Feb 10th Minutes: Adrienne Rich

Minutes for WGS 302 for Feb 10th

I. Business

- To plan for the upcoming snow day, follow the syllabus. Nothing will change, only comment twice on the blog instead of once on Wednesday.

- Remember to consult a week before your artifact is due.

II. Feminist Separatism and Political Lesbianism: The Context of Rich’s argument

Betty Friedan in late 60s announced National Organization for Women was not going to address issues of sexuality and lesbianism. In the 70s, radical lesbians published essays that introduced the idea of the women identified woman. Charlotte Bunch also spoke about the women identified women in which lesbianism was a political statement and to refuse patriarchy you’d have to give all your primary commitments to women. Rich speaks about male-identified women who have the strongest bonds and give more importance with men. This develops the ideas of feminist separatism and women start to develop communities of only women.

III.  Compulsory Heterosexuality

Reading: Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1983)

DESCRIPTION-

The problem isn’t heterosexuality, its compulsory heterosexuality. It’s also the marginalization and the erasure of lesbian existence in feminist theory. Keep in mind the context of gay/straight split in feminist.

ANALYSIS-

-        Compulsory heterosexuality is socially constructed and nobody is talking about it because it is being missed and thus not existent in politics. It is constantly being reproduced with force through ideology, politically, economically, ect. (Look at the list of the 8 things).

-        By men, men enforce heterosexuality because they have “male power” and because they benefit from it and they fear its loss.

-        By women, including feminists that identify with male identification

-        Calling attention to the assumption that female heterosexuality is natural and that

-        Concerned with the erasure of lesbian existence and this knowledge of alternatives.

VISION –

- To move beyond white women studies

- It’ll be useful for all women to know about lesbianism, even if they are not lesbians

- A society that doesn’t have a factor of compulsory heterosexuality, The result of that would be more lesbians and more women identified women.

- True liberation: a world where women could truly be lesbians

STRATEGY –

-        RESIST comp. heterosexuality

-        If men enforce heterosexuality by economics and violence, then we should be working to counter that. (work on 1-8)

-        Study compulsory heterosexuality as a political institution that has a history and is set up in certain ways that benefits certain people. “Political” relates to power and relates the personal to the political.

-        Study lesbian existence

-        Lesbians should quit adhering to the gay/straight binary and recognize lesbian continuum.

EVALUATION / CRITIQUE –

-        Homosocial vs homosexual. Don’t separate by sexual lines, separate by gender and see where the alliances lay.

-        Is it too narrow in comparison to Lorde’s erotic? Or a version of Lorde’s erotic?

-        Risk of making lesbians intro a very rigid category

-        What would you call women who are currently lesbians with a new spectrum? Do they need a ne category?

-        “lesbian” = female or feminist?

-        Is women identification essentialist?

IV.  Preview of Socialist Feminism

            Next time!

ARTIFACT: Brielle brought an article that epitomizes compulsory heterosexuality by showing how many millions of dollars a father would pay for someone to make his daughter straight. The daughter says that he cannot accept because he cannot understand.

- Camila Donoso