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Assignment 06: Institutionality

Adrienne Rich’s article, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” addresses the many ways in which heterosexuality is enforced through institutions. Through both physical, psychological and economic means, society forces the notion of heterosexuality. Heterosexuality is often promoted through literature, art, and societal norms that constrict women and force them to follow suit. The idea of lesbianism is stifled and underrepresented, often in feminist literature, that casts it aside as a small occurrence that is due to sexual bitterness and preference, rather than natural attraction.

Rich uses Kathleen Gough’s “The Origin of the Family” to explain the physical and mental ways that men control women and force their heterosexuality upon them. Through rape, punishment, hysterectomies, domestic violence, men use physical force as a means of preventing women from escaping the realm of patriarchy. Mentally, men enforce heterosexuality through its promotion in the media, literature and the arts, as well as through marriage and workplace inequality.

In the workplace, women are often sexualized and harassed in addition to being underpaid. The low-paying jobs that women are often forced to take up require them to endure the sexualization at the hands of their higher paid male superiors. If a woman fails to maintain this heterosexual image, they are rejected and insulted by the males in their workplace, meaning that they have to keep up a sort of facade if their sexuality deviates even slightly from the heterosexual norm. This economic control over women creates the institution of heterosexuality in that women’s jobs often depend on them being sexual, obedient and submissive to men.

The institution of heterosexuality is also present through men’s need for sexual access to women. Things such as prostitution, marital rape, incest relationships and pornography contribute to men’s need to access women and fear of being rejected or not cared about. The power of men in society allows them to subjugate women to lower roles, and place value based on sexual attractiveness, which in turn reflects their attitudes in the workplace. Heterosexuality is enforced through many institutions that work with one another to subdue women.