Constructing the Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual System, by Jonathan Ned Katz

This feature explores the human production of the terms and concepts "heterosexual," "homosexual," and "bisexual," which are presented here as evidence of the construction of a historically specific social order or regime. This is the social-historical institution or system that divides people, identities, desires, acts, relationships, and groups into heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual with profound subjective, objective, psychological, social consequences. The chronology includes scholarly works dating to the 1980s, when historians began to develop what is now called "critical heterosexual history," analysis that interrogates the historically specific discourses and institutions that comprise the hetero, homo, bi system. First published on OutHistory in 2014. Last edit: April 15, 2021.

1937, October 27: Knoxville News-Sentinel, p.20

HET Knoxville_News-Sentinel_1937-10-27_20.pdf

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Indoctrination in heterosexuality:
“Parents can favorably condition their children’s attitudes toward love and marriage, toward heterosexual relationships, so that the little ones are already well fortified for happy marriage, before they are sexually matured.”