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Assignment 07 reuplod

In the reading V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi argue that heterosexualism is central to the relationship of human rights and gender differentiation. A heterosexual relationship consists of both male and female, implying a binary classification of the genders. This forces a natural polarity between the male and female, making both genders opposites and allows people to distinguish the two from each other. Among these distinctions lies historical discrimination in favor of men, in which human rights come into play. The byproduct of heterosexualism in society yields one in which one side dominates the other, exemplifying the behavioral relationship between men and women today. Humanity as a general term has long been established as androcentric making men the primary focus, hence the ‘man’ part of the word mankind. Thus heterosexism becomes a pillar of human rights, and as the world stands there is a clear hierarchal difference from the male and female sexes where universally accepted androcentrism gives males an advantage. Peterson and Parisi maintain that cultural values like family shape the prevalence of inequality and gender difference through social practice. Normalized heterosexuality is also present within the state acting as a sovereign model for citizens, making obligatory the social leverage given to men. Because of this human rights remains applicable to all, albeit less so for women. The unequal distribution of rights puts in jeopardy the protection of women from male oppression, a major difference in gender that is made easily identifiable by heterosexualism. This gives the analysis of gender relationships a clear result; a heterosexist institution favors males and promotes vulnerability to females. Relative to gender difference and human rights, it is obvious that society operates on discrimination for the sake of separating the sexes and making sure they stay mutually exclusive. Were the institution not to be heterosexist, human rights could potentially be evenly distributed at the expense of gender difference. What Peterson and Parisi explain is that human rights are impacted by heterosexualism, a human concept built upon over time. If heterosexism is abandoned, lines between genders would be erased eliminating the need to make women’s rights and human rights two separate things.