Volu m e I - Purdue University Calumet

I have often found myself commiserating with a group of friends when I am shocked out of the
conversation: “That’s so gay!” a friend exclaims. I wince. I would not label my friends as homophobic—
they have neither an aversion to nor a fear of homosexuals—yet they use the term “gay” derogatively.
Certainly this is wrong. So where does that phrase fit in? If not homophobia, then what? Carelessness?
Insensitivity? The answer is heterosexism: widespread, socially accepted anti-homosexual behaviors.
Heterosexism is present in all aspects of life, large or small, from violent hate crimes to the use of the
derogative phrase “that’s so gay” as a joke. The latter may seem trivial, but when such small incidences
happen continuously, “in hospitals, in churches, in bus stops, in movie theatres, in elevators, in taxicabs, in
dinner conversations, and in shopping malls,” such trivialities create a venomous environment in which
homosexuals must live (Aguinaldo 94). The semantics of American society frame homosexuality as a
disorder. Gender roles learned in childhood develop into anti-homosexual behaviors in adulthood, which
manifest as oppression of homosexuals on a cultural level. This societal heterosexism frames homosexuals as
“the other,” a phenomenon that is expressed through the use of language that derides homosexuals.
Recognition of heterosexism in society should lead to a reexamination of discriminatory semantics and help
to lift the oppression weighing down on homosexuals in all aspects of their lives.
The link between gender roles and sexual orientation is not always obvious, yet strong ties do exist.
Men and women who transgress gender norms are often perceived to be homosexual. Why? Sexuality
traditionally is considered a function of gender (Corbett 846). Just as men are expected to be strong and
athletic and women are expected to be sensitive and nurturing, gender norms prescribe heterosexual
orientations to each gender. Clinical Assistant Professor at the New York University Postdoctoral Program
in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and author of Boy Hoods: Rethinking Masculinity, Ken Corbett, Ph.D.,
explains, “it was claimed that desire was… coded and fixed by gender: female gender traits = the wish for
male traits, male gender traits = the wish for female traits in keeping with the model of heterosexual
83