Ab-normal bodies. The surpluses of heterosexual laws and norms

Heterosexual norm - differentiating rights - status - normalisation] All the identity constructions of gender roles linked to biological sex and to sexual orientation are based on an a priori presumption deduced from the process of "naturalisation" of the body and on the related concept of the heterosexual norm. This process has also contributed to building a legal culture that is fundamentally rooted in that same heterosexual norm. The process of naturalisation of the body first and then of its "normalisation", of respective gender roles and of related sexual conducts, has combined with the law to favour the emergence of new forms of status (gay, lesbian, transgender etc.) that, rather than eating away at family law and its underlying heterosexual norm, has facilitated the rise of "differentiating rights" that vary with the individual’s sexual orientation. There again, the debate that has taken place in Italy about the issue of gay and lesbian people’s civil rights has never taken the anthropological-legal foundation of the heterosexual norm in Western culture and in our legal culture into consideration. By venturing on a short genealogical reconstruction of the constitution of the cultural, social and legal codes that both underlie Western society and are totally functional to determining a legal culture based on the heterosexual norm, this article questions the categories of difference and equality. Csaba Varga, Teoria del diritto - etnografia giuridica, o i frutti teoretici delle ricerche che sfociano in direzioni popolari [Incontri ― Discipline ― Sfera del diritto ― Diritto e/o diritti ― Conclusioni

Anna Simone, Corpi a-normali. Eccedenze del diritto e norma eterossessuale in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 1/2010, pp 65-79, DOI: 10.3280/SD2010-001003