Midterm II

Heteronormativity and How It Shapes Our Culture
Society has always expressed a negative attitude towards homosexuality; this causes people to fear this lifestyle of living. In addition, most events that occur in society are geared toward heterosexual couples causing homosexuals to easily stick out. One must be heterosexual in order to abide my society’s rules and to be looked at in a positive manner. This societal creation is known as heteronormativity, the way heterosexuality is conceptualized as the norm. Since heterosexuality is extremely visible to society in comparison to homosexuality, it has a great influence on the way many aspects in society are shaped. It especially has a key influence on defining masculinity, views on reproductive issues, and on gendered divisions of labor.

Heteronormativity can strike quite a fear in a man about being a homosexual. In order to prove that oneself fits in the realm of heteronormativity, he must assimilate to how heteronormativity shapes the idea of masculinity. What heteronormativity tells us is that homosexuality is a result of the failure to fit into the norm of heterosexuality. Kimmel explains that “Homophobia is the fear that other men will unmask us, emasculate us, reveal to us and the world that we do not measure up” (Masculinity as homophobia, pg 214). This fear is what drives a man to prove his masculinity, and that he fits the mold of heteronormativity. A man might not completely support the things he does; however, if it proves he is masculine he will do it. Katz describes that this “tough guise” is the attempt to show the world only certain parts of oneself that society has defined as manly. To be masculine a man must fit into the narrow box that defines manhood. Finally, heteronormativity says that to be masculine you must be better than the female sex in many ways and prove it. Kimmel describes this rule of masculinity as, “Be a big wheel. Masculinity is measured by the size of your paycheck and marked by wealth, power, and status” (Women’s voices, pg 465). It’s the bigger and better concept that pushes men to extremes, but it is heteronormativity that drives these beliefs.

Next, heteronormativity influences our ideas about reproductive issues, especially those concerning reproductive health, health policies, and technologies. Heteronormativity has caused people to believe that only heterosexual relationships are healthy. This has caused homosexuality to be looked upon as unnatural. This corresponds to the belief that since these relationships are unnatural they must also be wrong. This has impacted the extreme amount of homophobia that can be seen in our society today. Next, heteronormativity has caused an extremely negative respect towards homosexuals within health policies. It has especially influenced the policies on adoption. Even as people have become more accepting of homosexuality, it is still extremely difficult for homosexuals to adopt children. “It has generally been assumed by the dominant culture that children of homosexual parents will group up to be homosexual, although all the evidence shows that this is indeed not the case” (Women’s voices, pg 173). Heteronormativity has declared this “dominant culture” to be the heterosexual culture and that anything that influences a child to become homosexual is unacceptable. Therefore, it is much easier for heterosexual couples to adopt than homosexual couples. Heteronormativity has also influenced emerging technologies for conception. The idea of helping a homosexual couple have a child through surrogacy or by artificial insemination has carried a negative connotation since the technology was created. Many heterosexual couples believe that the use of this technology is wrong and that it is hurtful to allow a child to be born into a homosexual relationship. Many have even gone as far as petitioning for laws to be created to eliminate the use of this technology. A person’s reproductive policies should be his or her own, and heteronormativity has caused many people to try in invade what should be a private issue.

Finally, heteronormativity has created a gendered division of labor. It is quite prevalent in our society that women are paid less then men in comparable work. Shaw and Lee state that in 2005 the “median wages for women who work full-time, year-round, were 76 percent of those earned by men” (Women’s voices, pg 449). This is caused by the belief that heterosexuality is the norm, and men are the dominant sex in heterosexual relationships. Also, since men believe they need to prove their masculinity with a large paycheck, many women have been forced into doing all of the housework. If men do help in the household they do what many believe is more exciting work. “Women tend to do the repetitive, ongoing, daily kinds of tasks, and men are more likely to perform the less repetitive or seasonal tasks, especially if these tasks involve the use of tools or machines” (Women’s voices, pg 433). This work is usually believed to be more masculine and more important so it is withheld for the men. Heteronormativity has greatly increased the amount of work women do without the respect it deserves.

Most people do not even realize the significance of heteronormativity but it has a large impact on how many parts of society are shaped. Some of these areas include the definition of masculinity, reproductive issues, and labor division. It has caused many negative attitudes towards issues that I believe should be accepted.

Concepts of the Body
The body is a very private place; however, it is also an important site for personalized gender expression. Women are able to be involved in body projects and ideas that allow them to express themselves in different manners. This can be extremely positive and meaningful, yet also very trivial. The role of the media has taken different approaches in supporting this issue in both positive and negative manners. An extremely negative situation that can also occur from expression using the body is sexual violence.

Everyday women employ many disciplinary beauty ideals or practices in order to maintain our bodies in line with society’s standards. These practices are usually very petty; however, many women utilize them to feel more confident and beautiful and to fit in with society’s concept of beauty. Some of these practices include shaving our legs, styling our hair, applying makeup, and fake tanning. Some women go to greater extents by having plastic surgery, tattoos or piercings. These all allow women to share something about themselves and express our own ideas of what we think defines beauty. These ideals can have a negative impact though, when they begin driving people toward meeting a certain level of obscure perfection. They can be especially harmful to young people who may become depressed or encounter psychological problems when they first learn that it is really impossible to achieve this perfection. The ridiculous images seen in society “encourage people to pass for a younger age and have normalized cosmetic surgery (especially breast implants) as something ordinary women should seek and want” (Women’s voices, pg 241). These images are unattainable and should not be driving women’s standards; a woman’s own beliefs should shape who she strives to be.

The media has had a strong influence on how the body is portrayed. Recently, some companies, such as Dove, have supported women of all shapes and sizes. This is a very recent development, though, and most forms of advertisement show only the most perfect or beautiful women. The media portrays very unrealistic ideals of what a woman should be, and it is especially harmful in the eyes of young girls who are easily influenced. Since the media only shows thin, young, women with an immense amount of makeup or cosmetic surgery, it is basically telling many women that they are “not good enough the way they are but need certain products to improve their looks or their relationship” (Women’s voices, pg 141). The media is completely masking the image of what a real woman is and is therefore only diminishing women’s attempt to express themselves.

The media may cause a lot of distress in belittling women; however, it becomes extremely harmful when self-expression leads to sexual violence. Women have started to become more confident and have made great strives in gaining more success. Men become extremely insecure when they see women emerge in powerful positions; there masculinity is now at stake. This causes sexual violence because men must now take down women in order to regain their lost power. This violence is placed solely on the female gender and men have historically not stood up to help women; Shaw and Lee call this the “normalization of sexual violence” (pg 560). Men will not fight the violence and then it becomes even harder for women to a point where we begin to just accept it as a society. Women also have begun to express themselves by wearing more flattering clothing and experimenting with make-up. This desire to attract the opposite sex has also led to extreme violence such as rape. The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years (Fisher 2000). I think this figure is unbelievable and we must fight to decrease it. Yet, as women attempt to express themselves even more, the figures continue to become worse.

It is very uplifting that women are attempting to express themselves strongly in the male dominated society. Unfortunately, these self expressions have been reflected poorly by the media and have increased the level of sexual violence towards women. Women must continue to be confident and come together in order to turn the negative trend around.