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Compulsory Heterosexuality
First coined by Adrienne Rich (1980), the term compulsory heterosexuality refers to the idea that heterosexuality is constructed, institutionalized, and reinforced as not only a universal, but the only “normal” and “acceptable” form of sexuality. One idea behind compulsory heterosexuality ...
- Arts, Popular Culture, and Sports
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Advertising, Gender Images in
- Art, Gender Images In
- Barbie
- Bodybuilding
- Cheerleading
- Children's Literature, Gender Images in
- Diaries
- Feminist Magazines
- Gender Roles on Television Shows
- GI Joe
- Hip-Hop/Rap
- Media and Gender Socialization
- Media and Gender Stereotypes
- Men's Magazines
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- Sports and Homosexuality
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- ACT UP
- All India Women's Conference
- All-China Women's Federation
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- American Men's Studies Association
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- Arabic Feminist Union
- Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
- Bluestocking Society
- Brazilian Federation for the Advancement of Women
- Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE)
- Christian Coalition
- Coalition on Violence Against Women (Kenya)
- Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment
- Concerned Women for America
- Daughters of Bilitis
- Development Alternatives With Women in a New Era
- Federation of South African Women
- Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
- Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
- General Union of Palestinian Women
- Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association
- Human Rights Campaign
- Indigenous Women's Network
- Mattachine Society
- National American Woman Suffrage Association
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws
- National Association of Colored Women
- National Coalition of American Nuns
- National Congress of Mothers
- National Council of Negro Women
- National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs
- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
- National Organization for Men Against Sexism
- National Organization for Women (NOW)
- National Woman's Party
- National Women's Political Caucus
- North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA)
- Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
- Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- Promise Keepers
- Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
- Self-Employed Women's Association
- Sociologists for Women in Society
- United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
- Woman's Peace Party
- Women Against Violence Against Women
- Women, Food and Agriculture Network
- Women's Christian Temperance Union
- Women's Equity Action League
- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Women's Peace Society
- Women's Political Council
- Women's Social and Political Union
- Women's World Banking
- Biographies
- Abzug, Bella
- Addams, Jane
- Anthony, Susan B.
- Anzaldúa, Gloria
- Balch, Emily Greene
- Benedict, Ruth
- Benjamin, Harry
- Blackburn, Molly
- Cooper, Anna Julia
- Day, Dorothy
- de Beauvoir, Simone
- Earhart, Amelia Mary
- Ellis, Havelock
- Erickson, Reed
- First, Ruth
- Freud, Sigmund
- Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini Nehru
- Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
- Goldman, Emma
- Hamer, Fannie Lou
- Hay, Harry
- Hirschfeld, Magnus
- Jones, Mary Harris (Mother)
- Jorgensen, Christine
- Kamal, Sufia
- Kinsey, Alfred C.
- Komarovsky, Mirra
- Krafft-Ebing, Richard von
- Marcuse, Herbert
- Martineau, Harriet
- Mead, Margaret
- Mother Teresa
- Naidu, Sarojini
- Nightingale, Florence
- Orshansky, Mollie
- Ramabai, Pandita
- Rankin, Jeannette
- Ransome-Kuti, Olufunmilayo
- Rivera, Sylvia
- Roosevelt, Eleanor
- Sanger, Margaret
- Sarria, José
- Shaarawi, Huda
- Shepard, Matthew
- Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
- Teena, Brandon
- Truth, Sojourner
- Wollstonecraft, Mary
- Body Image, Health, and Illness
- Ageism
- AIDS and International Women's Health
- Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
- Beauty Pageants
- Body Hair
- Body Image
- Body Politics
- Breast Implants
- Butch/Femme
- Cancer
- Castration
- Cervical Cancer Vaccination
- Chromosome Disorders
- Cosmetic Surgery
- Depression
- Dieting
- Disability
- Eating Disorders
- Emotion Work
- Eugenics
- Exercise and Fitness
- Female Circumcision/Female Genital Mutilation
- Feminist Magazines
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Gender Transgression
- Gynecology
- Health Care Systems, Hidden/Informal
- Health Disparities
- Hegemonic Masculinity
- HIV/AIDS
- Hormone Therapy
- Hormones
- Hysterectomy
- Hysteria
- Infant Mortality Rates
- Infertility
- Intersexual, Intersexuality
- Lookism
- Male Circumcision
- Mastectomy
- Menopause
- Menstruation
- Mental Health
- Midwifery
- New Reproductive Technologies
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Pregnancy
- Premenstrual Syndrome
- Self-Esteem
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Steroids
- Suicide
- Traditional Healing
- Women's Health Movements
- Yin-Yang
- Crime and Criminal Justice
- Access to Justice
- Crime and Criminal Justice, Gender and
- Death Penalty, Gender and the
- Domestic Violence
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Gangs, Boys
- Gangs, Girls
- Genocide
- Honor Killings
- ManKind Project, The
- Mental Health
- Mentors in Violence Prevention Model
- Prison and Parenting
- Prison Culture and Demographics
- Rape
- Rape, Statutory
- Rehabilitation
- Sentencing, Gender Differences
- Sex Work (Prostitution)
- Sexual Harassment
- Sexual Slavery
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Torture
- Economics, Environment, and Ecology
- Aid to Families with Dependent Children
- Comparable Worth
- Domestic Labor
- Economy: History of Women's Participation
- Family Wage
- Female Farming Systems
- Feminization of Labor
- Feminization of Migration
- Gender Wage Gap
- Glass Ceiling
- Global Care Chain Work
- Health Care Systems, Hidden/Informal
- Health Disparities
- Hostile Work Environment
- Household Livelihood Strategies
- Immigrant Households and Gender Dynamics
- Infant Mortality Rates
- Labor Force Participation Rates by Gender
- Mental Health
- Microlending
- Mommy Track
- Occupational Segregation
- Poverty, Feminization of
- Private/Public Spheres
- Sex Work (Prostitution)
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Welfare Reform
- Workfare
- Gender Identities and Roles
- Affirmative Action
- Alpha Male
- Androcentrism
- Androgyny
- Assertiveness Training
- Bears
- Beauty Pageants
- Bem Sex Role Inventory
- Berdache (Two-Spirit)
- Bifurcated Consciousness
- Biological Determinism
- Butch/Femme
- Camp
- Compulsory Heterosexuality
- Consciousness-Raising
- Cross-Dressing
- Discursive Theories of Gender
- Drag King
- Drag Queen
- Ethics and Moral Development, Gender Differences in
- Feminine Mystique
- Footbinding
- Gangs, Boys
- Gangs, Girls
- Gender Dysphoria
- Gender Identities and Socialization
- Gender Identity Disorder
- Gender Outlaw
- Gender Performance
- Gender Role Ideology and Intimacy
- Gender Roles on Television Shows
- Gender Stereotypes
- Gender Transgression
- Genderqueer
- Glass Ceiling
- Hegemonic Masculinity
- Hijra/Hejira
- Hormones
- Hysteria
- Institution, Gender as
- Intersexual, Intersexuality
- Language, Gender Differences
- Lesbian
- Lesbian Separatism
- Lesbian Stereotypes
- Male Feminists
- Menstruation
- Military Masculinity
- Misogyny
- Mommy Track
- Nature/Nurture Debate
- Oedipal Conflict
- Passing
- Privilege, Male
- Self-Esteem
- Sex Versus Gender Categorization
- Sexism
- Sexual Activity: Age at First Intercourse
- Sexual Identities and Socialization
- Stone Butch
- Tomboy/Sissy
- Transgender
- Transsexual
- Transvestite
- Virginity
- International Development and Human Rights
- Asaf Ali, Aruna
- Caste
- Comfort Women
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
- Death Penalty, Gender and the
- Dowry Prohibition Act
- Dowry/Daaj
- Eugenics
- Female Circumcision/Female Genital Mutilation
- Female Farming Systems
- Femicide
- Feminist Activism in Latin America
- Feminization of Migration
- Footbinding
- Genocide
- Global Care Chain Work
- HIV/AIDS
- Honor Killings
- Immigrant Households and Gender Dynamics
- Infant Mortality Rates
- International Women's Day
- Maquiladora
- Microlending
- Midwifery
- NGOs and First- and Second-Generation Rights for Women
- NGOs and Grassroots Organizing
- Population Control
- Pornography, Legal and Political Perspectives
- Postcolonial/Subaltern Feminism
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Rape
- Sex Tourism
- Sex Work (Prostitution)
- Sexual Rights and Citizenship
- Sexual Slavery
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Torture
- Transnational Development, Women and
- United Nations Development Fund for Women
- Politics, Public Policy, and Social Movements
- “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”
- “Personal Is Political”
- Vindication of the Rights of Woman, A
- Abortion
- Affirmative Action
- Aid to Families with Dependent Children
- Anti-Miscegenation Laws
- Assertiveness Training
- Black Feminist Thought
- Bloomsbury Group
- Body Politics
- Consciousness-Raising
- Death Penalty, Gender and the
- Declaration of Sentiments
- Declaration of the Rights of Women
- Defense of Marriage Act
- Disability
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
- Eugenics
- Family Law
- Family Medical Leave Act
- Feminism and Militarization
- Feminist Activism in Latin America
- Femocrat
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Fetal Rights/Public Fetus
- Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
- Gender Discrimination in Employment
- Health Care Systems, Hidden/Informal
- HIV/AIDS
- Hull House
- Intersexual, Intersexuality
- Lesbian Feminism
- Lookism
- ManKind Project, The
- Marriage Promotion Act
- Married Women's Property Acts
- Men's Movements
- Mentors in Violence Prevention Model
- Military Masculinity
- Military, Women in Relation to
- Military, Women Serving in
- Million Man March
- New Reproductive Technologies
- NGOs and First- and Second-Generation Rights for Women
- NGOs and Grassroots Organizing
- Nineteenth Amendment
- Poor Women's Grassroots Organizations in America
- Population Control
- Pornography, Legal and Political Perspectives
- Seneca Falls Convention
- Sentencing, Gender Differences
- Sex Work (Prostitution)
- Sex-Radical Feminists
- Sexuality and Reproduction
- Suffrage Movement
- Surrogacy
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- Title IX
- Transgender Political Organizing
- Uniform Marital Property Act
- United Nations Decade for Women
- Universal Human Rights
- Violence Against Women Act
- Welfare Reform
- Women and National Identity
- Women's Political Council
- Women's Social Movements, History of
- Workfare
- Race and Ethnicity
- “Down Low,” The
- Access to Justice
- Activo/Passivo Sex Roles
- Anti-Miscegenation Laws
- Anzaldúa, Gloria
- Berdache (Two-Spirit)
- Black Feminist Thought
- Body Politics
- Caste
- Colorism
- Death Penalty, Gender and the
- Ethnic Cleansing
- Eugenics
- Gangs, Boys
- Gangs, Girls
- Genocide
- Global Care Chain Work
- Health Care Systems, Hidden/Informal
- Health Disparities
- Hijra/Hejira
- Hip-Hop/Rap
- HIV/AIDS
- Immigrant Households and Gender Dynamics
- Indian General Allotment Act
- Intersectionality
- Kamal, Sufia
- Lookism
- Mail-Order Brides
- Maquiladora
- Mestiza Consciousness
- Million Man March
- Naidu, Sarojini
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- National Association of Colored Women
- National Council of Negro Women
- Postcolonial/Subaltern Feminism
- Prison Culture and Demographics
- Ramabai, Pandita
- Ransome-Kuti, Olufunmilayo
- Sarria, José
- Sati
- Self-Esteem
- Sentencing, Gender Differences
- Shaarawi, Huda
- Stratified Reproduction
- Sufia Kamal
- Torture
- Traditional Healing
- Truth, Sojourner
- Relationships, Marriage, and the Family
- Adultery
- Aid to Families with Dependent Children
- Arranged Marriages
- Bachelors and Spinsters
- Bisexuality
- Boston Marriages
- Bridal Industry
- Caregiving
- Child Support
- Chivalry
- Cohabitation
- Commitment Ceremonies
- Courtly Love
- Courtship
- Deadbeat Dads
- Divorce
- Domestic Labor
- Domestic Partners/Civil Unions
- Domestic Violence
- Dowry/Daaj
- Eldercare
- Emotion Work
- Extended Families
- Family Law
- Family Medical Leave Act of 1963
- Family Wage
- Family, Organization of
- Fatherhood Movements
- Feminization of Migration
- Gender Stereotypes
- Global Care Chain Work
- Gynecology
- Hegemonic Masculinity
- Household Family and Medical Leave Act
- Household Livelihood Strategies
- Immigrant Households and Gender Dynamics
- Incest
- Infertility
- Mail-Order Brides
- Marriage
- Marriage Promotion Act
- Married Women's Property Acts
- Mate Selection
- Maternalism
- Maternity Leave
- Matrilineal Systems
- Midwifery
- Military Families
- Monogamy
- Motherhood
- Online Dating
- Parental Leave
- Patriarchy
- Polyamory
- Polygamy
- Poverty, Feminization of
- Pregnancy
- Prison and Parenting
- Private/Public Spheres
- Romance and Relationships
- Same-Sex Families
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Sati
- Sexuality and Reproduction
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Single-Parent Households
- Sperm Donors
- Surrogacy
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- Uniform Marital Property Act
- Veiling
- Welfare Reform
- Wet Nursing
- Workfare
- Religion, Mythology, and Spirituality
- Christianity and Homosexuality
- Christianity: Status of Women in
- Clergy Sex Scandals
- Deities, Gender Images and
- Divine Feminine Spirituality
- Honor Killings
- Hysteria
- Judaism, Gender Roles and
- Mormons, Gender Roles and
- Nuns
- Polygamy
- Religion, Gender Roles in
- Shakti Shanthi
- Shari'a
- Theology, Feminist
- Traditional Healing
- Voodoo
- Wicca
- Witches
- Women and Islam
- Yin-Yang
- Science, Research, Education, and Technology
- Breast Implants
- Cancer
- Chromosome Disorders
- Cyborg Manifesto
- Depression
- Domestic Technology
- Education: Chilly Climate in the Classroom
- Education: Gender Differences
- Feminist Bioethics
- Feminist Disability Theory
- Feminist Ethnography
- Feminist Methodology
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Gender and the Brain
- Gender and the Internet
- Genetic Prenatal Testing
- Gynecology
- HIV/AIDS
- Hormone Therapy
- Hysterectomy
- Masculinity Studies
- Materialist Feminism
- Menopause
- Mental Health
- Midwifery
- New Reproductive Technologies
- Population Control
- Postmodern Feminism
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Premenstrual Syndrome
- Psychoanalytic Feminism
- Queer Studies
- Research, Gender Bias in
- Scientific Motherhood
- Sex Education
- Sexology and Sex Research
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Standpoint Theory
- Steroids
- Traditional Healing
- Transgender Studies
- Women in Science
- Women Studies
- Women's Health Movements
- Sexuality and Reproduction
- “Down Low,” The
- Tearoom Trade
- Abortion
- Activo/Passivo Sex Roles
- Bisexuality
- Breastfeeding
- Celibacy
- Chastity
- Compulsory Heterosexuality
- Contraception
- Cybersex
- Feminist Sex Wars
- Fertility Rates
- Heterosexual Privilege
- Heterosexuality
- Homophobia
- Homosexuality
- Incest
- Infertility
- Lesbian
- Masturbation
- Mate Selection
- Morning-After Pill
- Nature/Nurture Debate
- New Reproductive Technologies
- Penile Erectile Dysfunction
- Phallocentrism
- Polyamory
- Pornography, Contemporary-Mainstream
- Pornography, Legal and Political Perspectives
- Queer
- Sadomasochism
- Safer Sex
- Sex Toys
- Sexology and Sex Research
- Sex-Radical Feminists
- Sexual Activity: Age at First Intercourse
- Sexual Identities and Socialization
- Sexual Rights and Citizenship
- Sexual Slavery
- Sexuality and Reproduction
- Sodomy
- Sperm Donors
- Sports and Homosexuality
- Sterilization
- Stratified Reproduction
- Surrogacy
- Tea Rooms
- Teen Pregnancy
- Virginity
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