Editing Heteronormativity (section)

==Criticism==
Critics of heteronormative attitudes, such as [[Cathy J. Cohen]], [[Michael Warner]], and [[Lauren Berlant]],<ref name="Berlant98">{{cite journal |last1=Berlant |first1=Lauren |author-link1=Lauren Berlant |last2=Warner |first2=Michael |date=1 January 1998 |title=Sex in Public |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/448884 |journal=Critical Inquiry |volume=24 |issue=2 |page= |pages=554-555 |doi=10.1086/448884 |issn=0093-1896 |s2cid=161701244}}</ref> argue that such attitudes are oppressive, stigmatizing, marginalizing of perceived deviant forms of sexuality and gender, and make self-expression more challenging when that expression does not conform to the norm.<ref name="lovaas">{{cite book |last1=Leap |first1=William |editor1-last=Lovaas |editor1-first=Karen E. |editor2-last=Jenkins |editor2-first=Mercilee M. |title=Sexualities and Communication in Everyday Life: A Reader |date=2007 |publisher=SAGE |location=California, USA |isbn=978-1-4129-1443-7 |pages=95–107 |language=en |chapter=Language, Socialization and Silence in Gay Adolescence". Section (from p. 98): "Charting a Path through the 'Desert of Nothing' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTRcvkxWV-IC}}</ref><ref name="OutatWork" /> Heteronormativity describes how social institutions and policies reinforce the presumption that people are heterosexual and that gender and sex are natural binaries.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Gender in Communication|last = DeFrancisco|first = Victoria|publisher = SAGE Publication, Inc.|year = 2014|isbn = 978-1-4522-2009-3|location = U.S.A|pages = 16}}</ref> Heteronormative culture privileges heterosexuality as normal and natural and fosters a climate where LGBT individuals are discriminated against in marriage, tax codes, and employment.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/violence-against-queer-people/9780813573151|title=Violence against Queer People|last=Meyer|first=Doug|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2015}}</ref><ref name="OutatWork">{{cite book|last=Krupat|first=Kitty|title=Out at Work: Building a Gay-Labor Alliance|year=2001|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3741-6|pages=268}}</ref> Following Berlant and Warner, Laurie and Stark also argue that the domestic "intimate sphere" becomes "the unquestioned non‐place that anchors heteronormative public discourses, especially those concerning marriage and adoption rights".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laurie |first1=Timothy |last2=Stark |first2=Hannah |title=Reconsidering Kinship: Beyond the Nuclear Family with Deleuze and Guattari |journal=Cultural Studies Review |date=28 April 2011 |volume=18 |issue=1 |doi=10.5130/csr.v18i1.1612 |doi-access=free |hdl=10453/44229 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

According to cultural anthropologist [[Gayle Rubin]], heteronormativity in mainstream society creates a "sex hierarchy" that graduates sexual practices from morally "good sex" to "bad sex". The hierarchy considers reproductive, monogamous sex between committed heterosexuals as "good", whereas any sexual act or individual who falls short of this standard is labeled as "bad". Specifically, this standard categorizes long-term committed gay couples and non-monogamous/sexually active gay individuals between the two poles.<ref name="thinkingsex">{{cite book|author=Rubin, Gayle|chapter=Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality|editor=Vance, Carole|title=Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality|year=1993}}</ref> Patrick McCreery, lecturer at [[New York University]], argues that this hierarchy explains how gay people are stigmatized for socially "deviant" sexual practices that are often practiced by straight people as well, such as consumption of pornography or sex in public places.<ref name="OutatWork" /> There are many studies of sexual orientation discrimination on college campuses.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Byron |first1=Reginald A. |last2=Lowe |first2=Maria R. |last3=Billingsley |first3=Brianna |last4=Tuttle |first4=Nathan |title=Performativity Double Standards and the Sexual Orientation Climate at a Southern Liberal Arts University |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |date=16 April 2017 |volume=64 |issue=5 |pages=671–696 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2016.1196994 |pmid=27267937 |s2cid=20963768 }}</ref>

McCreery states that this heteronormative hierarchy carries over to the workplace, where gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals face discrimination such as anti-homosexual hiring policies or workplace discrimination that often leaves "lowest hierarchy" individuals such as transsexual people vulnerable to the most overt discrimination and unable to find work.<ref name="OutatWork" />

Applicants and current employees can be legally passed over or fired for being non-heterosexual or perceived as non-heterosexual in many countries. An example of this practice is found in the case of the chain restaurant [[Cracker Barrel]], which [[Cracker Barrel#LGBT policies|garnered national attention in 1991]] after they fired an employee for being openly lesbian, citing their policy that employees with "sexual preferences that fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values were inconsistent with traditional American values." Workers such as the fired employee and effeminate male waiters (allegedly described as the true targets),<ref name="OutatWork" /> were legally fired by work policies "transgressing" against "normal" heteronormative culture.<ref name="OutatWork" /> Another study indicates that heteronormativity extends to social media platforms as well. While these channels are often seen as "safe spaces" for LGBT individuals, they can also perpetuate heteronormative expectations from work that were previously confined to face-to-face interactions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lauriano |first=Lucas Amaral |date=11 February 2023 |title=Gay employees on social media: Strategies to portray professionalism |url=https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/28/2/zmad001/7034548 |journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication |volume=28 |issue=2|doi=10.1093/jcmc/zmad001 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Mustafa Bilgehan Ozturk analyzes the interconnectivity of heteronormativity and sexual employment discrimination by tracing the impact of patriarchal practices and institutions on the workplace experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees in a variety of contexts in Turkey. This further demonstrates the specific historicity and localized power/knowledge formations that give rise to physical, professional, and psycho-emotive acts of prejudice against sexual minorities.<ref name="SexualOrientationDiscrimination">{{cite journal |last1=Bilgehan Ozturk |first1=Mustafa |title=Sexual orientation discrimination: Exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees in Turkey |journal=Human Relations |date=August 2011 |volume=64 |issue=8 |pages=1099–1118 |doi=10.1177/0018726710396249 |s2cid=59439253 }}</ref> 

Certain religions have been known to promote heteronormative beliefs through their teachings.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/homosexuality-and-religion|title=Homosexuality and Religion {{!}} SexInfo Online|website=www.soc.ucsb.edu|access-date=21 March 2019|archive-date=14 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614100124/http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/homosexuality-and-religion|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Sociology professors [[Samuel L. Perry|Samuel Perry]] and Kara Snawder from The University of Oklahoma, multiple research studies in the past have shown that there can be and often is a link between the religious beliefs of Americans and homophobic behavior.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Perry |first1=Samuel L. |last2=Snawder |first2=Kara J. |title=Longitudinal Effects of Religious Media on Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage |journal=Sexuality & Culture |date=December 2016 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=785–804 |doi=10.1007/s12119-016-9357-y |s2cid=148173061 }}</ref> Out of the world's five major religions, the [[Abrahamic religions]]—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—all uphold heteronormative views on marriage.<ref name=":2" /> Some examples of this playing out in recent years include the incident involving Kentucky clerk [[Kim Davis]], who refused to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the grounds that it violated her spiritual views,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blinder |first1=Alan |last2=Lewin |first2=Tamar |title=Clerk in Kentucky Chooses Jail Over Deal on Same-Sex Marriage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/us/kim-davis-same-sex-marriage.html |work=The New York Times |date=3 September 2015 }}</ref> as well as the Supreme Court ruling that a Colorado baker did not have to provide a wedding cake for a gay couple based on his religion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_new2_22p3.pdf|title=Masterpiece Cake Shop, LTD v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission|date=21 March 2019|website=supremecourt.gov|publisher=Supreme Court of the United States}}</ref>

=== Media representation ===
Five different studies have shown that gay characters appearing on TV decreases the prejudice among viewers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stelter |first1=Brian |title=Gay on TV: It's All in the Family |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/business/media/gay-on-tv-its-all-in-the-family.html |work=The New York Times |date=9 May 2012 }}</ref> Cable and streaming services are beginning to include more characters who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender than broadcast television.<ref name="Egner">{{cite news |last1=Egner |first1=Jeremy |title=More Gay and Transgender Characters Are on TV, Report Shows |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/arts/television/more-gay-and-transgender-characters-are-on-tv-report-shows.html |work=The New York Times |date=27 October 2015 }}</ref> Cable and streaming services are lacking in diversity, according to a [[GLAAD]] report, with many of the LGBT characters being gay men (41% and 39% respectively).<ref name="Egner" /> The total number of LGBT characters counted on cable was reported to be 31% up from 2015, and bisexual representations saw an almost twofold increase.<ref name="Egner" />

Intersex people are excluded almost completely from television, though about 1% of the population is intersex.<ref name="Kerry, Stephen 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Kerry |first1=Stephen |title=Representation of intersex in news media: the case of Kathleen Worrall |journal=Journal of Gender Studies |date=September 2011 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=263–277 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2011.593325 |s2cid=144222294 }}</ref> News medias outline what it means to be male or female, which causes a gap for anyone who doesn't fall into those two categories.<ref name="Kerry, Stephen 2011" /> Newspapers have covered the topic of intersex athletes with the case of [[Caster Semenya]], where news spread of sporting officials having to determine whether she was to be considered female or male.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/20/gender.athlete.intersex/|title=Gender row athlete: What is intersexuality? |first= Stephanie |last=Busari|website=CNN|access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref>

Those who do not identify as either woman or man are gender non-binary, or gender non-conforming.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vijlbrief |first1=Afiah |last2=Saharso |first2=Sawitri |last3=Ghorashi |first3=Halleh |title=Transcending the gender binary: Gender non-binary young adults in Amsterdam |journal=Journal of LGBT Youth |date=2 January 2020 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=89–106 |doi=10.1080/19361653.2019.1660295 |doi-access=free }}</ref> States in the United States are increasingly legalizing this "third" gender on official government documents as the existence of this identity is continuously debated among individuals.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harmon |first1=Amy |title=Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/nonbinary-drivers-licenses.html |work=The New York Times |date=29 May 2019 }}</ref> There have been criticisms that representations of non-binary people in media are limited in number and diversity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://efniks.com/the-deep-dive-pages/2018/10/17/gender-isnt-a-haircut-how-representation-of-nonbinary-people-of-color-requires-more-than-white-androgyny|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022024157/http://efniks.com/the-deep-dive-pages/2018/10/17/gender-isnt-a-haircut-how-representation-of-nonbinary-people-of-color-requires-more-than-white-androgyny|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2018|title=Gender Isn't A Haircut: How Representation of Nonbinary People of Color Requires More Than White Androgyny|website=EFNIKS.com|language=en-US|access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref>