people of the same or similar genders. It also gives the message that such people don’t exist, which is entirely untrue. This is ahomophobicmessage and one that is emotionally harmful to people of all sexual and romantic identities besides heterosexuality.
Unfortunately, homophobia can also result in physical violence. There are many cases of physical assaults and even murders of people who don’t fit into gender norms, especially transgender women.
It Contributes to Poor Mental Health
For LGBTQIA+ adolescents, the difference between having a family who accepts them as they are and having a family who doesn’t can be a matter of life and death. Many studies show how key family and community acceptance is to one’s emotional well-being and how the risk of depression and suicide are elevated in situations where a child doesn’t feel accepted.
It Leads to Bullying
Thebullying of LGBTQIA+ childrenoften takes a major toll on their emotional health. When all children see is a representation of straight people, it leads them to incorrectly believe that there is something inherently wrong with children who don’t fit into that box.
Heteronormativity encourages bullying because it promotes a singular, specific vision of how people should look, behave, and think, and it makes any person outside of that box a target.
It Rewards Discrimination
How heteronormativity rewardsdiscriminationis very similar to how it promotes bullying. Giving adults the impression that anyone who isn’t straight and cis is abnormal sets them up to have a harder time moving forward in life. This includes everything from being passed over for a job promotion to receiving substandard health care, both of which are major issues LGBTQIA+ people face.
Heteronormativity is a major driving force in our culture. As you can see, though, it’s a highly problematic one that hurts all people who aren’t straight.
Because heteronormativity functions on the presumption that everyone is straight and cis, the most helpful thing you can do to not harm others through it is to not assume things about them.
When you meet someone, ask for their pronouns rather than use the ones you assume they use. If you are curious about their romantic life, you can inquire about their intimate or romantic relationship instead of asking them if they have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Tell people how you identify, rather than making them guess or assume.
These simple gestures make people feel included and welcomed instead of attacked. Heteronormativity may be a strong ideology, but it’s an old-fashioned one that causes harm. Small actions on everyone’s part help us attain an equal society.
Mental Health Resources to Support the LGBTQIA+ Community
5 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Warner M.Introduction: Fear of a queer planet.Soc text. 1991;(29):3-17.Rich A.Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence.Signs. 1980;5(4):631-660.Lee C, Kwan PKY.The trans panic defense: Heteronormativity, and the murder of transgender women.SSRN Journal.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2430390Dent, George W. Jr.,“Straight is better: Why law and society may legitimately prefer heterosexuality."(2011). Faculty Publications. 506.Battle J, Colin A.Intersectionality, heteronormativity, and black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families.Black Women, Gender + Families,2(1), 1–24.
5 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Warner M.Introduction: Fear of a queer planet.Soc text. 1991;(29):3-17.Rich A.Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence.Signs. 1980;5(4):631-660.Lee C, Kwan PKY.The trans panic defense: Heteronormativity, and the murder of transgender women.SSRN Journal.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2430390Dent, George W. Jr.,“Straight is better: Why law and society may legitimately prefer heterosexuality."(2011). Faculty Publications. 506.Battle J, Colin A.Intersectionality, heteronormativity, and black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families.Black Women, Gender + Families,2(1), 1–24.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Warner M.Introduction: Fear of a queer planet.Soc text. 1991;(29):3-17.Rich A.Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence.Signs. 1980;5(4):631-660.Lee C, Kwan PKY.The trans panic defense: Heteronormativity, and the murder of transgender women.SSRN Journal.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2430390Dent, George W. Jr.,“Straight is better: Why law and society may legitimately prefer heterosexuality."(2011). Faculty Publications. 506.Battle J, Colin A.Intersectionality, heteronormativity, and black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families.Black Women, Gender + Families,2(1), 1–24.
Warner M.Introduction: Fear of a queer planet.Soc text. 1991;(29):3-17.
Rich A.Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence.Signs. 1980;5(4):631-660.
Lee C, Kwan PKY.The trans panic defense: Heteronormativity, and the murder of transgender women.SSRN Journal.doi:10.2139/ssrn.2430390
Dent, George W. Jr.,“Straight is better: Why law and society may legitimately prefer heterosexuality."(2011). Faculty Publications. 506.
Battle J, Colin A.Intersectionality, heteronormativity, and black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families.Black Women, Gender + Families,2(1), 1–24.
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