heteronormative

[het-er-uh-nawr-muh-tiv]

adjective

1. noting or relating to behavior or attitudes consistent with traditional male or female gender roles and the assumption of heterosexuality as the norm.

   our heteronormative culture.

Other Word Forms

• heteronormativity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of heteronormative¹

First recorded in 1990–95; hetero(sexual) ( def. ) + normative ( def. )

Example Sentences

As a gay man — notably, like Rauschenberg — he was socially invisible in a heteronormative society.

From Los Angeles Times

“I’d only dated men up until my partner… I feel like the world is so saturated with love songs from a very heteronormative perspective and I felt no interest in it at all.”

From Los Angeles Times

Benny was forced into the closet by the homophobic jocks that gleefully threatened to gaybash anyone who didn’t adhere to the heteronormative hierarchy, and Grace got slapped with the nickname “Disgrace” after a nude photo was spread among the same crowd.

From Salon

Whether a couple makes it to “I do” at all depends on what brings each man and woman in this heteronormative marriage market together in the first place, which is truthful communication.

From Salon

It says a lot about the staid state of masculinity that men want the same heteronormative version of handsome that has defined male beauty standards for years.

From Slate