Lgbtq And Feminism

Content type

User Generated

Subject

Gender Studies

School

Oakton Community College

Type

Homework

Uploaded By

Vafvqre47

Pages

Rating

The article ‘Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,’ by Adrienne Rich is

a paper deeply concerned with how the world expects women to act. The author addresses the

attitudes of society towards lesbians as either man hating deviants or lying to themselves and

others. Throughout the discussion she speaks about how women who live their lives in

lesbian relationships are often cast to the side, ostracized from their communities and

families. She is concerned about the invisibility of many lesbians in society and in writings,

particularly feminist writings. The author references books such as Gay American History by

Katz which told of how the death penalty was the punishment for lesbianism as early as the

1600s. In a more modern writing, Toward a New Psychology of Women by Jean Baker Miller,

lesbians are erased. The great reviews received by feminist journals suggest that many people

share this assumption that women are naturally drawn sexually and romantically to men.

However, this erasure of lesbians and women seen as deviants from the norms contributes

heavily to system that refuses women empowerment and freedom.

Lesbian relationships have been noted to just be a recreation of a woman’s

relationship with her own mother and are marked as not having matured past this need. The

idea of this mother daughter relationship turned sexual can even more easily be made

unacceptable by society and further push lesbianism outside of the norms. It seems that

women’s relationships with other women need justification with reasons like bad experiences

with men. Heterosexual relationships, however, need to explanation.

In the paper, Rich references the 8 powers of men, a list written by Gough. These

powers, although visible everywhere, are more apparent in some cases. Women, especially

lesbians, living in countries with fewer rights will face much harsher punishments in modern

day. In countries where homosexuality or any form of gender deviance is seen as illegal, such

as the Middle East, women who do deviate could face the death penalty. Outside of this, men

in these places are often free to treat their wives like property denying sexuality from them or

forcing it on them. Violence against women, especially of the LGBTQ+ community is

common in these countries.

Rich also addresses how women of lower class across the world face violence and

cruelty. Those living in poverty are often forced, whether by their situation or others, to sell

themselves to survive. Many poverty-stricken countries across the globe still allow child

marriages and many low-class women fall victim to sex trafficking. Even in the middle-class

women are often forced to endure harassment and violation to keep their jobs. Women in this

position who deviant outside of the norm are forced to pretend to be heterosexual and hide

their identity. As Rich says, violation is often ‘the price of survival.’ These women are forced

to deny themselves their own identity in their day to day life. Rich does note that

pornography is one of many factors that contributes to this problem and many others by

making non-consensual cruelty and violence against women in every-day life seem like a

normal thing that every man does. As well as this, lesbian porn has not been made to embrace

the lesbian community but instead has been made to be viewed and fetishized by cis men.

I think Rich’s analysis of societies attitudes towards lesbians is insightful and well

written. She makes many compelling arguments and gives an in-depth look at why society is

so set of making lesbians invisible.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

The article ‘Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,’ by Adrienne Rich is a paper deeply concerned with how the world expects women to act. The author addresses the attitudes of society towards lesbians as either man hating deviants or lying to themselves and others. Throughout the discussion she speaks about how women who live their lives in lesbian relationships are often cast to the side, ostracized from their communities and families. She is concerned about the invisibility of many lesbians in society and in writings, particularly feminist writings. The author references books such as Gay American History by Katz which told of how the death penalty was the punishment for lesbianism as early as the 1600s. In a more modern writing, Toward a New Psychology of Women by Jean Baker Miller, lesbians are erased. The great reviews received by feminist journals suggest that many ...
Purchase document to see full attachment

Tags: Mother Daughter Relationship Adrienne Rich Compulsory Heterosexuality Lesbian Existence Article Analysis