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Assignment 06

In Adrienne Rich’s, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” she goes on to describe the heterosexual society as the primary sexuality for women due to the dismissal of female choice. Rich goes on to explain that the exploitation of women have led for women to become voiceless in their sexual endeavors which has led them to generations of being taught to be economically dependent on men. The eight characteristics of male power by Kathleen Gough is used as an argument for Rich where she breaks down how the construct of oppression from the male counterparts in society has intentionally hindered the advancement of women in the workplace and in society in general making it ten times harder for women to be placed in positions of power such as CEO for companies.
Rich also argues that the sexual objectification of women is detrimental in the workforce and in part forces heterosexuality onto women where if they were homosexual there would be a double-standard because even though society looks down upon lesbians it is still something that heterosexual men find appealing due to the hyper sexual objectification of women make it only okay if it’s pleasant for them not because that is the women’s sexual orientation. Historically, society has always been controlled by men who have made heterosexuality what is “normal” and because of this there is huge inequalities that apply in the workforce for women still to this day because of the institutionalized idea that men will always be more classified for any job over a women and is also why women get paid 23 percent less than the average man. The disregard of the existence of lesbians causes them to mask who they really are just to get jobs by taking on the role of being a heterosexual women. Through the media the idea that women are only heterosexual is also constantly being forced down the throat of women of homosexual orientation of society making is seem almost as if their sexual orientation might be something that is wrong with them rather than their sexuality being something that they are comfortable with that is normal to feel.