Heteronormativity and Queer Youth Resistance

This chapter discusses discursive therapy practices informed by post-structuralist and queer theories as a way to deconstruct such specifications for therapists who do not want to reproduce narrow, essentializing, and policing practices and that are founded on an ethic of justice, accountability, and solidarity. Queer theory is premised on the post-structuralist notion of non-essentialized identities. Queer youth resistance to homonormativity can be viewed and leveraged through the lens of queer theory as a way to contextualize, historicize, and politicize the ever-changing landscape of youth identity development. Heteronormativity, the institutionalized assumption that everyone is heterosexual and that heterosexuality is inherently superior and preferable to any orientations outside of heterosexuality reflects the hegemonic effects of these discourses and the neglect of history. The intention is to complicate hegemonic assumptions about the continuities between anatomical sex, gender identity, sexual identity, sexual object choice, and sexual practice. In addition, privileging the coming-out narrative can unwittingly work in the service of the institutionalization of heterosexuality.