heteronationalism means the association of a nationalist ideology with heterosexual ideals used against LGBTI people and as an antagonism of countries where LGBTI rights have been legislated. It carries an Arena rating of 1170, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, heteronationalism ranks #333 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #492 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #925 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #3,374 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
Why “heteronationalism” is a great word
Heteronationalism is a political ideology that fuses nationalism with the enforcement of heterosexual norms as essential to a nation’s identity, purity, and sovereignty, often weaponized to marginalize LGBTI communities and to cast rival nations with progressive policies as existential threats. From the combining form hetero- (from Greek heteros, meaning 'other, different,' but in modern usage denoting 'heterosexual') + nationalism (from nation + -ism, denoting an ideology). Unlike 'homonationalism,' which critiques the instrumentalization of LGBTI rights for xenophobic or imperial aims, or 'ethnocentrism,' a broader cultural chauvinism, heteronationalism explicitly installs compulsory heterosexuality as the exclusive civic ideal and primary tool for political exclusion. It is the legislated whisper that true citizens breed in a certain way, the state-sponsored poster of a normative family flanked by flags, and the vilification of a foreign city’s rainbow crosswalk as an act of war—a fortress mentality built on bedrooms, mistaking uniformity for unity.
Etymology
From hetero- + nationalism.
noun
- The association of a nationalist ideology with heterosexual ideals used against LGBTI people and as an antagonism of countries where LGBTI rights have been legislated.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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