Apr 22nd, 2006
Blogging Against Heteronormativity
Today, blac(k)ademic is hosting Blog Against Heteronormativity Day.
I am not in academia, but since I spend some of my time speaking on college campuses (and my book is included on various syllibi,) I find myself drawing from language I originally thought I would not need again after I handed in my final paper for a Marriage and Family seminar twelve years ago.
People new to the word “heteronormativity” are likely to presume that it is anti-heterosexual. Perhaps there are some Gender Studies majors who would agree, but I argue that the word does not consider heterosexuality to be inherently bad, but rather, the word challenges presumptions of heterosexuality as a default identity and it refutes the notion that heterosexuality is the preferred “norm.”
I am happy to participate, since my blog is all about challenging the enforcement of heteronormativity in everyday life — from kids’ cell phones to marriage amendments to the White House to irresponsible research.
Thanks, Abigail. Sometimes I slip into anti-heterosexual cos I get all fired up and upset and carried away. Then people look at me funny and say, “You don’t like straight people?”. It’s good to have the reminder that the issue is with what should be the norm (no norms! no norms!).
As part of BAHD, I stumbled into/onto your blog. What a gift!
Thank you.