Does it ever annoy you that every example given in a school text book refers to male / female couples? What about when your parents’ friends automatically ask you about having a boyfriend or girlfriend of the opposite sex? Or how about if you have two moms or two dads and all the forms at school ask for, "mother's information" and "father's information?"
If so, that's probably because you experienced heterosexism!
Heterosexism is the assumption that everyone is heterosexual or that being heterosexual is preferable to being GLBT. It often appears in the bias society has towards opposite sex couples.
But heterosexisim is not always the product of blatant discrimination as much as it is born of naivety or ignorance.
As the About guide to race relations explains: "You can do heterosexist things without homophobic motives, like eHarmony does--matching only opposite-sex couples because those are the only kinds of relationships that their matchmaking formula has been written to address."
But even if heterosexism isn’t overtly homophobic, it sure can be annoying!
