diff --git a/docs/source/internal/utils.rst b/docs/source/internal/utils.rst
index 2b2638e..fed9a47 100644
--- a/docs/source/internal/utils.rst
+++ b/docs/source/internal/utils.rst
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ path if the string has a ``/`` in it. It also removes trailing ``/``\ s.
 
 .. autofunction:: flake8.utils.normalize_paths
 
-This function utilizes :func:`~flake8.utils.parse_comma_separated_list` and
-:func:`~flake8.utils.normalize_path` to normalize its input to a list of
-strings that should be paths.
+This function utilizes :func:`~flake8.utils.normalize_path` to normalize a
+sequence of paths.  See :func:`~flake8.utils.normalize_path` for what defines a
+normalized path.
 
 .. autofunction:: flake8.utils.stdin_get_value
 
diff --git a/src/flake8/utils.py b/src/flake8/utils.py
index bb6ba2e..5ed78e1 100644
--- a/src/flake8/utils.py
+++ b/src/flake8/utils.py
@@ -160,8 +160,8 @@ def parse_files_to_codes_mapping(value_):  # noqa: C901
 
 
 def normalize_paths(paths, parent=os.curdir):
-    # type: (Union[Sequence[str], str], str) -> List[str]
-    """Parse a comma-separated list of paths.
+    # type: (Sequence[str], str) -> List[str]
+    """Normalize a list of paths relative to a parent directory.
 
     :returns:
         The normalized paths.
@@ -169,9 +169,7 @@ def normalize_paths(paths, parent=os.curdir):
         [str]
     """
     assert isinstance(paths, list), paths  # nosec (for bandit)
-    return [
-        normalize_path(p, parent) for p in parse_comma_separated_list(paths)
-    ]
+    return [normalize_path(p, parent) for p in paths]
 
 
 def normalize_path(path, parent=os.curdir):
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index b4bd1a1..9fd03b2 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -127,14 +127,13 @@ def test_normalize_path(value, expected):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("value,expected", [
-    ("flake8,pep8,pyflakes,mccabe", ["flake8", "pep8", "pyflakes", "mccabe"]),
-    ("flake8,\n\tpep8,\n  pyflakes,\n\n    mccabe",
+    (["flake8", "pep8", "pyflakes", "mccabe"],
         ["flake8", "pep8", "pyflakes", "mccabe"]),
-    ("../flake8,../pep8,../pyflakes,../mccabe",
+    (["../flake8", "../pep8", "../pyflakes", "../mccabe"],
         [os.path.abspath("../" + p) for p in RELATIVE_PATHS]),
 ])
 def test_normalize_paths(value, expected):
-    """Verify we normalize comma-separated paths provided to the tool."""
+    """Verify we normalizes a sequence of paths provided to the tool."""
     assert utils.normalize_paths(value) == expected