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Homonormativity is the adoption of heteronormative ideals and constructs onto LGBT culture and identity. [1] [2] [3] It is predicated on the assumption that the norms and values of heterosexuality should be replicated and performed among homosexual people. [1] Those who assert this theory claim homonormativity selectively privileges cisgendered homosexuality (that is coupled and monogamous) as worthy of social acceptance. [4]
The term "homonormativity" was popularized by Lisa Duggan in her 2003 critique of contemporary democracy, equality, and LGBT discourse. [5] Duggan draws from heteronormativity, popularized by Michael Warner in 1991, [6] and concepts rooted in Gayle Rubin's notion of the "sex/gender system" [7] and Adrienne Rich's notion of compulsory heterosexuality. [8] To place Duggan’s views into political context and understand her perspective in framing these arguments in this manner, it is important to understand Duggan describes herself as a "commie pinko queer” feminist. [9]
Duggan writes, "homonormativity is a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormativity assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them while promising the possibility of a demobilised gay culture anchored in domesticity and consumption.” [5] Catherine Connell says homonormativity "emphasises commonality with the norms of heterosexual culture, including marriage, monogamy, procreation, and productivity." [10] [11] Queer theorist David M. Halperin sees the values of heteronormativity replicated and privileged as LGBT visibility and civil rights become normalized, writing “the keynote of gay politics ceases to be resistance to heterosexual oppression and becomes, instead, assimilation…the drive to social acceptance and integration into society as a whole.” [1]
Halperin says that the urbanization, gentrification and recapitalization of inner city queer areas and gay-ghettos contribute to the prevalence and privileging of established heterosexual norms. [12] Halperin has linked the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the advent of online dating as contributing to the displacement of LGBT people. [1] He also attributes the shift in political rhetoric, discourse, and attitude from liberation to assimilation as a further reinforcement of a homonormative binary. [1] [12]
Gayle Rubin's notion of "sex hierarchy" - that sees Western heteronormative society graduate sexual practices from morally "good sex" to "bad sex" - delineates the forms of homosexual behaviour that engenders conditional acceptance. [13] She writes, "Stable, long-term lesbian and gay male couples are verging on respectability [...] if it is coupled and monogamous, the society is beginning to recognize that it includes the full range of human interaction." [4] Rubin writes that these poles of acceptability and deviancy see a homonormative privileging of long-term gay couples over the bodies of transgender, non-binary, and promiscuous members of these groups, [14] and that "Individuals whose behaviour stands high in this hierarchy are regarded with certified mental health, respectability, legality, social and physical mobility, institutional support and material benefits." [13]
Homonormative discrimination is deployed similarly to heteronormativity. Social institutions and policies reinforce the presumption that people are heterosexual and that gender and sex are natural binaries. [15] However, Rubin writes that homonormativity functions to displace the exclusive hold heterosexuality has over normative behavior, instead selectively privileging cisgendered homosexuality (that is coupled and monogamous) as worthy of social acceptance. [4]
Among transgender people, Gerdes argues that homonormativity functions to selectively relegate identities and behaviors into sanctioned acts and ideals. [16] Rubin states that the replication of heterosexual norms - monogamy, white-privilege, gender binary - contribute to the stigmatization and marginalization of perceived deviant forms of sexuality and gender. [13] In the 1990s, transgender activists deployed the term "homonormative" in reference to intracommunity discrimination that saw an imposition of gay and lesbian norms over the concerns of transgender people. [17] During the AIDS epidemic in the United States, transgender people were often excluded from the gay and lesbian demonstrations held in the capitol and denied access to the healthcare initiatives and programs established to combat the crisis. [17] [18]
Transgender activist Sylvia Rivera spoke of her experiences campaigning for gay and trans liberation in the 70s and 80s, only to be stonewalled and ignored by those same people once their needs were met. [18] In a 1989 interview she said:
And the gay rights bill, as far as I’m concerned, you know, to me, the gay rights bill and the people that I worked with on the gay rights bill and when I did all the petitioning and whatnot, when the bill was passed… That bill was mine as far as I’m concerned. I helped word it and I worked very hard for it. And that’s why I get upset when I give interviews and whatever, because the fucking community has no respect for the people that really did it. Drag queens did it. We did it, we did it for our own brothers and sisters. But, damn it, don’t keep shoving us in the fuckin’ back and stabbing us in the back and that’s… And that’s what really hurts. And it is very upsetting [...] And when we asked the community to help us, there was nobody to help us. We were nothing. We were nothing!
— Eric Marcus, Making Gay History: Interview with Sylvia Rivera, December 9th, 1989
Holly Lewis states that continued pressure for non-normative individuals "to conform to traditional, oppositional sexist understandings of gender" has resulted in homonormativity permeating the behaviors and identities of the LGBT community, [19] while replacing the radical past politics of the Gay Liberation Movement with goals of marriage equality and adoption. These are seen as conservative when framed against 70s/80s/90s LGBT activism. [10] [20] Homonormativity is perceived to stymie diversity and authenticity, with queer subcultures becoming commercialized and mainstreamed and political discourses structured around assimilation and normalization. [21] [19] [22]
This aspect of homonormativity has been called transnormativity. Evan Vipond describes transnormativity as "the normalization of trans bodies and identities through the adoption of cisgender institutions by trans persons," such that transgender identity upholds the sex and gender binary. [23] Transnormativity encompasses transmedicalism, basing transgender identity on the medicalized transition from one side of the gender binary to the other, de-legitimizing non-binary identity and transgender people without gender dysphoria. [24]
Politics and International Relations Lecturer at the University of New South Wales Penny Griffin says that politically homonormativity has been found to uphold, rather than critiquing, neoliberal values of monogamy, procreation and binary gender roles as inherently heterosexist and racist. [25] Griffin sees homonormative behavior intertwined with capitalistic world systems, with consumer culture and materialism functioning at its core. [26] Duggan asserts that homonormativity fragments LGBT communities into hierarchies of worthiness, and that LGBT people who come the closest to mimicking heteronormative standards of gender identity are deemed most worthy of receiving rights. She also writes that LGBT people at the bottom of this hierarchy (e.g. bisexual people, trans people, non-binary people, people of non-Western genders, intersex people, queers of color, queer sex workers) are seen as an impediment to this class of homonormative people realizing their rights. [27] [28] [10] [29]
Andre Cavalcante says that as homosexuality becomes socially tolerated, representations of LGBT characters in film and television have come to reinforce strictures of cisgender, white, and binary authority. [30] Gay writer and director Ryan Murphy's sitcom The New Normal has been critiqued for its of homonormative portrayal of queer culture and deemed “more damaging than entertaining.” [31] Homonormative media representations are seen only as mimetic of heterosexual normality, reinforcing gay caricatures and "palatable adherents to cherished societal norms and dominant ideologies." [32] [33] Such representations, it is argued, omit the queer realities of non-white, non-binary LGBT people, papering over the lived experiences of variant identities and enforcing a "hierarchy by which individuals are expected to conform and are punished if they do not.” [34]
While studies show having LGBT characters appearing in the media decreases prejudice among viewers, [35] many network, cable and streaming services still lack diversity or cross-"community" representation when portraying queer characters. [36] A 2015 GLAAD report profiling LGBT media representation found gay men (41%) still overwhelmingly featured as primary queer characters, despite increases in LGBT representation across a variety of sexual and gender identities. [36] More LGBT content was produced in the media in 2018. [12] According to GLAAD’S Annual Where We Are on TV Report, which records LGBTQ+ representation on television, the number of queer characters on TV shows rose 8.8%. [37] Queer people of color also saw an increase in screen time; they outnumbered white queer people on television for the first time in the report's history. [12] 1% of the population is intersex, so intersex people are almost completely omitted in the media, [38] with discourses of binary gender identity largely excluding and displacing those who do not fall into the two categories of sex and gender. [38]
Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. Originally meaning 'strange' or 'peculiar', queer came to be used pejoratively against LGBT people in the late 19th century. Beginning in the late 1980s, queer activists, such as the members of Queer Nation, began to reclaim the word as a deliberately provocative and politically radical alternative to the more assimilationist branches of the LGBT community.
LGBT is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. A variant, LGBTQ, adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual or gender identity. Another variation, LGBTQ+, adds a plus sign "represents those who are part of the community, but for whom LGBTQ does not accurately capture or reflect their identity". Many further variations of the acronym exist, such as LGBT+, LGBTQIA+, and 2SLGBTQ+. The LGBT label is not universally agreed to by everyone that it is generally intended to include. In use since the late 1980s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for marginalized sexualities and gender identities.
The word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means on this side of. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 as an antonym to transgender, and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.
Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies and women's studies. The term "queer theory" can have various meanings depending upon its usage, but has been broadly associated with the study and theorization of gender and sexual practices that exist outside of heterosexuality, and which challenge the notion that heterosexual desire is "normal". Following social constructivist developments in sociology, queer theorists are often critical of what they consider essentialist views of sexuality and gender. Instead, they study those concepts as social and cultural phenomena, often through an analysis of the categories, binaries, and language in which they are said to be portrayed.
Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.
Non-heterosexual is a word for a sexual orientation or sexual identity that is not heterosexual. The term helps define the "concept of what is the norm and how a particular group is different from that norm". Non-heterosexual is used in feminist and gender studies fields as well as general academic literature to help differentiate between sexual identities chosen, prescribed and simply assumed, with varying understanding of implications of those sexual identities. The term is similar to queer, though less politically charged and more clinical; queer generally refers to being non-normative and non-heterosexual. Some view the term as being contentious and pejorative as it "labels people against the perceived norm of heterosexuality, thus reinforcing heteronormativity". Still, others say non-heterosexual is the only term useful to maintaining coherence in research and suggest it "highlights a shortcoming in our language around sexual identity"; for instance, its use can enable bisexual erasure.
A sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Primarily used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or non-heterosexual individuals, it can also refer to transgender, non-binary or intersex individuals.
LGBT stereotypes are stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers and mass media, or, more generally, through a lack of firsthand familiarity, resulting in an increased reliance on generalizations.
Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of sexology that focuses on the intersectionality of sex and gender in relation to the sexual lives of women. Sexology has a basis in psychoanalysis, specifically Freudian theory, which played a big role in early sexology. This reactionary field of feminist sexology seeks to be inclusive of experiences of sexuality and break down the problematic ideas that have been expressed by sexology in the past. Feminist sexology shares many principles with the overarching field of sexology; in particular, it does not try to prescribe a certain path or "normality" for women's sexuality, but only observe and note the different and varied ways in which women express their sexuality. It is a young field, but one that is growing rapidly.
The questioning of one's sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender, or all three is a process of exploration by people who may be unsure, still exploring, or concerned about applying a social label to themselves for various reasons. The letter "Q" is sometimes added to the end of the acronym LGBT ; the "Q" can refer to either queer or questioning.
This article focuses on Japanese definitions of gender and sexuality, Japanese reactions to queer life, the clash between traditional and contemporary ideas, and the cultural restraints of being queer in Japan. The Western term “queer,” an umbrella term for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender represents a change in thought pertaining to gender and sexuality in contemporary Japan.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Nepal have evolved significantly during the 21st century, though barriers to full equality still exist within the nation. In 2007, Nepal repealed the laws against gay sex and introduced several laws which explicitly protected "gender and sexual minorities". The Nepalese Constitution now recognizes LGBT rights as fundamental rights. On 28 June 2023, a single judge bench of Justice Til Prasad Shrestha issued a historic interim order directing the government to make necessary arrangements to "temporarily register" the marriages of "non-traditional couples and sexual minorities". The full bench of the Supreme Court has yet to deliver a final verdict. The first same-sex marriage of a trans woman and a cisgender gay man occurred in November 2023. Nepal will be the first least developed country and the first in South Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and the second in Asia after Taiwan.
Sexuality and space is a field of study within human geography. The phrase encompasses all relationships and interactions between human sexuality, space and place, themes studied within cultural geography, i.e., environmental and architectural psychology, urban sociology, gender studies, queer studies, socio-legal studies, planning, housing studies and criminology.
LGBT linguistics is the study of language as used by members of LGBT communities. Related or synonymous terms include lavender linguistics, advanced by William Leap in the 1990s, which "encompass[es] a wide range of everyday language practices" in LGBT communities, and queer linguistics, which refers to the linguistic analysis concerning the effect of heteronormativity on expressing sexual identity through language. The former term derives from the longtime association of the color lavender with LGBT communities. "Language", in this context, may refer to any aspect of spoken or written linguistic practices, including speech patterns and pronunciation, use of certain vocabulary, and, in a few cases, an elaborate alternative lexicon such as Polari.
Queer pornography depicts performers with various gender identities and sexual orientations interacting and exploring genres of desire and pleasure in unique ways. These conveyed interactions distinctively seek to challenge the conventional modes of portraying and experiencing sexually explicit content. Scholar Ingrid Ryberg additionally includes two main objectives of queer pornography in her definition as "interrogating and troubling gender and sexual categories and aiming at sexual arousal."
LGBT migration is the movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender(LGBT) people around the world and domestically, often to escape discrimination or ill treatment due to their sexuality. Globally, many LGBT people attempt to leave discriminatory regions in search of more tolerant ones.
The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than endosex people, an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.
Gender and sexual diversity (GSD), or simply sexual diversity, refers to all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientations and gender identities, without the need to specify each of the identities, behaviors, or characteristics that form this plurality.
LGBT erasure refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally remove LGBT groups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and those who identify as queer. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.
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