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by Souffle of Pain 03/17/2005, 5:08am PST |
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http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=9&id=5621
Pinkett-Smith Angers Gay Activist, Sparks New Term
03.08.05
By Ross von Metzke
(Boston, MA) — According to a gay rights activist at Harvard University, Jada Pinkett-Smith is a heteronormative actress.
If you’ve never heard the word used in a sentence before, don’t feel surprised — beyond select academics and gay activists, it’s a word few use — that is until the wife of actor Will Smithangered one gay rights activist at a recent speaking engagement to theatre students at Harvard.
"Women, you can have it all - a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career," the actress said to a crowd of approximately 150 students at Sanders Theatre.
According to Jordan Woods, co-chair of Harvard’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance, the comments were “extremely heteronormative” and made members of BGLTSA uncomfortable.
“This is a fancy way of coming up with another `ism' word,'” said Jesse Sheidlower, North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. “They could have said `heterosexist.'”
Although it hasn't yet entered the OED, one gay-themed glossary offers this definition: "Sustaining or promoting heterosexuality as the dominant sociopolitical institution by which gender norms and behavior standards are set for everyone in society."
Several language experts have called it a polite synonym for the perjorative 'breeder.'
'Heteronormative' has been cruising academic jargon for at least a decade; “1960s Spy Films as the Locus of Heteronormative Masculinity" was an actual paper presented at a scholarly conference.
A spokeswoman for Pinkett-Smith has apologized if her comments offended anyone but reminded the university that she was not addressing the BGLTSA but rather members of the theatre department.
“She was simply trying to express that women’s choices are not near so limited as they once were,” the spokeswoman told the Boston Herald.
© 2005 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved
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