Course:CSIS200/2024/Interrogating Heterosexuality in Pop Culture

Key Definitions

Term	Definition
Cultural Artifact	Any item that contains important information about the people and the culture of a society,
Heteronormativity	Denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.
Civil Rights Movement	A social movement and campaign in the United States from 1954 to 1968 that aimed to abolish legalised racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which was most commonly employed against African Americans.
Voting Rights Act	A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
Counterculture	A way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm.
Hierarchy	A system or organisation in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority
Marginalisation	The treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral.

Introduction

Percy Sledge on Tour 1974

Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” is a classic soul ballad that has captivated audiences for decades and stood as a quintessential representation of heterosexual love. Beyond its emotional resonance, this song offers a fascinating lens through which to examine the complex interplay of gender, sexuality, and power dynamics in mid-20^th century American culture. As Herz and Johansson (2015) argue, the concept of heteronormativity, while useful, often oversimplifies the diverse and nuanced experiences of gender and sexuality. Sledge’s song, though a seemingly straightforward portrayal of romantic love, subtly reinforces and challenges heteronormative ideals. The lyrics illustrate a man’s unwavering devotion to a woman, a classic trope of heterosexual love. However, this one-sided portrayal of love also reinforces traditional gender roles, where the man is the active, dominant figure and the woman is the passive, receptive one. By examining the song’s lyrics, music, and cultural context, we can delve deeper into the way in which it both reflects and challenges heteronormative expectations. While the song celebrates love and devotion, it also reinforces the idea that heterosexual love is the only legitimate form of love. This narrow definition of love can exclude and marginalise individuals who do not conform to traditional gender roles or sexual orientations. Through a critical analysis of “When a Man Loves a Woman”, we can gain a better understanding of how heterosexuality can be constructed and reinforced in popular culture. By interrogating the song’s underlying assumptions and messages, we can challenge the dominant narratives surrounding gender, sexuality, and love.

The 1960s: A Decade of Societal Shifts and Gender Norms

"When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge

Constructive Birth Control Poster: Mid-20th Century

Released in 1966, Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” quickly became a massive hit, topping the charts in both the US and the UK. The song’s raw emotion and Sledge’s powerful vocals resonated with audiences, establishing it as a soul classic. The song’s enduring popularity is evident with its numerous cover versions, including one by Michael Bolton in 1991. The mid-20^th century, particularly the 1960s, was a period of significant social and cultural change. The Civil Rights Movement, which fought for racial equality, the Voting Rights Act, which eliminated barriers that prevented Black Americans from voting, challenged traditional power structures and societal norms, including those related to sexuality. This era, often referred to as the “sexual revolution”, represented a change in sexual attitudes and behaviours. While the revolution suggested widespread transformation, it was more incremental than radical, with many conservative attitudes persisting. As the decade progressed, younger generations increasingly questioned traditional norms, including the rigid expectations surrounding gender roles and heterosexual relationships.

Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.

The 1960s marked a period of significant social change, but it was also a time where heteronormativity remained deeply entrenched in societal structures. While progressive movements were challenging traditional norms, mainstream media and culture continued to reinforce heterosexuality as the dominant and natural framework for intimacy and relationships. Publications like LIFE magazine played a dual role: while beginning to depict marginalised communities like gay Americans, their portrayals often highlighted heterosexual norms as the implicit standard against which these groups were contrasted. This normalisation of heterosexuality constructed both social life and legal frameworks, where deviations from these norms were often stigmatised or even criminalised. Responses to these depictions, such as those in Drum magazine, revealed the inherent contradictions and biases within these representations. By satirising heterosexuality as deviant or extreme, Drum brought attention to how societal norms frame heterosexuality as the universal ideal. The satirical essay “Heterosexuality in America” reversed the rhetoric used to characterise homosexuality, emphasising how mainstream norms often make alternative identities invisible while perpetuation the illusion of heterosexuality’s moral and cultural superiority.

A Letter to the Editors of Miami News

In this context, “When a Man Loves a Woman” emerges as a cultural artifact that reflects both continuity and change in societal attitudes towards love and gender. The song’s focus on heterosexual romantic devotion reflects these entrenched norms by portraying love as both all-consuming and sacrificial within a heteronormative framework. The song epitomises traditional ideals of romantic heterosexual love, portraying a man’s emotional vulnerability and self-sacrifice as central to his identity. This aligns with the dominant cultural expectations of the time, which celebrated heterosexual marriage as the ultimate goal while reinforcing men’s roles as providers and protectors. However, these ideals also faced increased scrutiny in the 1960s as the countercultural movement began to challenge the rigid gender roles they upheld as young people expressed their discontent with racial, ethnic, and political inequalities through protest and sometimes, rebellion. The sexual revolution of the 1960s brought changes such as the increasing acceptability of premarital sex and the introduction of the birth control pill, which allowed women greater autonomy over their bodies and futures. However, despite the societal shifts, cultural products like “When a Man loves a Woman” continued to romanticise and reinforce traditional dynamics — particularly the notion that men should define their worth through devotion to a woman. This reflects the tension between a society moving towards liberation and one still deeply rooted in conventional values.

By situating “When a Man Loves a Woman” within the 1960s’ cultural and sexual landscape, it is evident how the song exemplified the era’s ambivalence. It captures the enduring power of traditional heterosexual ideals while subtly existing in an era where those ideals were being questioned and reshaped. This duality makes it an ideal artifact for analysing the construction and normalisation of heterosexuality during a pivotal period in American history.

Heteronormativity in Pop Culture

Heteronormativity refers to the idea that heterosexual relationships and attractions are the default or “normal” form of sexuality, based on binary understandings of gender and sexual orientations as fixed or unchanging. Rooted in societal structures and institutions like marriage and the nuclear family, heteronormativity privileges heterosexuality as natural and morally superior, often marginalising identities and practices outside this framework.

In “When a Man Loves a Woman”, heteronormativity is deeply entrenched in the lyrics, framing love and desire within rigid binaries of male and female roles. Though the term heteronormativity was only coined in 1991, the song embodies many of the societal assumptions that the concept critiques, such as the positioning of heterosexual relationships as natural and ideal, and the reinforcement of rigid gender roles within romantic and familial contexts. The song reflects how heterosexuality is normalised and taken for granted in everyday life, perpetuating its dominance as a societal norm while marginalising alternative sexualities and family structures.

“When a Man Loves a Woman” epitomises the heteronormative ideals deeply embedded in Western cultural narratives about love. The song portrays a romantic dynamic that is inherently gendered, with the man positioned as the active agent whose purpose revolves around his devotion to a woman. This reinforces cis-heteropatriarchal norms, where men are expected to provide, and women are idealised as recipients of affection and care. Romantic love, as constructed in the West, is a “highly specific cultural complex” that emerged to support colonial and capitalistic frameworks, normalising heterosexual relationships as superior and central to personal fulfillment. This obscures diversity in relationships and perpetuates a “love hierarchy” that devalues alternative forms of relationships and intimacy. “When a Man Loves a Woman” naturalises these roles and reinforces the expectation that romantic, heterosexual relationships are the ideal model of relationships, reflecting broader societal conventions that glorify these dynamics while marginalising others.  

A Deep Dive: "When a Man Loves a Woman"

Heteronormative Love in Verse: A Critical Examination

The lyrics of “When a Man Loves a Woman” encapsulate the idealisation of heterosexual love — emphasising themes of devotion, sacrifice, and emotional vulnerability. Lyrics such as “He’d trade the world for the good thing he’s found” and “He’d give up all his comforts, and sleep out in the rain, if she said that’s the way it ought to be” emphasise that a man’s worth is measured by his willingness to endure hardship for the woman he loves. This expectation aligns with the broader heteronormative ideal that men prove their masculinity not solely through their romantic devotion, but also through displays of emotional or physical strength, courage, and leadership. Such a portrayal reinforces the notion that manliness is defined by actions that demonstrate resilience and protectiveness. The song, therefore, contributes to a cultural narrative where men are expected to express their love through acts of endurance and self-sacrifice, reinforcing gendered power dynamics within romantic relationships.

However, this idealised depiction of love obscures the power dynamics inherent in such relationships. As critiques of heteronormativity suggest, romantic relationships framed in this way often reinforce hierarchical gender roles, structuring not just the dynamics of sexual relationships, but also influencing broader social constructs such as the domestic division of labour and resources. The song’s narrative implicitly links a man’s worth to his ability to sustain and protect the relationship, reflecting the societal pressures men faced to conform to traditional ideals of masculinity. Simultaneously, it posits heterosexual love as the most attainable form of emotional and social fulfillment, marginalising alternative forms of love and intimacy. By glorifying male devotion and positioning women as objects of adoration, the lyrics reinforce a system where heterosexuality is tied to institutions like marriage and family, naturalising its dominance and marginalising other forms of intimacy.

The repetition of the phrase “When a man loves a woman” throughout the song reinforces this framing of heteronormative ideals and gender roles. By repeating this phrase, the song reiterates that the relationship being described is exclusively one between a man and a woman. This marginalises other types of relationships and limits the ability of individuals outside this framework to connect with or relate to its lyrics. Removing gender-specific language, such as “when a man loves a woman”, would render the song’s depiction of relationships more inclusive and universally relatable.This repetition also emphasises the emotional depth and unconditional nature of a man’s love for a woman, portraying it as an all-encompassing, singular experienced defined by devotion and sacrifice. This positions the male character in an active role, highlighting his willingness to give everything for the woman he loves, even if it means enduring suffering and loss. This aligns with the societal norms of 1960s which idealised heterosexual marriage and the ‘nuclear family’ as the ultimate goal of personal and social life. However, as critiques of romantic love have argued, such portrayals are socially constructed and exclusionary, privileging a specific type of relationship while marginalising others, including queer, asexual, and platonic forms of intimacy.

Furthermore, the cultural significance of “When a Man Loves a Woman” aligns with a broader Western idealisation of romantic relationships as essential to personal fulfillment and wellbeing. The song’s lyrics, which emphasise a man’s all-encompassing devotion to a woman, reinforce the perception that romantic love is central to human happiness. This narrative is deeply rooted in societal norms that prioritise emotional and sexual attraction as integral to a person’s quality of life. Additionally, the sacrifices described in the song — where the man is willing to give up “everything he has” — reflect the implicit understanding that failure in such relationships leads to both emotional and physical distress. These cultural expectations intensify the pressure to conform to heteronormative ideals of love and devotion, proposing that societal value and belonging is contingent on the success of one’s romantic relationships. The song therefore reflects not only individual experiences of love, but also the societal implications surrounding intimacy and fulfillment.  

Same Song, Different Eras

Michael Bolton’s 1991 cover of “When a Man Loves a Woman”offers a compelling lens through which to analyse the persistence of heterosexual norms in popular music. As a white male artist covering a song deeply tied to Black musical traditions, Bolton’s version highlights the ongoing cultural borrowing and reinterpretation in the music industry. His performance is an eloquent reinterpretation that preserves the song’s emotional intensity while recontextualising its themes for a different era. Bolton’s performance intensifies themes of passion and sacrifice with his dramatic delivery emphasising the personal anguish of the male protagonist. His cover aligns with the pop-rock aesthetic of the 1990s, allowing the song to resonate with a broader audience in a contemporary context. However, despite the stylistic change, the underlying message about gender and love remains consistent, reinforcing traditional ideals of masculinity.

Comparing Bolton’s rendition with Sledge’s original performance also allows for an examination of how race and era shape the cultural resonance of the same song. While Sledge’s original performance is deeply rooted in 1960s Southern soul — a genre closely associated with Black American culture — Bolton’s version adopts a more universalised approach, making the song accessible to a broader, predominantly white audience. This shift highlights the durability of the song’s portrayal of heterosexual love, which continues to resonate across different cultural and temporal contexts.

Conclusion

“When a Man Loves a Woman” encapsulates and interrogates the concept of heterosexuality. The lyrics reflect and reinforce conventional gender roles, positioning the male as selfless and devoted, while portraying the woman as dependent and passive. The song’s portrayal of a man’s willingness to give up everything for the woman he loves highlights a heteronormative ideal where romantic love is illustrated as essential for societal acceptance. This aligns with the 1960s’ cultural perception of heterosexual marriage and romantic relationships as the epitome of emotional fulfillment and social stability. The comparison between Percy Sledge’s original performance with Michael Bolton’s rendition exhibits how this song has evolved within different cultural and temporal contexts. While Bolton’s version maintains the song’s emotional intensity, it presents a more mainstream interpretation by altering the style to fit the pop-rock genre of the 1990s. This shows how heteronormative ideals can adapt to new social norms while maintaining their influence.

This analysis has broader implications for critical sexuality studies, where understanding how popular culture constructs and reinforces concepts of sexuality and gender is important. Songs like “When a Man Loves a Woman” serve as cultural artifacts that reflect the dominant ideologies of their times. By examining how the media perpetuates certain ideals, it becomes evident how popular culture shapes societal views on love and relationships. This helps reveal why certain forms of love, such as heterosexual romantic love, are idealised, while others are marginalised or rendered invisible.

Author Bio

Arielle is an exchange student as the University of British Columbia currently completing a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of New South Wales (Sydney). In addition to her interest in international relations, she has taken several courses within the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice to broaden her understanding of the ways in which sexuality and gender are intertwined with broader power dynamics, and how these issues can be analysed to inform international relations.