User:Tustin2121/Comphet

Compulsory heterosexuality, often shortened to comphet, is the theory that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced upon people by a patriarchal and heteronormative society. The term was popularized by Adrienne Rich in her 1980 essay titled "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence".

This article is not about its history, but about its current usage. Comphet refers to the cultural expectations placed on everyone by modern society to reach certain "milestones" in their life. Specifically the milestone where you are expected to be married and have 2.5 children by the time you are 30. This expectation enforces the following:


 * Traditional gender roles, and by extension toxic masculinity.
 * Compulsory heterosexuality in the historical sense, where women were expected to marry a man. By extension, men are expected to marry a woman.
 * Perpetuating homophobia, transphobia, and acephobia

Symptoms
"Symptoms" of a couple being in a comphet relationship include:


 * Jokes and memes about hating your spouse.
 * Notions that men can't be friends with women, and visa versa.
 * Frequent arguments.


 * Staying together "for the children".
 * Outrage over changing traditional societal constructs, such as marriage or  adoption
 * Complaints about no-fault divorce.
 * The presence of "man caves".
 * Marital rape and domestic violence.
 * And by extension, support for marry-your-rapist laws and underage marriages.

Examples of comphet being pushed on someone else by society:


 * Parents who ask their kids when they are going to get married.
 * Parents begging their kids for grandchildren.
 * Friends or coworkers asking when someone is going to be having a baby (or second baby, or third baby, etc).