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.

1940, July 30: Knoxville News-Sentinel, p. 15

HET Knoxville_News-Sentinel_1940-07-30_15.pdf

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Indoctrination in heterosexuality:
“You may recall my outlining the stages in our emotional development. The first is the egocentric. . . . Then comes the parental. . . , followed by the gang stage; then the heterosexual stage wherein he looks to the opposite sex for affection and a mate, and lastly the stage of altruism.”