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Assignment 7 Andrew Brock

V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi in their text, Are women human? It’s not an academic question,  argue that we should interrogate the connection of “human rights” in connection to heterosexism rather than focusing on, as other feminists have, the androcentrism of human rights discourse. At the very beginning of their text they essentially answer the question posed in the title. They say only men encompass the term “human” as what is referenced as human are men’s bodies, experiences and stereotypical attributes. As Peterson and Parisi exemplify, men’s traits of reason, agency, and independence are the stereotypical attributes attributed to men. Women’s stereotypical attributes of affect, non-agency, and dependence are not considered when referring to the “human” norm thus making women seem inhuman. Peterson and Parisi’s main point as to how heterosexisum is a precise way of analyzing the relationship of gender differences and human rights seems to be that heterosexuality is the only normal perceived form of sexual identity. Not only that but there is a perceived engraved notion that men must act masculine and women must act feminine. Peterson and Parisi are without a doubt right in their point in my opinion. This ingrained notion that being heterosexual is the only way to be does not let people fully express themselves. Some years ago if a person was homosexual they were far less than human in nearly all of the public’s eye. It was not uncommon for homosexuals to be killed and jailed without any reason. The only true reason this happened was because they were homosexual and nothing more. Even more so in these times, if you were homosexual you were roped in to the same category as pedofiles with basically no concrete basis supporting this. This level of hatred of homosexuals is thankfully not still present but it has certainly left lasting effects. Homosexuality is still seen as unnatural by many and is met with disgust. Times are getting better but it shall be a long time until same sex relations are seen as “normal”.