“Heteronormativity” is a word that is often used in queer theory as the thing that we should be fighting against. It is the concept that alienates all other forms of sexuality and gender expression. However, the word itself is far too limiting for people that may fall under the category of heterosexual because not all people that are heterosexual are heteronormative.
And so brings me to the concept of metrosexuality and its ties to straight queerness. For someone to be “metro” they are usually male and it simply means that they invest in their appearance more than their male peers. In our urban, post-industrial, and capitalist culture there is more and more pressure for people to look a certain way and this does not exclude men. If any of you have ever seen New Girl, Schmidt is a perfect example of a metrosexual character. Schmidt can be quoted talking about his missing his driving moccasins or his crochet cleats and his undying love for mango “chut-i-ney.”
What I personally like about Schmidt and pretty much all metro guys is that they are so comfortable in their masculinity and sexuality that they can care about what they look like without saying “that’s gay” or some other offensive bullshit like that. Heterosexuality is not always heteronormative. One can be attracted to those of their opposite sex and not fall under this seemingly all-knowing umbrella of heteronormativity. As Sean Griffin puts in Hetero, Queering Representations of Straightness, “Heteronormativity hegemonically negotiates heterosexual desire itself, attempting to assert one ‘proper’ heterosexuality and deny or pathologize the multiple other forms of heterosexuality that exist” (p. 5).
This reminds me of the hashtag that started a while ago called #MasculinitySoFragile. This hashtag is trying to point out how insecure heterosexual guys can be when it comes to their own masculinity especially in the face of difference. When these types of guys come into contact with a metro guy they say things like “Oh you like to moisturize? That’s so gay!” Anything that threatens their own form of heterosexual expression must be pathologized and rejected.
For example in Flirting With Disaster with Ben Stiller when one of the character’s sons is about to get a truck driving lesson and the mother expresses concern for her son’s safety, the father immediately responds, “Are you saying my son is a bitch boy?” (Heffernan, p.194). The mere thought of the son not being able to perform a heteronormative “manly” task such as driving a truck makes the father extremely defensive. Heterosexual guys are supposed to like sports and cars and being messy. They are not supposed to care about crochet cleats or mango chut-i-ney.
Of course there are countless variations of hetersexuality because, “Heterosexual identity is more than just or only patriarchy and concepts of gender” (Griffin, p. 4). You can be queer while still being heterosexual because not all heterosexuality is heteronormative.
Sources:
“24 Hilarious Schmidt Quotes That Will Never Get Old.” BuzzFeed. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
queertheorysite 
I once read an article in a sociology class that documented cases in which high school males would use the word f*ggot not so much as a homophobic attack but an attack on other heterosexual males’ masculinities. Queerness extends outside of just non-heterosexuality and (in these examples) includes men like Schmidt, who does not participate in typical masculinity. And for some, this is threatening. Even the assurance that one is heterosexual is not enough to quell the fears of queerness and male expression of femininity. The man box is so restrictive that straight guys have to be manly straight guys. Straightness is not enough! It’s also interesting to note women who are not typically feminine and how they are encouraged/told that increasing signifiers of femininity will benefit them in the long run and make others less uncomfortable. Even the smallest drop of queer behavior is attacked or suppressed.
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I am a huge New Girl fan so it is interesting looking at the show in this new perspective. Schmidt is a unique character – a type of character that I don’t think I have ever seen on another television show this popular. The way he flaunts himself and the things he talks about make him sound like the typical gay television character but he is 100% straight. Out of the male characters on the show he is the “womanizer” and even ends up with the prettiest girl on the show (sorry if that was a spoiler). I grew up right by Portland and would go walk around on weekends with my family or my friends. Portland is full of “metro” men – those that don’t fit the typical masculine male stereotype. I think that “city people” are more immune to these type of guys – now that I have spent so much time in a large city I don’t really notice them. But, after reading more about the term queer and reading this blog post, I would definitely call these “metro” men straight queers.
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I love New Girl so much and I’m surprised that I never thought of Schmidt as a straight queer. He’s definitely metro, and if he hadn’t slept with so many attractive women, I definitely would have thought he was gay. He plays the role of a womanizer, and even though his roommates tease him about how much attention he pays to his appearance sometimes, he is completely confident in his masculinity and dates some gorgeous women (yay for him and Cece). I’m not 100% sure if I would call him a straight queer, though, because I feel like he is just very metro, and I wouldn’t necessarily say he pushes gender boundaries or does anything I would qualify as queer.
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