• What does "straight" mean?
• Origin of the term “heterosexual”
• Heteronormativity
• Symbols of heterosexuality

We explain what the word hetero means and in what words it is used as a prefix. Also, what is heterosexual and heteronormativity.

The hetero is what differs, like men from women.

What does "straight" mean?

with the word hetero (sometimes written hetero) is referenced in very different contexts to everything related to the different, the other, the unequal or the differentiable. It is a legacy of ancient Greek ἑτερο- (“another” or “different”) and acts in Spanish as a prefix, that is, a lexical component that precedes a word and adds a specific meaning to it.

Thus, when we use the word heterogeneous (made of hetero, “other”, and genes, "lineage" or "race") we refer to something that is composed of elements of different types, that is, something whose nature is not pure, but mixed, diverse, mixed. For example, in chemistry a heterogeneous mixture is one in which we can distinguish its compositional elements, the opposite of a homogeneous mixture.

Another example is the word heterodox (made of hetero, “other”, and doxa, “opinion”), which is used to refer to someone or something that is not governed by conventional norms, that does not follow tradition, but invents its own way or that interprets the norms in a creative, free way. It is the opposite of orthodox.

However, it is likely that the most common and popular use of the prefix hetero- be the word Heterosexual, whose meaning is "attracted to the other sex", that is, a person who is sexually, erotically or romantically attracted to the opposite sex, quite the opposite of a homosexual person.This use of the prefix hetero– is so common that the prefix is ​​often used only to refer to the full term. Thus, "hetero" or "hetero" people are heterosexual people.

Origin of the term “heterosexual”

Heterosexuality and homosexuality have existed since the dawn of humanity, but they have not always been known by those names. The first time the term "heterosexual" was used was in 1892, in an article by the American physician James G. Kiernan in the journal Chicago Medical Recorder.

At that time it was not used in the same sense as today, but rather it was a synonymous of “sexual perversion”, that is, an abnormal sexual appetite towards people of the opposite sex was considered (just as homosexuality was an “abnormal sexual appetite” towards people of the same sex). Doctors and psychiatrists of the time thought that heterosexual people and homosexual people could be "cured" to manifest a sexuality "normal".

Later, mind scholars and psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud and André Gide questioned this terminology and defended the idea that sexual orientation is more determined by social and cultural aspects than by natural and biological mandates.

From there came the idea of ​​"heterosexism": the imposition as a norm in the society of attraction to the opposite sex. These ideas were not very successful at the time, but they served to reframe the issue and thus the term "heterosexual" came to be used as a synonym for attraction to the opposite sex.

Heteronormativity

Heteronormativity is the idea that heterosexuality is the only possible sexuality and that anything that deviates from that norm is therefore an aberration or deviation. Heteronormativity is the rule in several cultures, whether an open repudiation of other forms of sexuality is expressed (as in some fundamentalist nations where homosexuality is outright prohibited), or simply a silent preference is expressed.

That is why numerous LGBT+ groups and activists dedicate their greatest efforts to the fight against heteronormativity, that is, to make homosexuality and other forms of sexuality not considered conventional, visible and normal, in favor of achieving a more equitable society, in which there is the discrimination by sexual orientation.

Their efforts have been rewarded in many countries with legislations more equitable than, for example, legally recognize homosexual union with the same rights and duties traditionally assigned to the marriage Heterosexual.

Symbols of heterosexuality

Although heterosexuality has been considered for centuries as "normal" sexuality, there is currently a tendency to consider it as one more within a wide spectrum of sexual orientations. In this sense, many heterosexual people and groups have felt the need to build symbols that allow them to identify themselves. Thus, from the union of the traditional masculine (♂) and feminine (♀) symbols, the ⚤ symbol is used to express interest in the opposite sex.

There are also proposals for heterosexual flags, in which two colors or two tones are combined in a markedly binary way, often using blue as the "male" color and pink as the "female" color (an idea born in the 20th century). . However, none of these flags or colors are considered "official", since there is no collective that represents all heterosexuals in a country or the world.