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Diana Rodriguez

In her essay Adrienne Rich explains that there is an assumption of most of women are born heterosexual and that the existence of lesbian has been omitted in the writings and history texts. She also explains that through the time men have imposed their sexuality forcing women to give up their own. Women have been submitted to many humiliations, mistreatments, sexual abuse, prostitution, among other things and all of it is allowed by a society that prefers a cruel heterosexuality rather than sexuality between women.

In one hand, men power was manifested in the control that they had over women consciousness, which they used to convince them that the best life option was heterosexual marriage, even if this is not what women really wanted or even when they felt repressive and unhappy. In another hand, society has contributed in this disproportionate relation between men and women. Even though they perform the same job, women have lower paying than men. Men have the economic power forcing women to depend on them or give in to their pressures and sexual harassment to get a job. There is not place for lesbians in the market place, to keep their jobs they are forced to play the role of heterosexual women.

Heterosexuality empowers men over women. For society, homosexuality is not a natural instincts in humans, but for Rich, heterosexuality is an institution imposed by society to subordinate women. Rich also sees lesbianism as part of feminism. Lesbian existence breaks the men’s right of access to women and the rule of a obligatory heterosexuality. Many women have married because they need men to survive economically or because society expects that women have children or because they are afraid of a society that punishes those who dare to feel different or because heterosexual marriages have been imposed as a rule to fulfill women’s role. The truth is that lack of choice causes women to remain in relationships where they are inhibited from expressing their own sexuality.