Everyday [Hetero]Sexism

This paper examines a particular kind of gender oppression—hetero-sexism—and the ways in which African-American and interracial lesbian couples resist heterosexism in everyday life. Heterosexism is the unconscious or explicit belief in the inherent superiority of heterosexuality—that heterosexuality is the only “normal” mode of sexual and social relations. Heterosexism is an essentialist notion of sex differences; that is, biological differences between women and men result in correspondingly different feelings and behaviors, including those regarding sexuality. Heterosexuality is thus constructed as normal and natural, while any other form of sexuality is deviant and in need of explanation. According to Marilyn Frye:

As most people see it, being heterosexual is just being. It is not interpreted. It is not understood as a consequence of anything. It is not viewed as possibly a solution to some problem, or as a way of acting and feeling which one worked out or was pushed to by circumstances. On this sort of view, all women are heterosexual, and some women somehow come to act otherwise. No one is, in the same sense, a lesbian. (Frye 1983, p. 159)