The Pros And Cons Of Heteronormativity In The Media

Historically, societies have separated the sexes into male and female and assigned specific gender roles for each group to ‘perform’ and recognized that only heterosexual relationships, between a man and a woman, are normal. These ideologies of heteronormativity have been reinforced throughout various social institutions including the media where heteronormative portrayals have been considered as normal and standard. Mary F. Rogers mentions in her article “Hetero Barbie?” of how “Commonly intertwined with such heterocentrism are values celebrating heterosexuality as normal and natural while condemning or at least rejecting lesbigay sexualities” (Rogers, 72). Heteronormativity is largely present in the media and reinforce dominant norms of society, portraying mostly heterosexual romantic relationships and refusing to present homosexual

My father went on to describe how Kurt, one of the gay characters in the show, conforms to the gay stereotype of being stylish and having feminine qualities. Both Kevin and Kaitlin had similar responses to what my father said; however, Kaitlin had more specific points to discuss in the heteronormative, stereotypical depictions of Kurt and his relationship with Blaine, another gay character in the show. She said that “Blaine seems to be a man in the relationship and Kurt seems to be the feminine man” (Kaitlin). This statement by Kaitlin further suggests that it is normal, even if it is a same-sex couple, to distinguish who serves the feminine role and who the man is in the relationship. Furthermore, she said that she was sure that Kurt was gay, even before the show directly identified Kurt’s sexual orientation, because “he is shown as being too flamboyant and also has feminine qualities, like his high-pitched voice”