TP#4 - Compulsory Heterosexuality

Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality
Reflection  
  Here it is Tuesday night after 10pm and I have not finished reading Rich's piece. This is not because I have neglected my studies or procrastinated, it is because this is not an easy read. I have about 6 pages left and will finish them before class on Thursday. But in the mean time I feel that I am starting to understand what Rich means when she talks about Compulsory Heterosexuality. She is saying that females have to be heterosexual to be normal and fit into the cookie cutter idea of life. She states people, especially females, are heterosexual until proven other wise, which I take to mean that people assume that a female is heterosexual until her actions or words say otherwise. This idea that heterosexuality is the norm is reinforced by almost every expect of one's life. For example, Rich points out that exposure to fairy tales, television, films, and advertising are just some of the ways we show our young children that it is normal and this is how parents expect them to act. She seems to be passionate about the lack of lesbian representation in literature. As I review my notes that I have written in the margin, I noticed that I have a written the following statements.....Women don't choose to be heterosexual they are forced to be because it is a man's world, therefore homosexuality is natural and heterosexuality is a choice. I will be totally honest I am not sure if this was stated in the piece or if it is something I came up with in a moment of wisdom. Either way it is an interesting idea that we can maybe discuss in class. I did use the internet to google as much as I could about this topic. I ran into many resources:http://afeministtheorydictionary.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/compulsory-heterosexuality/ , http://gayblackcanadianman.com/2008/12/22/compulsory-heterosexuality-the-heteosexist-matrix/ , and http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/compulsory_hetero.htm.
     These websites helped to make Rich's point clearer and easier to understand. I recommend checking them out if you still don't understand the piece.
     Lesbian existence is not as easy for me to define. As far as I can gather (after reading all the stuff on line that I could) lesbian existence has more to do with the lack of representation in literature. The topic of being a lesbian is not mentioned in most scholastic papers or research papers. Rich goes as far as to state that if a topic is written about which should by all rights include lesbian couples and doesn't, then the whole point of the paper is lost and invalid. I am hoping to understand this part of her beliefs when I finish the paper and hopefully class discussions can help me understand this more.