Compulsory Heterosexuality

Popularized by Rich (1981), compulsory heterosexuality is the cultural assumption that both males and females are biologically predisposed to heterosexuality. The assumption that biology excludes a naturalized explanation of homosexuality limits humans to only heterosexual attraction. Therefore, the operation of compulsory heterosexuality usually involves the hegemonic manner in which heterosexuality is reified and naturalized, while homosexuality is considered the product of either psychological dysfunction or personal deviant choice. From this understanding homosexuality is deviant because it is thought to go against supposed natural inclinations. Hegemonic understandings of heterosexuality have often been supported by the misconception that other animals are also exclusively heterosexual, even though Bagemihl (1999) has shown homosexuality, as temporary sexual behavior and as a form of long‐term relationship coupling, exists widely throughout the animal kingdom

Hegemony · Heterosexuality · Homosexuality · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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