Adrienne Richs Essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and...

Yes and No Adrienne Rich attacks heterosexuality as â€Å"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 â€Å"a beachhead of male dominance,† (Rich 28). For a woman in Virginia Woolf’s time, â€Å"the one profession that was open to her [was] marriage,† and though females entered the public sphere as the 20th century progressed, â€Å"single women†¦are still viewed as deviant† and somewhat ostracized (Woolf 25 and Rich 30). Compulsory heterosexuality, Rich argues, is one of many institutions that historically and currently have allowed men to maintain a dominant societal†¦show more content†¦Under these tenets, colonialism may not be limited to imperialism, and a broader range of oppressive movements could be targeted and associated using Discourse on Colonialis m. Slavery in the United States and compulsory heterosexuality are parallel institutions of colonization because they are fundamentally based on an oppressor, who uses a fallacious ideology and is barbarized by colonization, and an oppressed, who is stifled and belittled for the benefit of others. Colonialism begins with the construction of a magnanimous, altruistic ideology that veils the true intentions of the oppressor. To ensure unanimous support for colonization, â€Å"the dealers in gobbledygook† will justify their actions as â€Å"a philanthropic enterprise, a project undertaken for the greater glory of God [or] an attempt to extend the rule of law,† (Cà ©saire 54, 32). American ideology adopted several of these positions during slavery, as owners referred to various Bible passages to prove â€Å"slavery was authorized by the Almighty,† but the most prevalent justification of obligatory servitude was the ‘scientific’ confirmation of African biological inferiority (Hopkins). In the middle of the 19th century, Dr. James Hunt reported, â€Å"[Africans] are notShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Film Crossing The Borderlands Of Sexuality And Gender 1067 Words   |  5 Pageslive in a culture who practices compulsory heterosex uality. This documentary is an extension of Adrienne Rich Idea on Compulsory Heterosexuality. In the reading by Adrienne Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, we come to understand how heterosexuality is a political institution which is normalized through the media, law, politics, literature, and religion. While Rich in her essay focuses on how compulsory heterosexuality is devastating to the lesbian population. What this documentaryRead More Adrienne Rich Essay1758 Words   |  8 Pages The Poetry of Adrienne Rich nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;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. â€Å"Adrienne Rich recalls her growing-up years clearly dominated by the intellectual presence and demandsRead MoreLesbian Honesty: Reading Between the Lines1251 Words   |  5 PagesFrankenstein the critical essay â€Å"Lesbian Panic and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein† (â€Å"Lesbian Panic†) by Frann Michel approaches Frankenstein from a gender perspective and applies Adrienne Rich’s lesbian continuum, the â€Å"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence† where female relationships, mother-daughter/sisters/female friendships which all fall under the umbrella of lesb ian relations, to the relationships that are present in Frankenstein. Frann Michel clarifies through her essay that any work of literatureRead More Conflict between Individuality and Conformity in The Bell Jar2060 Words   |  9 Pagesformulating my topic, I have relied on Adrienne Richs 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