GWS 150B1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Sexual Repression, Heterosexuality, Heteronormativity

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Gender & Women's Studies
• Course: GWS 150B1
• Professor: Gallarte

Document Summary

Heteronormativity: perceived fixed point against which sex, sexuality and gender are both defined and understood in relation to each other. Describes the assumption in most cultures that heterosexuality is normal. Down low rhetoric the dl and msm refers to closeted men of color (black and latino) Public health research and media exposes have focused on these men to explain rising rates of hiv infection among to heterosexual women. The logic of dl rhetoric that relies on the closet supports dominant perception of sex acts as the central and most meaningful indicator of sexual selfhood or identity. Dl rhetoric implies that homophobia stems from essential, ethno-racial cultures of sexual repression. Wades argument: the disavowal of gay identity and culture is one of the constitutive elements of heterosexual subjectivity or a primary means of expressing heterosexual selfhood in a sexually binary world. Homophobia: the need to strongly disidentify with gay men and gay culture.