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4 - Gender and Heteronormativity in Romantic Relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2023

By
April L. Few-Demo  and
Katherine R. Allen
Edited by
Brian G. Ogolsky
Brian G. Ogolsky
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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Summary

In this chapter, guided by an intersectional feminist theoretical approach, we examine gender and sexuality as ubiquitous ideas in personal identity, intimate relationships, family systems, and social institutions. We critique heteronormativity in relational and family science in order to examine the plethora of relationships formed in the context of gender, identity, and sexuality. We examine how social structures at the macro level and social constructions at the microlevel influence selected issues regarding relationship initiation, development, maintenance, and dissolution. We review selected trends in the literature concerning diverse romantic relationships and how they adhere to or critique heteronormative ideologies, thereby, examining ways in which relational partners are both queering and challenging taken for granted assumptions about doing gender and sexuality in relationships.

Keywords

gendersexheteronormativityheterosexismLGBTQqueer
Type
Chapter
Information
The Sociocultural Context of Romantic Relationships , pp. 55 - 70
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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