Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner’s theory that sexuality constantly appears in society often confuses the public realm. When an individual thinks of engaging with sexual activities, a local park or a subway cart does not come to mind. Sexual endeavors occur in the bedroom; a space where surveillance cannot survive. Since sex occurs in a private space and society has not normalized public discussions of sex, how can sexuality effortlessly seep its way into daily life? Heteronormativity drives the social structures of societies. Heteronormativity- which pulls its ideas from heterosexual relations, “produces in almost every aspect of the forms and arrangements of social life” (Berlant and Warner 2605). Heteronormativity translates itself into the public realm through high school prom posters that encourage boys to ask girls to the dance, normalized “compliments” such as “that boy is going to break so many girls’ hearts when he grows up,” and mainstream television shows that depict a comedic nuclear family. People consume these outlets and begin to believe that they also must engage with heterosexual behavior.

Furthermore, sexuality manifests itself through the presentation of families in the public realm. By picking apart the literal components of a family, marriage between a man and a woman exemplifies a heterosexual public pairing. Now advancing from marriage to a couple having children, their children are literal evidence of sexual activities that have taken place. Additionally, “familialism signifies belonging to society” (Berlant and Warner 2605). Nuclear families will always have space in society because they are contributing to the heteronormative ideals of society. The operations of a family like: parents saving money for their future, parents placing their children in school, and parents executing their taxes differently because of their children, all point to the display of sexuality.

“Heteronormative conventions of intimacy create issues because it blocks the building of nonnormative sexual cultures” (Berlant and Warner 2604). Since society has created rigid parameters for people to experience sexuality, queer individuals do not have the space to participate in the public realm. The solution to this problem would be the creation of a queer counter public that facilitated queer ideas. However, in the 1990s, “the New York City Council passed a new zoning law that shut down the adult businesses that populated Christopher Street” (Berlant and Warner 2602). As a result, “gay men were forced to find spaces on the outskirts of the city where they had a great chance of being attacked” (Berlant and Warner 2603). Though alternative realms were created so queer individuals could engage in sex, discuss sex, and figure out the safety components of their sexual desires, society restricted the parameters of these environments. Heteronormativity prevents other sexual expressions from creating their own realms.