Mythical norm

Mythical norm
OriginOral Paper Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference in 1980
Coined byAudre Lorde
MeaningSocial concept of a fictional unoppressed individual

Mythical Norm is a phrase coined by Audre Lorde in Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. The term describes the social concept of a fictional un-oppressed individual – or individual only experiencing privilege – that has become the norm and to which oppressed peoples identities, behaviors, and norms are compared. In other words, that people are defining and judging themselves and their communities against an unachievable normative standard and supposed superiority.

Lorde writes that "Those of us who stand outside that power often identify one way in which we are different, and we assume that to be the primary cause of all oppression, forgetting other distortions around difference, some of which we ourselves may be practising."

According to behavioral scientist Deboleena Roy, the "mythical norm occupies a position of privilege, or what Simone de Beauvoir called out as holding positions of both a positive and neutral subjectivity. It is from this view of the mythical norm and the subject position of positivity and neutrality that current and dominant traditions of philosophy and science have developed their systems of seeing, naming, and defining the world."

This construct differs in each society and culture based on identities of privilege. According to Lorde, "In America, this norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure."

Primarily referenced within feminist and political theories, theory has also been adopted by Queer studies, Critical race studies, Disability studies, Biophilosophy, Ethnic studies, Film studies, and more.

The mythical norm was a foundational theory for Intersectionality.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lorde, Audre (1984) [April 1980], written at Copeland Colloquium, Amherst College, "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference" (Oral Presentation, PDF), Sister Outsider, California: Crossing Press, pp. 114–123, retrieved August 31, 2026 – via California State University, San Marcos
  2. 1 2 Yep, Gust A. (2017-06-01). "Further Notes on Healing from "The Violence of Heteronormativity in Communication Studies"". QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. 4 (2): 115–122. doi:10.14321/qed.4.2.0115. ISSN 2327-1574.
  3. ↑ Davis-Faulkner, Sheri (2019). "Op-Ed: Critical race feminism: What can it do for labor studies?". Perspectives on Work. 23: 72–74 – via JSTOR.
  4. ↑ Grode, Jo. American Society: A Thriving Structure for Negative Responses to Difference. pp. 47–51 – via Denison University Digital Commons.
  5. ↑ Gaugele, Elke; Mersmann, Birgit (2024). "Section 4 Racism | Resistance Introduction". Entangled Histories of Art and Migration: Theories, Sites and Research Methods. pp. 263–269 – via JSTOR.
  6. 1 2 Roy, Deboleena (2018). "Biophilosophies of Becoming". Molecular Feminisms: Biology, Becomings, and Life in the Lab. University of Washington Press. pp. 33–56.
  7. ↑ Alberdeston, Jane; Silva, Dorsía Smith; Kuwabong, Dannabang, eds. (2026-02-01). Woven Threads: Building Bonds in Othermothering and Community Mothering. Demeter Press. doi:10.2307/jj.39049125. ISBN 978-1-77258-582-7.
  8. ↑ LeMaster, Lore/tta (2021-04-26), Powers, Matthew (ed.), "Queer Communication Pedagogy", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication (1 ed.), Oxford University PressNew York, NY, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1160, retrieved 2026-08-31
  9. 1 2 Fischer, Kay; Espinoza-Kulick, Mario Alberto Viveros; Acevedo, Ulysses; Hodges, Teresa; Leal, Melissa (15 Nov 2023) [June 2023]. "8.2: What is Intersectionality?". Introduction to Ethnic Studies. LibreTexts – via Open Education Resource LibreTexts Project.
  10. ↑ Halberstam, Jack (1995). Skin shows: gothic horror and the technology of monsters. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1663-3. OCLC 31971106.
  11. ↑ Green, Meghan L. (2025), Turner, Crystasany R.; Green, Meghan L. (eds.), "Interrogations of the Mythical Norm: Using Endarkened Poetic Inquiry to Queer Black Motherscholarship", Black Motherscholarship Within and Beyond the Academy, Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, pp. 279–293, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-99758-7_20, retrieved 2026-08-31

Further reading