“It's a real negotiation within yourself”: Women's stories of challenging heteronormativity within the habitus

Drawing on Bourdieu's conceptual schema, this article examines heteronormative themes within the habitus and how women may come to challenge such understandings. Ten women were asked in semi-structured interviews to reflect on how they came to understand constraints in their sex lives, and how they have negotiated these constraints. Four themes emerged in regards to women's habiti, reflecting prevailing discourses of heteronormativity. However despite Bourdieu's scepticism of change, the data also suggests that women are challenging these notions, albeit in ambivalent and uneven ways, through a process of critical reflexivity, sitting with vulnerability, and the adoption of alternative discourses. These stories suggest Bourdieu's concepts are insufficient for understanding women's capacity to resist heteronormativity within the habitus without further development by feminist scholars.