Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Heteronormativity acts as the default. It works to systemically make itself something that is unquestionable and assumed, and standard, thus romantic and sexual relationships between men and women are the norm (Faderman). AS such, those who live on the "opposite" side of the spectrum from heterosexuality, LGBT/queer people, are often viewed as the obvious "other." This creates an entrenched binary between those who are straight and those who are not. But this binary is much more complicated. There is not just heterosexuality and then the opposite of heterosexuality , which is presumed to be gayness, queerness, or anything that functions as non-heterosexual; thinking of sexuality and gender in terms of a binary is too simplistic to begin with (Sedgwick). Additionally, I would like to suggest that there is no "opposite" of heteronormativity, not just because that is quite clearly untrue, but because queerness functions as its own mode of being. Queerness does not sit simply on the opposite side of the assumed binary between heterosexuality and non-heterosexuality, but holds its own unique politics and social implications.
Recommended Citation
Halee, Jessica, "Out: Exploring Space Through the Indefinability of Queerness" (2017). Honors College Theses. 163.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/163
Included in
Film and Media Studies Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
Comments
Original document was submitted as an honors thesis requirement. Copyright is held by the author.