The articles for today al focused on the idea of forced sexuality and how once again people are forced into gender roles, often times even if those roles do not match whom they truly are. These readings however took a different look at the idea of forced sexuality. They looked by discussing gay and lesbian’s and how they have been forced to “conform to the norm” and how they put on a façade many times and feel pressure to conform to the common societal ideas.
In the article “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” it made me think about the idea that many women may not truly be heterosexual but that they feel like they should be. This feeling that they should be is only driven more by the fact that society drive women to believe that they really don’t have many options when it comes to their life. The article makes you think about how women have always been forced into playing a part that often times they don’t really fit. This is an idea that was also mirrored in the other article that we read on wikipedia about Monique Wittig.
The author, had a very interesting idea about how a lesbian is not a woman and that being a woman is a learned trait. I had never looked at it like this before but when I read her explanation it all made sense. When you are born you don’t know how to be a woman, it is something that you are “taught” or really more something that you pick up. Her idea that a lesbian is going against the conformity and that they are not a woman is in a way very true. A woman is a female, but a female is not a woman and the way in which she makes the statement really made me think about this idea.
The article “Straight News” and the Bill O’Rielly segment I found to go hand in hand. The article is all about how the media has always portrayed a “gay” couple as being bad and that is just what O’Rielly does. Throughout the entire segment he is patronizing the woman defending the kids and saying that to be a lesbian in a school setting is disgusting. He talks about how the thing is a hoax and it was meant by the kids to stir up trouble. In reality O’Rielly is just being another media member who cannot accept lesbians and gays for their true sexual nature. He thinks that it is a joke and he is rude and disrespectful.
I live in the bay area, so for as long as I have been here I have been exposed to this. It does not seem like it should be such a big deal. There really is no difference, its just who you decide to love.
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I liked your explanation on the "lesbianism" concept. I had a hard time understanding that article, but what you were thinking makes sense to me. When you are born, you are taught to be a certain way. From the moment you come home, you have a room that is filled with gendered specific toys, games, and colors. As you grow older, you don't just automatically become a woman at a certain age, but you are taught to be a woman. However, you can not be taught to be a lesbian or on how to deal with a lesbian relationship. It is a feeling that only women would know, which I think is important to the study of feminism/ woman's studies. I think men could learn a lot from lesbian relationships as well because it is a different dynamic from a heterosexual relationship.
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