Hetero-what? If you're like me, you had to look at that word carefully. Before taking the Intro to Women's Studies course, I had never heard words such as, heteronormativity, intersectionality, or cisgender. Reading for fun is how I spend most of my leisure time, so it's rare to come across a word I have never heard of before.
Heteronormativity is the "assumption and expectation of heterosexuality... as a natural and biologically necessary for procreation" (Martin and Kazyak 316). And what are the requirements of heteronormativity? "Being married, monogamous, procreative... and intraracial" (Martin and Kazyak 317). Did Emily Tubman fulfill the "requirements" of heteronormativity? Yes and no. She married Richard Tubman on June 25, 1818. (The image above is their wedding announcement from The Augusta Herald.) Was she monogamous? Since there is no record of marriage infidelity, we can assume she and Richard were involved in a happy, monogamous relationship. Was she procreative? No. Richard Tubman died in 1836 and their marriage had produced no children. Was the marriage intraracial? Yes, both Richard Tubman and Emily Harvie Thomas were Caucasians.
Heteronormativity was the "norm" in the mid-nineteenth century (Emily's time) and is still considered normal behavior in our culture but that is slowly changing with greater acceptance of out-of wedlock relationships, common-law marriages, same sex marriages and greater awareness of the gender spectrum.
Sources:
The Augusta Herald. June 30, 1818.
Martin, Karin A. and Emily Kazyak. "Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G-Rated Films." Gender and Society. 23.3 (2009): 315-336.
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