The “Box”ing Match: Gender Identity, Positioning, and Agency in Straight Spaces

• In Event: Gendered Identities, Gender Differences, and Agency in Straight Spaces

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze Critical Queer Counterstories of thirteen LGBTQ adults who reflected on the ‘coming out’ process, both in and out of school, identifying salient themes that were revealed. These stories point to the ways in which heteronormative attitudes, practices, and policies constrain gender expression into one stereotypical pattern, relegating other expressions as pathological and giving implicit license for physical and symbolic violence (Garcia and Slesaransky-Poe, 2010, p. 245). The purpose of this paper is to contribute nuance to the concept of heteronormativity, focusing specifically on the gender binary and the ways in which one’s social positioning and individual agency are affected by the binary.

Author

• Bethy Leonardi, University of Colorado - Boulder