My Complicated Thoughts On Normativity

If you hang around LGBT circles, I imagine you’ve heard the terms “cisnormativity” and “heteronormativity.” If not, although most people think of them as obscure academic terms, their definitions are very self-explanatory. They refer to a civilization where being cisgender and heterosexual are seen as the “normal” thing to be, the default of human existence with anything else being an alternative or exception.

For as long as movements that fought for the rights of people who aren’t cisgender nor heterosexual have existed, the concept of abolishing these two concepts have been a common end goal. Assimilationists believe this can be done by meeting society half way (before getting angry when society actually does meet them half way, but that’s another topic) while liberationists argue the only way we can do so is through — well, fighting for liberation from them. This usually means normalizing the abnormal through just living your life as people see fit.

To speak personally, I’m very skeptical of the notion that either of these concepts can be abolished. Even assuming you can create a society where not being heterosexual or cisgender is seen as just as normal as being those things, you would still have the centuries of civilization to fight against. Most people throughout all of history have been cisgender and heterosexual, albeit that’s primarily…