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assignment 07

In “Are women human? It’s not an academic question,” V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi speak on heterosexism in relevance to human rights. They divert from the common feminist view of human rights in context to mens rights. This would in result allow us to think of human rights in different lens, and break away from male dominance. Peterson and Parisi talks about the states role in maintaining the degradation of women. For instance, they bring up domestic violence and how the state opted not to interfere.  This example is brought up to convey that women, even in their own household, are subjugated to their husbands. Not only are women under physical attack, but also psychological attack through the governments choice to not intervene. Because heterosexism is accepted as the natural sex identity, homosexuality is immediately deemed unnatural. And those practicing homosexuality is confined by the laws, by limiting the rights of gay men and women. The governments role, results to people being conditioned that, because the laws says it is wrong, then it must be wrong. The state has a way of influencing peoples morals, and they take to their advantage. This imbalance between gay and straight people is also applied to men and women. In the work environment, women are under male dominance, whether it be evident through their unequal pay or their tolerance of sexual harassment. It is ignorant to say that there isn’t a gender bias within our system and every day life. And although women rights have made progress historically, it is peculiar that women rights are not recognized as basic human rights. And I believe this is the point that Peterson and Parisi tries to get at. Women won’t be granted as a human until the state and society stops comparing our genders and sexuality.