Page 216 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

190 sexual - orientation microaggressions and heterosexism

or stereotypes, sodomy laws, gay panic defenses in assault or murder trials,
adoption bans against same - sex couples, barring gays from serving in the
military, and so on, are prime examples of overt, conscious, and deliberate
LGBT discrimination. The overt and conscious manifestations of anti - LGBT
acts, however, represent only the tip of the iceberg of heterosexism.

Invisible Heterosexism

Heterosexism may be defined as a sexual-orientation worldview that contains

beliefs and attitudes that (a) all people are/or should be heterosexual, (b) it is
more desirable to be heterosexual, and (c) it represents the norm of both gender
identity and sexual attraction. By implication then, nonheterosexuals (LGBTs)
do not exist or should become heterosexual, are undesirable, and are consid-
ered abnormal (Heterosexism, 2009; Safe Space, 2009). When this worldview
is inculcated into individuals, institutions, and our society, it becomes a sys-
temic and pervasive force that mistreats, denigrates, invalidates, insults, and
oppresses LGBTs. Heterosexism can operate openly in a mean - spirited and
deliberate manner, or can operate insidiously through invisibility, underrep-
resentation, erasure, lack of acknowledgment, the unspoken, and silence. The
latter expressions of heterosexism constitute a major part of sexual - orientation
microaggressions.
Heterosexism as a worldview contains many possible manifestations, such
as homophobia and heterocentricism. The former term refers to the fear of
homosexuality, fear of becoming gay, and a fear of homosexual contagion
(Weinberg, 1972; Herek, 1984, 2004). The latter refers to an assumption that
someone is heterosexual and/or the “ privileging of heterosexual identities
and relationships ” (Hylton, 2005). While some have argued that heterocen-
tricism is not a component of heterosexism, its active imposition on LGBTs
constitutes a form of sexual prejudice. We prefer the term heterosexism to
homophobia and heterocentricism because (1) many heterosexuals, despite
their negative attitudes toward LGBTs, do not possess phobias of sexual minor-
ities per se and (2) the harm rendered to LGBTs can come from assumptions of
heterosexuality as well.
Visible heterosexism is more easily combated than its invisible manifesta-

tions. Invisible heterosexism is reflected in an unconscious worldview that
is encoded into the individual ’ s unconscious psyche, and our major social,
cultural, and economic institutions. As a result, sexual - orientation prejudice,
bias, and discriminatory behaviors operate in such a manner as to oppress

1/19/10 6:12:56 PM
c09.indd 190
c09.indd 190 1/19/10 6:12:56 PM