Heteronormativity is a set of social norms that assume that all people are heterosexual, and characterizes homosexuality as abnormal. Through its ubiquity, it actively influences the daily life of the LGBTQ community: it generates its exclusion (stigmatization, homophobia, violence) and forces it to adapt to heterosexual social norms and behavioral patterns. The threat of violence in public space is brought about by the privatization of the daily lives of gays and lesbians and pushes homosexuality into privacy. Regardless of the changes in intimacy in late modern society, LGBTQ individuals in Slovenia still do not live an openly homosexual life at all levels. Also in the collections of short stories (Gojmir Polajnar: Družinske parabole and Urška Sterle: Večno vojno stanje), which are discussed in the thesis, heteronormativity is strongly present and focused on the lives of literary characters, representatives of the LGBTQ community. Both collections thematize the captivity in a patriarchal society of traditional values that do not accept difference. The traditional, heterosexual family is glorified, and homosexual characters are marginalized and pushed out of public space. Due to the repressiveness of heteronormativity, they constantly question their own identity. And at the same time, they face existential problems, as society is intolerant of them, trying to mold them into their own, heterosexual norms.
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