Heteronormativity in the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Young People

ABSTRACT

Heteronormativity, as defined in queer theory, is the presumption and privileging of heterosexuality. Research on how young people make sense of and narrate heteronormativity in their own lives is needed to inform theories of heteronormativity. Using queer and intersectional frameworks, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 sexual and gender minority young people (ages 18 to 24), analyzed using thematic analysis, to examine how young adults make sense of heteronormativity. Participants discussed how gender expression informed both sexuality and sexual attraction. Participants prioritized biological parenthood over other family constructions but rarely discussed marriage. Gender, sexuality, and race contributed important contexts for how participants described heteronormativity in their lives and should be the focus of future research. Finally, binaries of gender, sexuality, and family intersected in participants’ lives and their narrative constructions.

KEYWORDS:

• Gay
• lesbian
• bisexual
• transgender
• gender
• intersectionality
• sexuality
• youth/emerging adulthood

Acknowledgments

This research was supported, in part, by grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and grant T32HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Amanda M. Pollitt acknowledges support from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant F32AA025814). This research uses data from the Risk and Protective Factors for Suicide Among Sexual Minority Youth Study, designed by Arnold H. Grossman and Stephen T. Russell, and supported by Award R01MH091212 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Stephen T. Russell acknowledges the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.