The process of becoming heterosexual or of adopting heterosexual practices or arrangements.
From heterize plus -ation (process or result). Formed from hetero- (other, different; often meaning heterosexual) plus -ization (making or becoming).
This word appears in early sexological literature from the late 1800s and early 1900s, when scientists were first trying to systematically categorize human sexuality—it's a linguistic artifact of when sexuality was being 'medicalized' for the first time.
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