Heteronormative Relationships Research Articles

Eroticism and Design Workshops in Game Interfaces: Exploring a Mobile Otome Game for Chinese Women

This article examines the interface design of otome games, focusing on how it reflects eroticism, heteropessimism, as well as the emergence of social media-driven design workshops in gaming for Asian women. Against the backdrop of heteropessimism—disillusionment with heteronormative relationships—the study uses Light and Night, a Chinese otome game, as a case study to explore these dynamics. Through digital ethnography and interviews with 58 players (32 from Light and Night), the research reveals that interface elements—such as graphics, audio, and operational sex-play on mobile devices—create immersive experiences catering to women’s erotic needs despite state censorship. Furthermore, social media platforms act as transgressive “design workshops,” where feedback from women gamers directly shapes game updates, reflecting both commercialized and censored forms of eroticism. This study underscores the overlooked role of female players in shaping the production and consumption of games in contemporary China, offering critical insights into the complexities of eroticism in game design.

Intimate partner violence among LGBT+ university students

The present article describes the different dynamics present in romantic relationships through life stories. Adopting a qualitative approach, it retrieves the experiences of 7 participants belonging to the LGBT+ community regarding their romantic relationships through individually conducted semi-structured interviews. The results reveal that from the early romantic and/or sexual experiences, manifestations of aggression arise and then evolve into more serious forms such as intimidation, harassment, and distrust towards the partner. This suggests that violence is not exclusive to heteronormative relationships but also affects couples within sexual dissidence, often in a context of social and emotional vulnerability.

Fair play: a review

Equity within homes and relationships has been and continues to be a contemporary topic within today’s culture. This media review of the documentary, Fair Play, produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, furthers this discussion by observing three families, who are followed within the series. In this review, the coauthors discuss the content of the documentary itself, as well as, reflect on the thoughts and feelings the documentary evokes around our own understandings of household labor practices and how gender relates to the equity within heteronormative relationships. The review concludes with a brief overview of some of the clinical implications as tied to the documentary.

Big data meets storytelling: using machine learning to predict popular fanfiction

Fanfictions are a popular literature genre in which writers reuse a universe, for example to transform heteronormative relationships with queer characters or to bring romance into shows focused on horror and adventure. Fanfictions have been the subject of numerous studies in text mining and network analysis, which used Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to compare fanfictions with the original scripts or to make various predictions. In this paper, we use NLP to predict the popularity of a story and examine which features contribute to popularity. This endeavor is important given the rising use of AI assistants and the ongoing interest in generating text with desirable characteristics. We used the main two websites to collect fan stories (Fanfiction.net and Archives Of Our Own) on Supernatural, which has been the subject of numerous scholarly works. We extracted high-level features such as the main character and sentiments from 79,288 of these stories and used the features in a binary classification supported by tree-based methods, ensemble methods (random forest), neural networks, and Support Vector Machines. Our optimized classifiers correctly identified popular stories in four out of five cases. By relating features to classification outcomes using SHAP values, we found that fans prefer longer stories with a wider vocabulary, which can inform the prompts of AI chatbots to continue generating such successful stories. However, we also observed that fans wanted stories unlike the original material (e.g., favoring romance and disliking when characters are hurt), hence AI-powered stories may be less popular if they strictly follow the original material of a show.

Measurement opportunities for studying sexual and gender diverse partnerships in population-based surveys.

This article outlines for family scholars and researchers designing surveys or searching for data on sexual and gender-diverse (SGD) families the latest methodological advancements in United States population-based surveys for studying SGD partnerships by reviewing five recently collected, publicly available, population-representative data sets. LGBTQIA+ adults and SGD partnerships are an expanding demographic group in the United States. Yet, measurement limitations have restricted studies of these partnerships that use population-based studies. To address this issue, researchers designing population-representative data collections have adopted new strategies to measure SGD partnerships accurately. However, most population representative surveys continue to lack data on growing segments of the LGBTQIA+ population by relying solely on the sex of partners or limited sexual and gender identity measures. We recommend expanding population-based surveys to incorporate inclusive measures of sexual and gender identity, directly asking about the gender composition of a couple and measurement of cohabiting and other nonmarital relationships. These approaches are especially important for understanding relationships among younger populations who do not follow heteronormative relationship trajectories and hold diverse gender and sexual identities. Although the research opportunities on SGD individuals and partnerships are expanding; researchers must remain mindful of the limitations of current data sets and advocate for updates to the United States population data infrastructure.

Relocating Reproductive Justice in Donor Sperm and Egg Capitalism

Privileged (in various forms, but especially class) people use egg or sperm donation and take other reproductive measures to achieve parenthood at all costs. Infertility issues for heterosexual partners and those who use donor eggs and sperm outside of heteronormative relationships has evolved into a type of entitled desperation and racial/ethnic/able-bodied form of eugenics, both further complicated by the cultural milieu of the post- Dobbs decision era. To illustrate how these rhetorics of infertility operate within broader neoliberal and racialized discourses, we critically consider three themes: first, we contend that fertility issues should become theorized through reproductive justice theory, particularly as class/race/nation divides donors from recipients, through forms of capitalistic endeavor as a rational enterprise; second, we review how “infertility” has become rhetorically important in the U.S. cultural milieu in critical communication and cultural studies; and finally, we argue that donor rhetorics represent a form of neoliberalism situated within racial/ethnic able-bodied eugenics and an inability to conceive, which results in emotional, physical, and financial cost to the self and society.

#Supercorp kissed…or did they?: lesbian fandom and queerbaiting

The Supercorp fandom refers to the platonic friendship between Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, and her friend Lena Luthor. The term ‘Supercorp’ refers to an implied – yet unexplored – queer relationship created by fans of the DC/CW show Supergirl. Imagined relationships, referred to by fandoms (groups of fans) as ‘shipping, tackle the unexplored chemistry between two characters who are not romantically linked. Supergirl’s screenwriters were notorious for placing Kara and Lena in heteronormative relationship scenarios, effectively queerbaiting (or covert courting) the audience by suggesting a romantic relationship never explored on-screen. On November 11, 2021, fans had fun by doctoring photos of the series finale and ‘showing’ Kara and Lena kissing. Fans created an alternate reality where two women publicly expressed their love. Deprived of a queer ‘happy ending’, Supergirl fans gaslit the DC fandom (and beyond), leading many to question the reality of their initial viewing experience. The fans were gaslighting the world into questioning whether the footage was authentic. The fandom rallied in solidarity by crafting the ‘reality’ they wanted. Using a lens informed by psychoanalytic theory and fan studies research, this paper examines how the Supercorp fandom used the liminal space of broadcast time zones to reclaim a queer narrative which they were denied. This paper contributes to the advancement of lesbian studies by shining a light on the efforts of a marginalized segment of fandom and examining the trauma caused by queer coding – and queerbaiting – in service to a heteronormative agenda.

Beyond a Lush Life: Representation and Performativity at America's [Only] Queer Jazz Festival

Beyond a Lush Life: Representation and Performativity at America's [Only] Queer Jazz Festival

Let the music play: ‘Hipsters’ and heteronormative fashion

The article examines how fashion assists in emphasizing heteronormativity in the musical film Hipsters (2008). The film is about the first countercultural phenomenon in the Soviet Union – Stiliagi. Predominantly men, these young people adapted different styles of dress, language, behaviour and dance that they felt was closely copying the styles of western cultures such as Teddy Boys. While the movement that started in the late 1940s and continued to the early 1960s included heterosocial behaviour, the film that presumably recreates the affective feeling of the culture distorts the history to spotlight heterosexuality and the search for individual freedom. It argues that given that historically and currently, the association between fashion and masculinity in the Russian culture is understood as effeminate, the film had to create clear heteronormative relationships between the male and female protagonists while emphasizing fashion and consumption. The article demonstrates how the film works within post-Soviet ideology by comparing the use of fashion in the film and the historical data about the actual Stiliagi movement of the 1950s. By negating the heterosocial and heterosexual relationship, the film created an artificial understanding of the Soviet culture. It follows the official ideological doctrine of creating nostalgia for the simpler yet somewhat stifled life in the Soviet Union without attracting the audience’s attention to the repressions of the post-Stalin Soviet Union.

Changing informal institutions via mimesis: Gender equality in marriage proposals

AbstractMarriage equality has exposed how the institution of marriage is changing, but less attention has been given to how informal institutions around heterosexual marriage rituals are affected by a growing demand for gender equality. By applying institutional theory and feminist institutionalism to the context of women proposing to their male partners, this paper observes how shifts in gender norms change heteronormative institutions. Drawing from interviews with women who proposed to men and a virtual ethnography, we describe how reverse proposals can set precedence for emulation of practices or mimetic isomorphism. We therewith contribute to institutional theory in threefold ways. First, we describe how mimetic isomorphism introduces new standards and norms into a highly traditional institution. Second, we show how this integration of new standards and norms serves this patriarchal institution to remain relevant and appear progressive. Finally, we contend that this tension of joining a patriarchal institution but doing so in a subversive manner represents a double bind for women who are encouraged by society to formalize their heteronormative relationships through marriage and yet chastised for initiating this themselves.

Same but Different? Comparing Attitudes Regarding Gender, Gender Diversity, and Sexual Diversity Among Early Adolescents in South Africa and Belgium

PurposeThis study aims to compare low socioeconomic status, urban early adolescents’ (EAs) attitudes toward gender, gender diversity and sexual diversity in two contexts with similar progressive legal frameworks for gender equality and nondiscrimination, South Africa and Belgium, to understand the ways in which adolescents modify or conform to prevailing attitudes. MethodsThe study used a cross-sectional design and sampled 1,102 and 569 EAs (between 11 and 15 years old) in Belgium and South Africa respectively. Quantitative data were collected using tablets. Sample characteristics and gender attitude scales are described and compared in the two countries, and between boys and girls within each country. Comparisons are conducted on the mean score for the 5-point Likert scale items on the gender attitude scales. ResultsGirls in both countries expressed more tolerant attitudes toward same-sex romantic relationships and experienced more gender diverse emotional attraction and physical attraction to same-sex individuals than boys. Generally, boys endorsed more heteronormative relationship norms and other stereotypical attitudes than girls. Conversely, girls tended to embrace sexual double standards more than boys. South African EAs exhibited more sexual diversity but less tolerant attitudes toward gender and gender diversity. Belgian EAs, especially girls, tended to exhibit more tolerant attitudes toward diversity in gender identity. DiscussionThere were important differences in attitudes toward gender, gender diversity, and sexual diversity among EAs, despite the countries’ similar progressive legislative frameworks. In the future, sociocultural and other determinants of EAs’ attitudes should be further explored at different levels from the individual to the societal.

I Am a Child of Gods

I Am a Child of Gods

Intragender Violence: An Approach from LGBTIQ+ University Students in Chile

Intimate partner violence has been extensively studied in the Latin context and in Chile, however, these do not distinguish between heteronormative relationships and those belonging to the LGBTIQ+ community, which is why the latter are invisible, which is why this study aims to understand the specific characteristics of how young LGBTIQ+ university students in Chile experience intragender violence, identifying its main manifestations and consequences. The research has a non-probabilistic sample of nine participants, who correspond to six women and three men between 18 and 31 years old, who participated in a semi-structured individual interview and/or in a discussion group conducted online, this being a qualitative study guided by the constructivist grounded theory. Among the main results found, it is reported that psychological violence is one of the most experienced by the participants, followed by cyber violence and sexual violence, in addition, other findings show that perception and social pressure are possible triggers of intragender violence, Thanks to this, it is possible to identify the low representativeness in terms of the LGBTIQ+ community and age ranges, so it is proposed to expand the sample for future research, in addition to this, other topics such as the experiences of having a diagnosis of STD in an intragender relationship should be investigated.

Are We Passing on Violence to the Next Generation?: Gender Norms and Gender-based Violence Attitudes among Early Adolescents in Indonesia

Intensification of gender norms during puberty affects adolescents’ perceptions and behavior related to violence. This study examined the association between gender norms and gender-based violence (GBV) among early adolescents considering socio-ecological variables using cross-sectional data from 3,618 Indonesian Global Early Adolescent Study pupils. Chi-square tests with simple and multiple logistic regression analyses examined how different factors' levels predict GBV. Among boys, GBV attitudes were found high (53%). Furthermore, they also had high heteronormative expectations, threatened feelings, experiences of violence, porn access, and 5+ adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Logistic regression results revealed that adolescent boys having one or two scores of gender norms at the above-median are 1.3 times more likely to commit GBV and even 2.2 times higher if all were above median [AOR(CI) =1.3(1.1-1.6); 2.2(1.7-2.8)], respectively. Boys, having 5+ ACEs, and stronger endorsement on heteronormative relationships were also more likely to commit GBV [AOR(CI) =1.5(1.3-1.7); 1.5(1.2-1.9); 1.5 (1.3-1.7)], respectively. This research concluded that unequal gender norms intensified during puberty strongly correlate to attitudes towards GBV among early adolescents. Strengthening the individual aspects by providing a more conducive environment, such as comprehensive sexual education at school, is essential to prevent GBV.

The ‘troubled rebel girl’ and the ‘boy-next-door’: The apparent inversion of gender and love archetypes in 13 Reasons Why, Élite and Sex Education

Teen series play a central role in the socialization process of young people, since they offer portrayals and models that young people can relate to, identify with or modify and break. Previous studies have shown that teen series continue to perpetuate a stereotyped gender representation and usually reproduce a heteronormative relationship model based on the myth of romantic love following the storyline of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The present study consists of a close reading of three popular current Netflix teen series: 13 Reasons Why (), Élite () and Sex Education (). The results show an inversion of the gender archetypes of Beauty and the Beast. The three female protagonists are ‘badasses with a good heart’, embodying the typical archetype of the ‘Beast’, while the three male protagonists are patient, caring, innocent and even virginal, embodying the archetype of the ‘Beauty’. However, unlike in the classic model, the boys fail in their attempts to save their beloved from themselves, and the girls end up suffering irreparable consequences. The tragic end of the female characters condemns them to the impossibility of a redemption that has traditionally been granted to males.

Promiske Sexualität oder monogame Beziehung?

Abstract A question that was and remains central to the history of homosexualities is how relationships and sexuality are interlinked. Through discussions around heteronormative relationship norms, the West German gay1 (liberation/rights) movement engaged in heated debates around the question of how sexuality could and should be lived out. This article outlines that debate, starting with the release of Rosa von Praunheim’s film »Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt« (»It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives«; 1971) and proceeding to examine the convulsions of the AIDS crisis. As the debate went on, its focus shif ted from morality to responsibility as the central topic. The increasing visibility of lived sexuality brought about by AIDS and the development of safer sex in reaction to HIV/AIDS in particular contributed to establishing the concept of responsible sexuality. This concept could in turn be positioned against a coupling of relationship and sexuality predicated on moral imperatives.

Public Attitudes and Private Prejudices: Assessing Voters’ Willingness to Vote for Out Lesbian and Gay Candidates

Our study concerns the factors leading to the electoral success and failure of LGBTQ candidates in the context of the changing nature of prejudices. We hypothesize that more positive views toward “respectability candidates,” as captured by familial status, has replaced explicit prejudice toward out LGBTQ candidates in societies where acceptance of sexual minorities in general has grown. In a survey experiment conducted with a sample of Canadian voters, one of the first countries to legalize marriage equality, we find suggestions that voters are more likely to reward lesbian and gay candidates who adopt heteronormative relationships (married with children vs. single) than those who do not. These patterns become more evident when we explore causal heterogeneity with controls for individual-level characteristics and attitudes that typically predict support toward lesbian and gay candidates. Here we find these predictors rewarded single lesbian and gay candidates, whereas lesbian and gay candidates with families were simply more supported across the board.

‘Sons of Bengal’ and the Absent Daughters: Gender, Performativity and Nationalism in Bengali Juvenile Literature

This article looks at the asymmetrical bifurcation of gender roles and performativity that is reflected palpably within Bengali juvenile literature of the twentieth century. These writings strove to venerate a cult of hypermasculinity through the portrayal of brave, assertive Bengali heroes who engaged in various escapades in distant lands or in the solving of mysteries and crimes, either alone or accompanied by male confidantes who remain completely devoted to them. This dominant cultural trope was consciously employed as a challenge to the imperial, racist stereotypes of the effeminate Bengali man who was imagined to be inferior to the virile, robust and intellectually superior Englishman. However, the role of women within such diegetic portrayals is liminal or conspicuously absent; female readers are conditioned to “wallow in the reflected glory of their heroes” (Mukherjee para. 13). This paper also looks into the politics of sexuality and nationalism involved within the celebration of male homosocial bonding over heteronormative relationships, thereby leading to the almost complete effacement of female agency.

Intimate partner violence as masculine accomplishment: resistance to victimhood in accounts of violence by gay men in urban South Africa

ABSTRACT Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern. Much research on the topic has focused on heterosexual relationships where men are frequently perpetrators and woman the victims of IPV as a function of systemically gendered inequality embedded in pervasive forms of patriarchy. However, IPV is also a concern in same-sex relationships. While the forms and functions of sexuality and gender in talk about IPV in heteronormative relationships are well documented, research on the ways that these key social categories feature in accounts of Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence (SSIPV) has been limited. The current study advances this important area of violence scholarship by exploring the ways in which self-identified gay men describe violence in their intimate relationships. Our critical discourse analysis of accounts of IPV elicited through in-depth, semi-structured interviews demonstrates the ways in which the participants framed violence as unintimidating, tolerable, natural, erotic or even actively sought-after as part of an overarching strategy aimed at making claims on agency and resisting victimhood. The analysis suggests that researchers and policymakers should take cognisance of the local meanings and range of moral positions used by gay men to account for IPV when setting scholarship agendas and developing interventions.

"I have turned into a foreman here at home": Families and work-life balance in times of COVID-19 in a gender equality paradise.

This article explores the gendered realities of work–life balance in Iceland during the COVID‐19 pandemic, in particular how these societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of unpaid labor, such as childcare and household chores. The study draws on open‐ended real‐time diary entries, collected for 2 weeks during the peak of the pandemic in Iceland. The entries represent the voices of 37 mothers in heteronormative relationships. The findings imply that, during the pandemic, the mothers took on greater mental work than before. They also described intense emotional labor, as they tried to keep everyone calm and safe. The division of tasks at home lay on their shoulders, causing them stress and frustration. The findings suggest that, even in a country that has been at the top of the Gender Gap Index for several years, an unprecedented situation like COVID‐19 can reveal and exaggerate strong gender norms and expectations toward mothers.