Authors
Panteá Farvid
Publication date
2015
Source
The Palgrave handbook of the psychology of sexuality and gender
Pages
92-108
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Description
Heterosexuality is both pervasive and normative in the current sociocultural milieu. Due to its privileged societal status, heterosexuality is also (ironically) quite elusive. Within the social science literature, heterosexuality is generally defined as a sexual or relational identity (belonging to individuals or groups) and also as a social institution (which structures daily life). Historically, heterosexuality has largely been ignored in psychological theory and research as a topic of, or for, analysis. Psychological theory has assumed that heterosexuality is a ‘given’ and ‘normal’, and focused its research on sexualities that sit outside this supposed norm (e.g. homosexuality, lesbianism). Such research has functioned to further normalise heterosexuality, while pathologising other ways of being sexual, without taking into account the historical conditions that have produced heterosexuality as the ‘norm’. Psychological research …
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Scholar articles
P Farvid - The Palgrave handbook of the psychology of sexuality …, 2015