2. MEANING AND ETYMOLOGY
 Romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between
persons of opposite sex or gender in the gender
binary
 Refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to
experience sexual, affectionate, physical or
romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex”
 It also refers to "an individual’s sense of personal
and social identity based on those attractions,
behaviors expressing them, and membership in a
community of others who share them“

3.  Hetero- comes from the Greek word έτερος
[héteros], meaning "other party" or
"another", used in science as a prefix
meaning "different“
 The Latin word for sex (that is,
characteristic sex or sexual
differentiation).

5. BIOLOGICAL STUDY
Prenatal hormonal theory
 If there are few androgen receptors (people with
androgen insensitivity syndrome) or too much androgen
(females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia), there can
be physical and psychological effects.
 It has been suggested that both male and female
heterosexuality are results of variation in this process.
 Heterosexuality in females is linked to a lower amount
of masculinization than is found in lesbian females,
though when dealing with male heterosexuality there
are results supporting both higher and lower degrees of
masculinization than homosexual males.

6. PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY
 Sexual orientation describes an enduring pattern
of attraction—emotional, romantic, sexual, or some
combination of these—to the opposite sex, the
same sex, or both sexes, and the genders that
accompany them
 According to the American Psychological
Association, sexual orientation also refers to a
person's sense of "personal and social identity
based on those attractions, behaviors expressing
them, and membership in a community of others
who share them."

8. SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL
 A heterosexual couple, a man and woman in an
intimate relationship, form the core of a nuclear
family
 Many societies throughout history have insisted that
a marriage take place before the couple settle
down, but enforcement of this rule or compliance
with it has varied considerably. In some
jurisdictions, when an unmarried man and women
live together long enough, there are deemed to
have established a common-law marriage.

9. RELIGIOUS VIEWS
 Religious traditions in the world reserve marriage to
heterosexual unions, but there are exceptions
including certain Buddhist and Hindu traditions,
Unitarian Universalist, Metropolitan Community
Church and some Anglican dioceses and some
Quaker, United Church of Canada and Reform
Jewish congregations
 Almost all religions believe sex between a man and
a woman is allowed, but there are a few that
believe that it is a sin, such as The Shakers, The
Harmony Society, and The Ephrata Cloister
 The Catholic Church also views heterosexual
marriage as sacred and necessary.