_______normativity

Homonormativity is not something a person usually hears about. Instead we hear about heteronormativity. And luckily (or unluckily I should say) these two words are closely related. Before we jump into how some resist and critique these standards, I feel that it is important to define exactly what they mean. So first, let’s start off with the easier one. Heteronormativity, at a basic level, upholds the idea that the two sexes (male and female) should be involved in a heterosexual relationship with one another. Furthermore, it supports beliefs in gender roles (women in the home, men at work, etc) and the nuclear family (think 1950’s mother, father, children). Homonormativity is the idea that members of LGBTQ community want to conform or adopt the ideologies or norms that heteronormativity has put into place. These standards create a right and wrong way of doing sexuality and life in general. By not committing to these norms, a person gets tagged as other. They don’t get counted. And, as we all know, not being counted has huge and hurtful consequences.

In the introduction to Desiring Disability: Queer Theory Meets Disability Studies, Robert McRuer and Abby Wilkerson recognize that homonormativity and heteronormativity are at work in the world. However, instead of simply accepting this statement as true and unchanging, McRuer and Wilkerson make a sort of call for action. In the text, they assert that queer disability (or queer and disability, any combo of the two really) activism and studies can resist and critique these norms: “Dissent… must be enacted as resistance to compulsory able-bodieness, along with compulsory heterosexuality. We argue that crips and queers should insist both on teaching straight culture the lessons they have learned from dissent and on understanding dissent as a central component of progressive political agency generally. Another world is possible, but we need to be vigilant” (10).

One such group that resists this heteronormativity and able-body-normativity is the Axis Dance Company. This company challenges what most people think of as dance. They challenge who people think of when they think of dancers. They challenge which bodies are allowed to normally dance with other bodies. They resist norms that are in place. Instead of having all able-bodied dancers, there are dancers who use wheelchairs. Instead of having a male and female coupling, there are same gendered couplings. Instead of having able-bodies dance with able-bodies and disabled bodies only with disabled bodies, any type of body can dance with any other type of body. The dance company doesn’t dismiss or tokenize the differences of its members. It acknowledges and incorporates them. By taking these variances and presenting them as normal or right, it asserts that they are legitimate.

Another group that legitimizes difference is the How’s Your News crew from the MTV show of the same name. Before I talk about it, let’s take a look at the trailer:

http://vimeo.com/2865987
(Editor's note: The show already aired and I don't think it's coming back for a second season. So don't look for it this February.)

The first thing I noticed about with this show is that the cast consists of all people with disabilities. MTV doesn’t try to hide this fact or pretend that the disabilities don’t exist. The show, similar to the Axis Dance Company, doesn’t dismiss or tokenize. It presents it as is and makes a statement. The statement is, at a basic level, that these types of bodies are legitimate and real. They count.

How’s Your News, again similar to the Axis Dance Company, provides visibility for an underrepresented community of people. With visibility comes awareness. And with awareness comes the opportunity to resist and change the way things are.


(Video courtesy of Vimeo)