heteronormative
/ˌhɛtəɹoʊˈnoɹmətɪv/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.12 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or relating to the institutions and practices that privilege or value heterosexuality, heterosexual relationships, and traditional gender roles as fundamental and "natural" within society.
Example Sentences
- "Much of the language used when discussing wedding planning is heteronormative, which can alienate homosexual couples."
- "[T]he new wave of lesbian and gay studies is at the point of having to force a thorough revision within socio-theoretical traditions, of the kind being won by feminism. There are a number of distinct reasons why that engagement has become necessary: […] concepts and themes of social theory that might be pressed to this purpose are in fact useless or worse because they embed a heteronormative understanding of society; […]"
- "The work of critics such as [Jon] Binnie, [Michael] Warner, and [John] D'Emilio implies that to fail to analyze the specific material conditions of reception of gay porno is thus perhaps to remain within a heterosexist framework of analysis. This suggests both that film studies can be heteronormative even when it is analyzing homosexual representations and that close textual analysis is itself structured by heterosexual presumptions and assumptions."
- "In the public sphere of work, then, women's sexuality will always be seen as problematic as well as omnipresent. In the same way, homosexuality and bisexuality will always be seen as problematic in heteronormative organizations."
- "Homonationalism needs to be more broadly understood as one dimension of "homonormativity," which Lisa Duggan described over a decade ago as a gay mindset that does not "contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them.""
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sḿ̥teros Proto-Hellenic *hə́teros Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros)lbor. English hetero- Latin norma Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English -ative English normative English heteronormative From hetero- + normative. The word was popularized by the American social theorist Michael Warner (born 1958) in a 1991 journal article: see the quotation.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌhɛtəɹoʊˈnoɹmətɪv/
- British English: /ˌhɛtəɹəʊˈnɔːmətɪv/
Inflected Forms
more heteronormative (comparative)
most heteronormative (superlative)