Heteronormative World Research Articles

Navigating Desire in an Open Relationship

This essay presents an autoethnography of a gay man’s experiences in an open relationship. While one’s relationship with their partner is the primary way in which one experiences and lives one’s sexuality, in an open relationship one can also form connections with others. This essay examines the ways in which the author—being a gay man in an open relationship—navigates their desire within and beyond their relationship that involves interactions with other gay men. While relationships may be founded on a commitment, they remain subject to the changes in lived reality. As such, this essay traces the trajectory of the author’s relationship in a period in which it underwent some major changes—from live-in to long distance, from a closed relationship to an open one, leading finally to counseling sessions with a therapist. The status of one’s relationship has a direct bearing on the interactions—romantic, non-romantic, social, or fleeting, that one has with other people. In the heteronormative scheme of things, the constant shifts in one’s relationship and their interactions with other people would be construed as a lack of stability and certainty. However, the author argues that these very shifts characterize the inherent queerness of their relationship, which is driven as much by their commitment to their partner as by the desire to have sexual interactions with others and indulge in experiences that are capable of jeopardizing the relationship altogether. The author posits that the “instability” in their relationship(s) be read as the conflict between the affective nature of queerness and the constraints posed by the heteronormative world.

GENDER AND SEXUALITY AS MODI OF LONELINESS IN CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD’S “THE WORLD IN THE EVENING”

The paper offers an insight into the functioning of the phenomenon of loneliness in Christopher Isherwood’s “The World in the Evening”. Despite the text being dismissed as a failure by the writer himself, some scholars note its innovative treatment of gender and sexuality. The fact that psychological and sociological research often lists sex, gender, and sexual orientation as most frequent causes for loneliness, as well as the author’s peculiar interest in the depiction of the marginalised and alienated allow for a reading of the novel through the lens of identity studies. The paper’s focus is on understanding of gender as a social construct and a performative category. The protagonist’s self is developed, transformed, and readjusted under the influence of female characters, and this situation contrasts with the androcentric homodiegetic narration. With his very masculinity questioned, under the pressure of societal expectations to perform a certain gendered role, the protagonist experiences an identity crisis and feels lonely in all of his relationships. He avoids taking responsibility for his own life, constantly seeking some sort of validation or guidance from the women around him and becoming childish and deliberately cruel towards others when he gets none. The sexual aspect of identity is analysed within the framework of queer theory. The protagonist’s bisexuality is treated by Isherwood as a somewhat neurotic condition arising from the clash between heteronormativity and ‘perverse’ homosexual desire. It is opposed to another part of the queer sexuality spectrum represented by two gay male characters successfully building a harmonious relationship. This image of the homosexual not as a deviation but rather an integral part of society is further reinforced by the alternative models of masculinity, those of gay men not only accepting their sexuality but willing to fight both for their country in the Second World War and their right to existence in the heteronormative world.

Exploring the Fluidity of Becoming: A Stylistic Analysis of Claudia Morgado E.’s No Bikini


 The paper is a critical exploration of the fluidity of becoming through the character of Robin in Claudia Morgado Escanilla’s short film No Bikini1 (2007). The paper further investigates the role of water in the dynamic configurations of the paradigms of gender expressions and highlights Robin’s relationship with water in their process of ‘becoming.’ An extensive focus on the stylistic construction of Robin’s character and the space of the swimming pool is analysed in rendering further possibilities of extending one’s self beyond the realms of the heteronormative world. Hence, this paper essays at understanding the positionality of children amidst the larger queer expressions predominantly constitutive of adult lives, and how children negotiate gender roles and a child’s casual manner of queering heteronormative structures, are further studied.

Gender, Money, and Sexuality: An Exploration into the Relational Work of Pakistani Khwajasiras

This study explores how khwajasiras, a community of gender-variant persons in Pakistan, engage in relational work to gain recognition in a heteronormative world. We highlight how these workers negotiate the meanings of their intimate relationships with different forms, frequencies, amounts, and payment media of financial exchanges. We have identified four such relations i.e. romantic relations, spousal relations, taboo relations, and professional relations. Our analysis shows how these relations and associated financial exchanges allow khwajasiras to navigate gender norms and negotiate recognition by alternatively and creatively playing the role of the khwajasira lover, the khwajasira wife, the khwajasira survival prostitute, and the khwajasira professional sex worker. In enacting these roles, they simultaneously reaffirm, redefine, and challenge dominant gender norms while resisting stable and fixed definitions of transgender sex work(ers). These findings unpack the contingent and situated relationship between gender, sexuality, and sex work and the critical role of financial exchange(s) therein.

Becoming Charley by Kelly DiPucchio

Reviewed by: Becoming Charley by Kelly DiPucchio Natalie Berglind DiPucchio, Kelly Becoming Charley; illus. by Loveis Wise. Knopf, 2023 [40p] Library ed. ISBN 9780593429051 $21.99 Trade ed. ISBN 9780593429044 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593429068 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs Charley is different from the other caterpillars—the little critter tends to look up instead of down, doesn't pay attention to the butterfly elders, and finds it hard to stick to the mantras that will turn Charley into a monarch butterfly: "Think black. Think orange. Think black. Think orange" and "This. Not that!" True to character, when it's chrysalis time, Charley thinks of the things that Charley enjoys rather than the things the elders taught. As the other butterflies emerge from their cocoons, Charley stays cooped up longer than anyone else until finally coming out with wings full of hearts, plants, clouds, and blues and purples, "everything Charley had ever loved." While messages about defying conformity abound in youth literature, Charley's specific experience is a worthy addition, giving a tender representation of being told to be a certain way and yet feeling different and yearning for something else. Neurodivergent kids instructed to act like neurotypical kids will see themselves in Charley, as will kids of color asked to assimilate to their white classmates, or queer kids raised in a heteronormative world. Wise's digital art is playful and gentle, with stamp-like shapes and stunning pops of color energizing the natural scenes of Charley's chrysalis, the starry milkweed, and the curling tendrils of a waterfall. Storytimes with queer-friendly themes of acceptance will want to woo their audiences with DiPucchios's latest contribution. [End Page 288] Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

“I only wanted one thing and that was to be who I am now”: Being a trans young adult and (re)negotiating vocational identity

AbstractDeveloping vocational identity as a young adult is a complex feat and may be even more so for transgender people, who have to navigate their professional selves in a largely cisgender and heteronormative world that minoritizes them. This qualitative study explores how transgender youths develop a vocational identity. Through 10 in‐depth interviews in the Netherlands and Belgium, we found that participants had to negotiate favoring education (at the expense of gender transition) or sensemaking their gender identity (at the expense of schooling), while seeking to avoid discrimination. In addition, we observed that transitioning was also an enabling process, facilitating the development of trans young adults' vocational identity. We also found that trans young adults see the (un)attainability of career paths related to anticipated stigmatization and other expectations related to their trans identities. In particular, they mentioned occupations where hegemonic masculinity and gender binarism are praised, while those involving interaction with children and teenagers are not attainable. Organizations celebrating their trans identity and career paths in which the living conditions of other minoritized people are improved were perceived as attainable and desirable. The insights presented here show that even in countries that are considered “progressive” in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, the vocational identity of trans youth is nevertheless influenced by (and at times constrained by) their gender identity. The need for career counselors, educational institutions, and organizations to work on facilitating the future career development of trans individuals and their access to inclusive spaces is discussed.

Factors influencing social and emotional well‐being among women who sleep with women: Minority stress and compartmentalization

AbstractAs recent as 2019, individuals residing within the United States were not protected from employment termination on the basis of their sexual orientation. It is unsurprising, then, that a large percentage of non‐heterosexual individuals remain ‘closeted’ about their sexual identity both at home and work, which takes a psychological and physical toll. The purpose of this study was to document perceptions, feelings, and experiences among women who have sex with women in regard to social and emotional well‐being. Thirty‐seven women between the ages of 20 and 64 participated in 6 focus groups held in three states in the United States. The purpose of these focus groups was to gather data about the experiences of living in a heteronormative world and the factors that might influence social and emotional well‐being. Responses were transcribed and thematically coded. Results offer insights into main themes that can assist community members, health professionals, and scientists to better appraise the disparities and struggles of sexual minorities who experience minority stress and have to compartmentalize in order to feel safe at home, work, and their third places. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Navigating a heteronormative world: Cisgender women, transgender partnerships, sexual identity, and language

This article examines the relationship between language and sexual identity, using data collected from in-depth interviews with cisgender women who are in relationships with female-to-male transgender men. The data illustrate that many of the women have complex relationships with the labels that they use to describe their own sexual identity currently and in their past. When referring to their own sexual identities, cisgender women partners of trans men (a) are flexible with specific terms they use in order to respond to varying social contexts, (b) use specific terms to signify cultural belonging to or difference from different communities, and (c) use language as a suggestive action to others to question heteronormative assumptions. Further, this research highlights the importance of considering time in sexuality research, including the timing of the partnerships, and collecting data that reflect the individuals’ histories to analyze the connection between sexual identity and the use of language.

Homosexuality and Indian Civil Society: Reading Mahesh Dattani After Decriminalization of Section-377

The Indian Supreme Court in the Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of India judgement (6th September 2018), decriminalized homosexuality. However, the space cleared by the legal judgement cannot be immediately availed of by those affected by it because legally determined/defined space doesn’t necessarily become social space. This essay looks at the formation of this social space and the perception of homosexuality in civil society. It will examine the impediments of communication that homosexuals encounter in the heteronormative world, and the ensuing misunderstandings regarding homosexuality. It argues that a proper medium is necessary to provide communication in a social space that would then treat homosexuality as ‘normal’. I argue that Mahesh Dattani’s plays enable the imagination and the construction of such an accepting civil society.

Supporting family identity: the processes that influence belonging and boundaries in an LGBTQ playgroup

ABSTRACT LGBTQ families have to navigate parenting in a heteronormative world. Like many other parents, LGBTQ families create playgroups to support their parenting endeavour. Drawing on research into how family and parenting identity influences playgroup participation and choices, this paper reports on interviews with members of an LGBTQ playgroup in a city in Australia. The group provided a space for many LGBTQ families to be supported and nurtured in their parenting and LGBTQ identities. However, as with any group, some families were not present or did not feel welcomed in the group. This paper examines how the playgroup drew its boundaries, who was included and who excluded, and the mechanisms that created these boundaries.

OUR TOWN

OUR TOWN

The Poetics of Coming Out and Being Out: Feminist Activism in Cis Lesbian and Trans Women’s Poetic Narratives

While coming out or the telling of sexual selves for LGBTQ+ people is often seen as the final step toward living a free and healthy life, lesbians who also identify as feminists embark on a life-long journey in which the plot ebbs and flows around activism and mobilization. Their goal is not only to come out, but to be out. Both cisgender radical-lesbian feminists and trans feminists consider coming out as not only crucial for the realization of self, but also an important tactic for taking up space and intervening in a heteronormative world. But, while the original theories of radical feminism advocated a fierce anti-essentialism, some contemporary radical feminists continue to focus on biology and questions like “what is a woman?” I hope to refocus the question to ask: how are narrative audiences, discursive forms of text, and spaces important for feminists as they realize lesbian or trans identities and communities? Data come from a historical printed newsletter by self-described radical feminists practicing lesbian separatism and two current micro-blogs, one surrounding radical-feminist narratives and the other around trans feminism. Through a textual analysis, I show how self-proclaimed radical feminists and trans feminists use poetic and emotive writing to produce different kinds of narratives about coming out and being out in different spaces and for unique audiences. Ultimately, these discursive forms are important for communities as members’ stories challenge and are impacted by public narratives of gender, essentialism, and cis- and hetero-normativity.

Mothers in Same-Sex Relationships Describe the Process of Forming a Family as a Stressful Journey in a Heteronormative World: A Swedish Grounded Theory Study

Objectives The aim of this study was to gain insight into how women in same-sex relationships experience the process of forming a family through the use of assisted reproduction technique (ART), from planning the pregnancy to parenthood, and their experience of parental support from healthcare professionals. Methods The participants were 20 women in a same-sex relationship who had conceived through ART at a Swedish clinic. Semi-structured interviews including open questions about pregnancy, parenthood and support from healthcare professionals were conducted. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed according to grounded theory. Results The core category, A stressful journey through a heteronormative world, emerged from the analysis, as did three subcategories: A journey fraught with difficulties and decisions; The nuclear family as the norm; and A need for psychological support. Same-sex parents expressed a need for more information about how to access ART in Sweden. Both the healthcare organization and treatment were perceived as heteronormative. In particular, these women lacked psychological support during the demanding process of utilizing a sperm donor to conceive. Conclusions for Practice Professionals in antenatal care should undergo mandatory cultural competency training to ensure cultural sensitivity and the provision of updated information, tailored brochures and early parental support for families with same-sex parents. All parents need guidance and support from competent, caring personnel throughout the entire process of forming a family.

The Voice of an Indian Trans Woman: a Hijra Autobiography

The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the humanity of hijras through their autobiographies. The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story (2015) by A. Revathi will shed light on transsexuality in India. The hijra literature in English is gaining space, albeit small, in the literary milieu with its main character, a trans woman, who narrates her story challenging the heteronormative world. Not bending to gender norms, Revathi sought her place in the world, becoming not only a hijra, but also a political agent in her community. Her writing/telling reveals the bruises and wounds of a body violated by a deeply hierarchical society and her activism evidences that trans people are not passive recipients of forces acting upon their lives. They deploy agency in a variety of ways showing how their lives are located at the intersection of caste, class and patriarchies. These structures along with heteronormativity not only oppress them but also make them invisible under the heterosexual, family and reproductive model. In order to understand the hijras communities, it is important to analyze this through the intersectionality of social markers--gender, sexuality, class, caste, generation, region, religion, kinship and etc--interacting them at multiple and often simultaneous levels (Reddy 2005). Moreover, one must think of the terms izzat (honour) and asli (authenticity) that permeate Indian culture.

Changing childhoods: Using queer theory and intersectional methods to reconsider the epistemic resources of children with gay and lesbian parents

This article explores contemporary childhoods through a lens of epistemic privileges and injustices in order to consider the experiences of children whose family models may not reflect the heterosexual norm. More than 14 million children in the United States have one or more gay parents. As the legal definition of marriage in the United States now recognizes same-sex partnerships, it is likely that this official number will increase. The experiences of children with gay and lesbian parents are often overlooked due to public sentiment toward gay partnerships and parenting, but the changing legal status of gay marriage around the world may indicate a shift in sentiment toward these family structures. For childhood studies researchers, this shift will provide opportunities to conduct studies with children whose voices largely were silenced or omitted from past and current scholarship. Particularly, young children with gay parents are in a unique position to describe the world since they must navigate between their homonormative private worlds and the heteronormative world of public institutions. Drawing on queer theory and incorporating the concept of intersectionality, I posit that applying Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice to studies of childhood may reveal new ways to identify systemic and cultural biases including heteronormativity and adult–child power asymmetries. Examining issues of epistemic injustice through a queer lens and using intersectional methods may elucidate aspects of childhood culture that are misunderstood or absent from the scholarship.

Yoga as Sanctuary: A Valuable Mind-Body Intervention for the Lesbian Community

Poetic autoethnography provides a research methodology to explore yoga as a mind-body intervention that creates sanctuary. Using this qualitative method and retrieving data from my personal journals, daily workout journals, experiences as a lesbian-identified participant in yoga classes, and yoga instructor, I turn the research lens on myself in order to examine my sociological life story. At a critical time in my life when I was struggling with the fragmentation, anxiety, and despair resulting from dealing with homophobia in a heteronormative world, yoga provided sanctuary for me. My yoga practice increased my self-efficacy, providing transferable techniques for finding refuge within myself, irrespective of the adversity I was facing in my life. Places of sanctuary are critical for members of minority groups who often face marginalization and oppression, which compromise their well-being.

Yoga as Sanctuary: A Valuable Mind-Body Intervention for the Lesbian Community.

Poetic autoethnography provides a research methodology to explore yoga as a mind-body intervention that creates sanctuary. Using this qualitative method and retrieving data from my personal journals, daily workout journals, experiences as a lesbian-identified participant in yoga classes, and yoga instructor, I turn the research lens on myself in order to examine my sociological life story. At a critical time in my life when I was struggling with the fragmentation, anxiety, and despair resulting from dealing with homophobia in a heteronormative world, yoga provided sanctuary for me. My yoga practice increased my self-efficacy, providing transferable techniques for finding refuge within myself, irrespective of the adversity I was facing in my life. Places of sanctuary are critical for members of minority groups who often face marginalization and oppression, which compromise their well-being.

‘A divine attraction between your soul and mine’: George Whitefield and same-sex affection in 18th-century Methodism

This article considers the blurred lines between male friendship and homoeroticism in 18th-century Methodism. It considers possible cases of transgressive male sexual acts among Methodist preachers, evaluates contemporary claims made about the sexual proclivities of leading Methodists, and considers the social location of 18th-century Methodism as a dangerous underworld of deviant religiosity whose centres of activity were often perched on the edge of sites of social exclusion. The ‘effeminacy’ of George Whitefield and the lack of heterosexual passion in his life are offered as a mode of examining the homosociality that existed within the heteronormative world of 18th-century Methodism.

Parent Perspectives on Child Health and Wellbeing in Same-Sex Families: Heteronormative Conflict and Resilience Building

Measurable aspects of child health and wellbeing for children in same-sex parented families show that these children develop well, overall. Increasingly however, it is understood that stigma can have a negative impact on their health within a same sex family context. The aim of this study is to understand how child health in same-sex parented families is constructed by same-sex attracted parents and what this teaches us about the impact of stigma on child health in this context. Families from across Australia were sampled from a larger study of child health and wellbeing. We used family interviews, which took place between January and August 2013. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes. We report on the data from 11 parents with 10 children. Families presented stories of heteronormative conflict that arose from their position in society. Through family constructs, gender assumptions, discrimination and challenging interactions with institutions this heteronormative conflict had a significant influence on child health, sometimes through the generation of broader familial stress. Resilience building was used by parents to construct a positive environment for child health by combating the lack of understanding and discrimination seen at a societal level. Resilience that is developed to combat stigma provides significant benefits, particularly in a heteronormative world where traditional assumptions about families dominate. The anticipation of stigma, and heteronormative pressures, can stimulate same-sex attracted parents to prepare their children for potential negativity. This should be supported through appropriate school programs and considered political leadership.

Vanishing Point [Ponto de Fuga] by Jorge Sá Earp

Reviewed by: Vanishing Point [Ponto de Fuga] by Jorge Sá Earp Milton Ricardo Antonio Machuca-Gálvez Sá Earp, Jorge. Vanishing Point [Ponto de Fuga]. Trans. John Jensen. Miami: Bahia, 2014. Pp. 228. ISBN 978-1-62517-666-0 (print) / 978-1-62517-665-3 (digital). 1960. April. Brasilia is inaugurated. It might not be known how long it took to build Rome, but it required only forty-one months to fulfill the more than a century old dream of Brasilia. Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961, was the force behind completing this enterprise. Brasilia stepped into history as the only capital city built in the twentieth century. And a remarkable capital city it was: architecturally modern, carefully planned, centrally located; it exceeded any visions of modernity. The enormity of Brazil was reflected in the enormity of its futuristic capital, a utopia now turned into reality. After the candangos (nickname for the construction workers who built Brasilia) finished the city, settling it was the next task at hand. The first wave of inhabitants—reluctant government bureaucrats, diplomats, and their employees—found themselves overwhelmed by the vast planned landscape and longed for a return to Rio de Janeiro, the former capital. But slowly people from every walk of life converged on the new urban focal point. As Brazilian national history continued unfolding, so did the biographies of the newcomers to the new capital city. Jorge Sá Earp’s Ponto de Fuga, a romantic novel, takes place in Brasilia during its second decade. A panel of judges consisting of Jorge Amado, Antonio Callado and Robert Drummond [End Page 707] awarded Sá Earp the 6th Nestle Prize for Brazilian Literature for Ponto de Fuga in 1995. The story gradually unfolds, engaging the reader with its four main characters: Renato, Heloisa, Julio, and Carla. Initially, it is a guessing game for the reader to figure out who is taking turns to narrate his or her segment of the story. As the narration progresses, however, each voice acquires individual characteristics, making identification easier. The protagonists belong to an educated, privileged middle-class of means. Erudite references abound, at moments veering into snobbish territory. Poverty appears only fleetingly. The characters journey at will through the city’s superquadras, sectores, axes, wings, districts, university buildings, sports clubs, bars, malls, and restaurants—sometimes briefly stopping to admire the vastness of Brasilia or the beauty of Lago Paranoá. The narration alternates between the dry and rainy seasons of Brasilia’s weather pattern. The story develops in linear fashion through seventy-six briskly moving chapters (there’s even a one sentence chapter!), with no puzzling flashbacks or other avant-garde experimental techniques. Each character’s personal background and expectations inevitably converge upon a vanishing point. The sexuality of the characters forms an additional layer defining the novel. Renato, a government bureaucrat, is a homosexual whose unresolved sexual orientation issues and indiscreet sexual escapades create tensions between him and his wife Heloisa. She, in turn, seeks consolation by taking Inacio, her tennis instructor, as a lover. Carla, a lesbian painter and friend of the couple, becomes obsessed with Heloisa as the object of her desire. As a result she fantasizes a wholly imaginary love affair. Julio, an overtly homosexual university professor, alternately listens to Renato and Heloisa in their struggle to remain as a couple, besides dealing with his own concerns. Ponto de Fuga is not an LGBT novel in the strict sense, though it portrays a handful of gay and lesbian characters navigating in a heterosexual heteronormative world. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1955, Jorge Sá Earp is a prolific contemporary Brazilian writer. He studied Literature at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He has followed a diplomatic career since 1981 and has lived in Poland, the Netherlands, Gabon, Belgium, Romania, Ecuador, and, more recently, Costa Rica. His vast oeuvre includes poetry (Feixe de Lenha, 1980; Passagem Secreta, 1993), short story (No Caminho do Vento, 1983; O Cavalo Marinho, 1997; Areias Pretas, 2004; Bandido e Mocinho, 2012), and novel (O Ninho, 1986; Sudoeste, 1990; Ponto de Fuga, 1995; O Jogo dos Gatos Pardos, 2001; A Cidade e as Cinzas, 2002; As Marés de...