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Changing Landscapes of Heteronormativity: The Regulation and Normalization of Same-Sex Sexualities in Europe
- Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society
- Oxford University Press
- Volume 20, Number 2, Summer 2013
- pp. 165-199
- Article
- Additional Information
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This paper explores transformations in institutional norms about same-sex sexualities across four European countries: Bulgaria, Norway, Portugal and the UK. Focusing on the period from the late 1960s to the present day, it examines both endogenous, path-dependent nationally specific factors at work in the changing regulation of same-sex sexualities, particularly the campaigns of lesbian and gay movements, and exogenous influences exerted by processes of Europeanization and transnationalization. Three processes of normative change are discussed: the legitimation of same-sex sexual practice; the protection of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people; and the recognition of intimate relationships. We argue that there has been a radical shift in the landscape of heteronormativity in Europe, with the emergence of a new European norm of "homotolerance" and the progressive normalization of same-sex sexualities: a process of "homonormalization".