Finding its routes in Adrienne Rich’s 1980 essay, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” this term refers to a culture which determines & presents heterosexuality as the only acceptable foundation of sexual and romantic relationship based on heteronormative assumptions that man-woman couplings are ‘natural’ & thereby normal. Compulsory heterosexuality serves to deny sexual self-determination & systemically oppress by limiting sexual and romantic possibilities, leading to discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. Its reinforcement as a social norm may reveal its conditioned nature. Resisting will permit sexual self-determination.
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