Blackwell Reference Online

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Culture installs meaning in our lives from the very first moment we enter the social world. Our sexual orientation or sexual identity is defined by the symbolic order of that world through the use of verbal as well as nonverbal language. How we come to understand what it means to be heterosexual is a product of a culture's symbolic order and its organizing practices. Heterosexuality as a social category is much more than the fact of one's sexual or affectional attractions. What we think of when we talk about heterosexuality or refer to ourselves as heterosexual is a product of a society's meaning-making processes. In reality, heterosexuality operates as a highly organized social institution that varies across culture, history, region, religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, lifespan, social class, and ability. The task of examining this highly pervasive and taken-for-granted social arrangement requires a conceptual framework capable of revealing how heterosexuality has become institutionalized, naturalized, and normalized. Any attempt to examine the institution of heterosexuality and its incumbent meanings requires a theory and methodology capable of inquiring into its naturalized operation and pervasive social practices (e.g., dating, proms, weddings, Valentine's Day, online dating services, etc.). French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's concept of the imaginary is especially useful ... log in or subscribe to read full text