As a reviewer I should probably admit that I arrived at The Tragedy of Heterosexuality already convinced of the title thesis. Straightness has long struck me as utterly lamentable; so much so that I often joke with friends that it should be boycotted. In actuality, Ward’s object of analysis is not heterosexuality per se but rather “straight culture,” which she approaches from a lesbian feminist perspective. Hoping to flip the script of queer suffering and happy heterosexuality, Ward urges us to shift attention away from “what is sad about being gay to what is even sadder about being straight” (p. 3). Or, as she later puts it in one of many eminently quotable lines: “It’s not that it ‘gets better’ for queer people; it’s that heterosexuality is often worse” (p. 6). No doubt Ward is liable to encounter a certain defensiveness if not indignation among straight and queer readers alike. For an author whose previous works have caused controversy, this is not unfamiliar territory.

中文翻译：

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书评：异性恋的悲剧

作为审稿人，我可能应该承认我到达了《异性恋的悲剧》已经对标题论点深信不疑。笔直一直让我感到万分悲哀。以至于我经常和朋友开玩笑说应该抵制它。实际上，沃德的分析对象本身并不是异性恋，而是“直率的文化”，她从女同性恋女性主义的角度出发。沃德希望扭转酷儿痛苦和快乐的异性恋的剧本，敦促我们将注意力从“对同性恋感到悲伤的事情转向对异性恋甚至更悲伤的事情”（第3页）。或者，正如她后来在许多引人注目的行中所说的那样：异性恋往往更糟”（第6页）。毫无疑问，沃德很容易受到直率和酷儿读者的愤慨。