Challenging heteronormativity in medicine

Abstract

This chapter highlights and challenges the presence of heteronormativity in medicine. It presents defining ‘heteronormativity’ and some important related concepts and discusses how medicine is structured to distinguish ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ and explores how this structure easily lends itself to the enactment of broader sociocultural norms concerning gender and sexuality. The chapter examines several reasons why heteronormativity is a problem that medical practitioners should pay close attention to. It deals with some thoughts about how medical education and practice might push back against the enactment of heteronormativity. The work of Michel Foucault offers useful insights for the study of heteronormativity in the development of norms and values in medicine. Medical providers need to be better about recognising the patient’s social and cultural contexts, as well as being reflexive about their own sociocultural baggage that fuels heteronormativity, heterosexism, and homophobia both within and outside of the clinic.

Publication Title

Routledge Handbook of the Medical Humanities

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