“‘Heteronormative’ means treating heterosexuality as the norm.”
So notes a piece on the latest brouhaha at Harvard University, Jada Pinkett Smith’s outrageously heteronormative remarks at a recent event there.
The insensitive Ms. Pinkett Smith said that today women can “have it all — a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career.”
The outrage was fast and furious:
“On March 2, The Harvard Crimson reported that some members of the Harvard Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance had been offended by the speech and were calling for an apology….In response, the foundation pledged to ’inform future speakers that they will be speaking to an audience diverse in race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, sex, and class.’
A cochair of the event at which Pinkett Smith made her ill-considered heteronormative remarks said that Pinkett Smith was not intentionally offensive but that her comments were nevertheless out of bounds because they reflected a “strong focus on how to effectively be in a relationship — a heterosexual relationship.”