Resisting and Challenging Heteronormativity: The Example of Barbara Gittings

This essay discusses how people resist and challenge heteronormativity, focusing on the example of Barbara Gittings. It explores the diversity of sexuality and the dominance of heterosexuality in society. Gittings, a prominent gay rights activist, fought against societal norms and worked to change perceptions of homosexuality.

Running head: SEXUALITIES
SEXUALITIES
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Part A: Essay
From the last two decades, an enormous body of work has been generated by feminists
across the world. Several questions have always bothered feminists ranging from basic questions
such as ‘why women are associated with childcare and household work?’ to difficult questions
such as ‘why lesbian love is invisible and hard to understand’? Feminists went on for years
scrutinising society’s traditional answers regardless of the sources of those answers (Shildrick).
Feminist have also generated work on sexuality as well as contributing to the achievement of
legalising gay rights in many countries. Due to this reason, the majority of people resist to accept
their sexuality and live fearlessly. The paper aims to discuss the ways people resist and challenge
compulsory heterosexuality and heteronormativity considering an example that portrays the ways
that sexuality does not conform to monogamous, reproductive and heteronormativity. One such
person who has contributed to bringing change in thinking pattern of people is Barbara Gittings.
In order to discuss the example, various concepts would require to be defined. It is
important to understand, sexuality is diverse, and there are various types of sexuality. Although
the definitions are simple, it is not certainly simple. There is a diverse type of sexuality
involving bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and queer and many more. Despite the fact there are
more than two sexualities, there is a dominance of heterosexuality in society (Herz and Thomas).
Heteronormativity is the idea that binary orientations or heterosexual orientation are the norms.
A heteronormative society has built the society in such a way that anything apart from binary
orientation seems different and inappropriate. However, for years feminist have contributed to a
great extent in order to remove this notion and breaking society’s generalised norms (Hobbs and
Rice)

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Barbara Gittings was a lover of a book who read to an extensive amount. At a very young
age, she realised her love for the same gender. During 1949, moving to Northern University, she
began researching about homosexuality. It was disheartening for her to find that the only
information she found about homosexuality was written by medical professionals who called
homosexuality as either disease or pervasion (Allyn). It was only then when she decided to
investigate and bring change. She was one of the initial activists that raised voice on behalf of
homosexuality and spend the rest of life working in many ways in order to correct the scientific
journals and the books she read (Baim).
Barbara Gittings is widely recognised as the mother of the LGBT civil rights and a
prominent gay rights activist that raised voice against lesbian and gay men. During the time
when not only women dared to come out, she dared to raise her voice to prove the books she read
as wrong. It was the work of Barbara grittings that challenged the normalised thinking of people.
During the late 1950s, the first national organisation was founded by her in New York chapters
of the Daughters of Bilitis followed by her participation in early gay rights demonstrations that
rose during the 1960s. In the 1970s, she provided her assistance to the American Psychiatric
Association in changing its stance on homosexuality and in 1973, the association cancelled its
definition of homosexuality as a mental disorder. She has worked years to make information
about gay and lesbian more recognised and widely available in libraries. Her fight for
homosexuality was the first movements raising awareness among the people with homophobia.
heteronormativity is enrooted deeply in society due to the patriarchal gender role, in the system
that works to normalise behaviour and societal expectation. Barbara’ work was the initiation
against the heteronormativity, when she began to revolt people across the area began joining her
making it a global issue. Only a few people could have the courage to question the standards in

3SEXUALITIES
order to pass off that’s called normal or natural and people who are deviated from this
expectation are marked abnormal. The system of heteronormativity suggests the things that
should be expected by men and things that should be expected from women. Barbara refused to
believe those texts book and redefined them.
As discussed above, feminist have work through in order to break the nomalised conpect
of sexuality. One of the major contributors of this is Barbara Gittings. In the age of traditional
believes she revolted against the research material and the literature to change the definition of
homosexuality eliminating it as mental disorder or any forms of illness.

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Part B: Annotated bibliography
Herz, Marcus, and Thomas Johansson. "The normativity of the concept of heteronormativity."
Journal of Homosexuality 62.8 (2015): 1009-1020.
The article critically analyzes the concept of heteronomativity and finds approaches that
would help using the concept. Although homosexuality has come a long way on the legal papers,
there are specific barriers faced by people who do not abide by the two genders relationship.
Sexuality is not regarding an individual’s existing sex or sexual relationship with another person,
it is regarding the sexual feelings, attractions, thoughts and behaviour towards other people. The
fact that makes a person emotionally, physically and sexually attractive is the part of a person’s
sexuality. A person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex is called a homosexual, a
person who is sexually attracted to people of other sex rather than own is called heterosexual.
The article has helped understanding the basic yet significant terminologies in order to carry out
the esaay.
Baim, Tracy. Barbara Gittings: Gay Pioneer. Prairie Avenue Productions, 2015.
The book is about Barabar Gittings who is the example of the people resisting and
challenging the generalized perspective of sexuality. She is one of the iconic figures who denied
accepting the heteronormativity. She was a vocal and highly visible person in times when it was
extremely difficult. Grittings also successfully performed her work to promote gay literature in
order to eliminate the discrimination associated with homosexuality from the national libraries.
The book has helped carrying out the essay by proving adequate information about her
contribution and the related work of the gay pioneer.

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Bibliography:
Allyn, David. Make love, not war: the sexual revolution: an unfettered history. routledge, 2016.
Baim, Tracy. Barbara Gittings: Gay Pioneer. Prairie Avenue Productions, 2015.
Herz, Marcus, and Thomas Johansson. "The normativity of the concept of heteronormativity."
Journal of Homosexuality 62.8 (2015): 1009-1020.
Hobbs, Margaret Helen, and Carla Rice, eds. Gender and women's studies in Canada: Critical
terrain. Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2013.
Shildrick, Margrit. Leaky bodies and boundaries: Feminism, postmodernism and (bio) ethics.
Routledge, 2015.