ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on in-depth interviews to sketch a range of performances of straight masculinity and femininity. Although hegemonic straight identities rely on homophobic practices for their establishment, Dean shows that counter-hegemonic straight identities have emerged that are antihomophobic but still use gender conventional identity practices to perform a straight identity. That is, the association of gender conventional behavior with straightness is one the main ways straight men and women perform their sexual identity in everyday life. Social analysts need to separate out gender conventional identity practices from practices of homophobia. Although gender conventional identity practices perform straightness and its privileged status, they do not necessarily entail homophobic practices of sexual domination. A key point is that some perform queered heterosexualities – straight identities that include some form of sexual fluidity and avoid expressions of homophobia. In short, scholars and others must account for the changing context of straight cultures, its diversity, and the multiplicity of straight masculinities and femininities that exist in America’s dynamic sexual landscape today.
