Heteronormativity is a cultural, social, and political framework that institutionalizes heterosexuality as the standard and preferred sexual orientation. Heteronormative familial discourses play a significant role in socializing children, and what makes them so influential is their ability to naturalize certain behaviors and desires. Children are taught that “this is how things are” or “how things should be”. This academic study from Sexuality and Culture investigates and analyzes said socializing messages about sexual identity and LGBTQ+ culture that straight cisgender college students remember hearing from family members throughout their lives – both positive and negative. All 597 subjects with whom the project engages are straight and cisgender, a unique and important aspect of this research, as it’s these dominant identity groups that often struggle to recognize their own existences as just one among a diverse range of potential ways to live. Considering the current barrage of political and legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ freedoms and rights, understanding the role heteronormativity continues to play in shaping the lives of gendered and sexual subjects is crucial.
Heteronormative Family Expectations
