Yes and No Adrienne Rich attacks heterosexuality as “a political institution which disempowers women” in her 1980 essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (Rich 23). What most see as a traditional way of life, Rich views as a societal mandate that serves as “a beachhead of male dominance,” (Rich 28). For a woman in Virginia Woolf’s time, “the one profession that was open to her [was] marriage,” and though females entered the public sphere as the 20th century progressed, “single
female relationships she so wholeheartedly promotes. The varying interpretations include everything ranging from Leapor as promoting lesbianism, to simply promoting good female friendships. Adrienne Rich termed this range of womanly bonds the “lesbian continuum,” and explains it as the inclusive realm between “consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman,” and “the sharing of a rich inner life, the bonding against male tyranny, the giving and receiving of practical and political
provokes most discussion. Monica Fagan presents Rich’s belief in a kind of feminine bonding asserting that in her essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" Rich argues that whether or not girls and women desire physical genital contact with one another, friendship and camaraderie can fuse with eroticism to form an intimate bonding among them. Rich suggests that this "lesbian continuum," as she refers to the bonding, has "many more forms of primary intensity among women, including the bonding
empowerment it is imperative to include not just heterosexual women but lesbian and bisexual women as well, due to the fact that it integrates a sense of multiculturalism that inputs and values multiple perspectives of women experiences. In the fight for women’s equality heterosexual feminists have often overlooked lesbian and bisexual women, because of the negative connotations that have emerged, that deem all feminists lesbians, and haters of men. This is also frequent due to the fact that homophobia
which women have been convinced that marriage and sexual orientation towards men are inevitable – even if unsatisfying or oppressive – components of their lives,” a concept known as “compulsory heterosexuality” (Rich 290-291, 289). In The Poisonwood Bible, Nathan Price enforces this view of compulsory heterosexuality, leading his daughters to believe that a woman’s only purpose in life is to become an obedient wife. He breaks down the power and independence of his daughters in an attempt to enforce
were some that were left out of the mass movement. Lesbians of the 1960’s were considered to be social pariahs by the Woman’s Movement of the 1960’s and not to be connected with. By being the outcasts, Lesbians created and founded their own movement that focused on not only Women’s Rights, but Gay Women’s rights as well. This movement was just as controversial if not more as the Women’s Movement of the time, but made just as big of an impact. Lesbian Feminism emerged from the second wave of feminism
Thus, if we take this definition of homophobia and apply it to this apparent goal of heterosexuality, it seems that heterosexuality entails homophobia, and vice versa. However, this isn’t necessarily true; and in the context of Butler, it certainly isn’t the case. This is because such a definition polarizes homophobia and matches it to heterosexuality. As a result, the definition grounds both terms in a concrete identity, and thus fails to satisfy the larger part of
that the institution of heterosexuality itself is a construct, or “a beachhead of male dominance” (p. 633), according to Adrienne Rich in her essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1980). From a feminist theoretical standpoint, humans develop sexuality as their gender identities develop: “our sexual desires, feelings, and preferences are deeply imprinted by our gender status” (Seidman, 2003, p. 18). This relates to Rich’s notion of compulsory heterosexuality - a facet of feminist
called Westeros. This show puts an emphasis on both gender and sexuality, with men being dominant in that society while women are often referred to as the inferior. It also includes several double standards for men and women and comprises compulsory heterosexuality. The show also heavily focuses on class and social stratification: the differences between two of the main classes in the
In today’s society, we have made a clear reflection on how we define ‘gender’ by social constructionism. Social constructionism is an idea that “proposes that everything people ‘know’ or see as ‘reality’ is partially, if not entirely, socially situated” Typically, most of us are familiar with gender being split into two categories: whether someone is male or female, which is viewed as a binary, or opposite. From this, we self-impose criteria of what it means to be a ‘male’ or ‘female’, with the aid
Introduction Oprah Winfrey Show is a popular American talk show that brought together celebrities discussing different inspirational topics about women in the society. It is rated as among the most watched shows in the United States. The main objective of this daytime show was to empower women in the US and the worlds at large. We are immersed from cradle to grave in a media and society and we should understand that how to interpret or understand it (Kellner, n.d.). This paper provides an analysis
what it meant to be a woman, highlighting the idea that societies expectations and norms imposed the idea of womanhood on a young women. This issue of becoming is even further discussed by authors like Judith Butler, who applies this idea to her own lesbian identity, and how it defines her relationship to society. In Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex”, the woman’s place in relationship to men is often discussed. She asserts that women are seen as the other, juxtaposing man’s place as the self, the main point
Judith Butler and Postmodern Feminism What necessary tasks does Judith Butler identify for feminist criticism? How is her articulation of and response to these tasks characteristically "postmodern"? "She has no identity except as a wife and mother. She does not know who she is herself. She waits all day for her husband to come home at night to make her feel alive." This sentiment "lay buried, unspoken, for many years, in the minds of American women", until "In 1960, the problem that has
Adrienne Rich's book Of Woman Born, as well as Cathy Griggers' essay "Lesbian Bodies in the Age of (Post)mechanical Reproduction." Rich discusses the cultural institutionalization of motherhood, while Griggers brings a Feminist and Marxist perspective to the topic of lesbian body image in a capitalist, market-driven society. Both consider the effects of patriarchy and heterosexism in their treatment of the experience of lesbians in society. I found these texts to be very helpful in offering an explanation
are still fighting for equal rights and fair treatment. It’s hard to escape this male dominated world because society helped construct this obscene idea that men are more important than women. In the article by Adrienne Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, helps explain the idea that women are secondary to men, which then triggers male behavior towards women in a negative way. This leads to domestic violence, unequal pay and treatment in the workforce, and discrimination against
If a woman is not in a relationship with a man, just single and on her own, she is considered a lesbian. It does not seem reasonable to consider a woman to be a lesbian just because she is not with a man. There is actually a lesbian spectrum for women to follow to check their sexuality either being with a man, single, or being with another woman. Mary Astell was a famous feminist writer in eighteenth century Europe. This time was known as the Enlightenment period, where ideas were reforming against
Analysis of the Film Chasing Amy Chasing Amy is a movie that uncovers the hardships we find within the confusion of love and sex in our lives. Sometimes the line between love and sex seems almost invisible, but the differences and complications of understanding that are quite clear in this movie. The issues presented in Chasing Amy are directly related to the discussions of “Politics of Sexuality” as well as everyday life in our culture. Our culture, in contrast to Ancient Greece, uses sexuality
Strong and outstanding Political and Feminist poet, Adrienne Cecile Rich, captivated her audience with her true and soft words. She is a prime example of uncovering hidden struggles for more than one community and responsible for delivering so many eye-opening pages to read. The most stable way to describe her tremendous gravitational pull would be to quote the woman herself, “Art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage”. She is a creative individual
The Poetry of Adrienne Rich Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland in the year of 1929. Rich grew up in a household as she describes it as ” …white, middle-class, full of books, and with a father who encouraged her to write” (Daniel). Her father Arnold Rich was a doctor and a pathology professor and her mother, Helen Jones Rich , was a pianist and a composer. “Adrienne Rich recalls her growing-up years clearly dominated by the intellectual presence and demands of the male in the family, her
reasons: one of which is in the spirit of reclaiming a word that has traditionally been used to verbally abuse non-heterosexual people for decades, and secondly because in the heterosexual mindset there are no differences between bisexuals, gay men, lesbians, transgendered and transsexual people. Brett Beemyn and Mickey Eliason write: "We have chosen to use ‘queer’ because it best characterizes our own personal beliefs, and it potentially leaves room for all people who are attracted to others of the