Beyond Heteronormativity: Subjectivation and the Construction of Sexual Identities

Abstract

This article explores the social construction of non-heteronormative sexual identities using as a theoretical framework the articulation of three dimensions of sexual experience: integration, strategy and subjectivation. It is argued that the formation of non-heteronormative identities can be better understood as a result of sexual subjectivation and, more particularly, of the tension between it and another important logic of sexual experience, integration. This happens because individuals that live beyond the conventional boundaries of heteronormativity build their sexual experience inevitably in conflict with such hegemonic norms, entailing a process of reflexivity that contributes to produce a distance between the Self and conventional roles and values, questioning them or even adopting alternative models.