Every day we receive messages that make heterosexuality the normal lifestyle. These messages are myths and standards that society has created and perpetuated to define women.
Adrienne Rich published an essay in 1980 “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Experience” in her book Blood, Bread, and Poetry. In it she argues, “Heterosexuality is a violent political institution making way for the 'male right of physical, economical, and emotional access' to women”.
She challenges the notion of women’s dependence on men as social and economic supports, as well as for a sense of completion. Rich coins the term “compulsory heterosexuality” to infer the lack of choice and limitations placed on women. The overt and covert assumptions of society define and disempower women and take away from having their own female experience. This is a serious problem that affects all women.
Rich talks about lesbians and their place in a society dominated by compulsory heterosexuality. She feels the term lesbianism is a stigmatized clinical term used by society to imply that lesbians are either diseased or non-existent. It is also a way to minimize those who challenge the heterosexual standpoint.
Lesbians try, through their women-identified point of view, to break out of the stereotype of heterosexual beliefs. Part of being a lesbian then, is to resist and reject the views set by the patriarchy and their perceived male right to women. In the midst of a heterosexual world, we try to carve out a place for ourselves where we can feel our own power, be economically independent and create our own lives without limitations imposed on us by society.
No matter how “normal” we individually experience our lives as lesbians, we cannot deny that the society we live in is dominated by a heterosexual reality. Living in a world where alternative lifestyles are chastised and not acknowledged in positive ways is not something we cannot escape. How can we live a satisfying life within the world as it is? What kind of a world are we actually living in?
According to The International Lesbian and Gay Association study in 2007, 85 countries criminalize consensual same-sex acts between homosexuals. Not all enforce these laws, but they remain on the books. Some of the countries consider lesbianism as an offense against public morality. Interestingly, nations that consider lesbianism legal include both Muslim (Indonesia) and Catholic (Austria) nations, socialist (Poland) and capitalist (Canada) nations, developed (Denmark) and developing (Guatemala) nations, and nations from various continents.
In the United States, the legality of lesbianism is determined on a state-by-state basis. Obviously, legal status does not always correlate with practice or tolerance. There are sodomy laws for both heterosexuals and homosexuals in 10 states. Four states, (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas) are more explicit in banning homosexual activity.
Despite the loosening of laws in some states to allow same sex unions, second parent adoptions, and domestic partnership rights, limitations continue to exist. Resistance and prejudice remains in the collective consciousness even though baby steps are being taken to give us equal human rights.
Society at large tends to define a relationship according to the presence of sexual activity. If two same-sex people are not having sex, then they are not considered a couple. In contrast, the legal status of marriage defines married heterosexual couples as a unit regardless of sexual activity. In lesbian couples there is a large emphasis on emotional closeness, love, and security. According to lesbians, the strength of a relationship is considered to be the level of intimacy, uniqueness, and equality that can be achieved between two women.
For most lesbians, the emphasis is not on sex but on other aspects two women together can create in terms of safety and compatibility. Society at large fails to see lesbianism as a choice of lifestyle rather than merely a sexual choice. A large number of Americans still consider homosexuality obscene, vulgar, and “harmful to American life.”
The first entry on lesbianism appeared in Psychological Abstracts in 1927. Written by N. B. Davis, it described a survey of 1,000 married and 1,000 unmarried women. It was the first of many studies comparing the qualities in lesbian and heterosexual women.
The stigma of lesbianism runs counter to 30 years of research indicating that lesbians experience positive adjustment and mental health. In fact, research indicates a tendency for lesbians to be more self-confident than female heterosexuals. In 1969, the American Sociological Association passed a resolution preventing discrimination based on sexual preference, and the National Association adopted this for Mental Health in 1970.
In 1971, the American Psychological Association invited a panel of gay people to discuss the psychiatric label of homosexuality, and in 1972 the National Association of Social Workers rejected homosexuality as a mental illness. After considerable debate, the American Psychiatric Association voted (58% in favor) in 1973 to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder. This was particularly significant because this association publishes the official diagnostic system of mental illness used in teaching, research, and insurance reimbursement.
After 1973, homosexuality was considered a disorder if the individual was distressed by same-sex arousal and wished to become heterosexual. Finally, in 1987, homosexuality was removed altogether as a diagnostic category. A survey of 2,500 members of the American Psychiatric Association was taken in 1980 (Time). It indicated that 69% believed that homosexuality was pathological, 73% viewed homosexuals as less happy than heterosexuals, 60% perceived homosexuals as less capable of mature and loving relationships, and 43% felt that homosexuals presented a greater risk in holding positions of responsibilities.
In contradiction to the prevailing societal perception, lesbians have always been in the vanguard of social change. Lesbian feminists were responsible for initiating alternative health care, feminist therapy collectives, battered women’s shelters, and grassroots political organizations. As these institutions have become more respected and established, lesbians' part in developing these causes have given them the unfortunate experience of feeling unwelcome and ignored.
Arianne Haley stated in a letter to the October, 1987 issue of MS Magazine: “When all other women have given up hope; when all other women have silenced their voices; we will still be there, wearing our pink triangles and working for the equality of all women. Lesbians were there at the start of the movement. Lesbians will be there to the end. We may be your worst nightmare, but we are also your future.”
Adrienne Rich concurred with Haley when she wrote: “women-identification is a source of energy, a potential springboard of female power, violently curtailed and wasted under the institution of homosexuality.”
As we raise issues that we consider to be vital to the lesbian experience, we need to keep in mind and understand the significance of the sociopolitical context of compulsory heterosexuality. Hopefully, an understanding of these issues will not only decrease homophobic stereotypes about lesbians, but also demonstrate how the lesbian experience can serve as an affirmative model for all women to stop denying a continuity of our personal and political herstory. Given the extremely homophobic societal pressures we have had to navigate, it is amazing that we have done so well.
Adrienne Rich published an essay in 1980 “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Experience” in her book Blood, Bread, and Poetry. In it she argues, “Heterosexuality is a violent political institution making way for the 'male right of physical, economical, and emotional access' to women”.
She challenges the notion of women’s dependence on men as social and economic supports, as well as for a sense of completion. Rich coins the term “compulsory heterosexuality” to infer the lack of choice and limitations placed on women. The overt and covert assumptions of society define and disempower women and take away from having their own female experience. This is a serious problem that affects all women.
Rich talks about lesbians and their place in a society dominated by compulsory heterosexuality. She feels the term lesbianism is a stigmatized clinical term used by society to imply that lesbians are either diseased or non-existent. It is also a way to minimize those who challenge the heterosexual standpoint.
Lesbians try, through their women-identified point of view, to break out of the stereotype of heterosexual beliefs. Part of being a lesbian then, is to resist and reject the views set by the patriarchy and their perceived male right to women. In the midst of a heterosexual world, we try to carve out a place for ourselves where we can feel our own power, be economically independent and create our own lives without limitations imposed on us by society.
No matter how “normal” we individually experience our lives as lesbians, we cannot deny that the society we live in is dominated by a heterosexual reality. Living in a world where alternative lifestyles are chastised and not acknowledged in positive ways is not something we cannot escape. How can we live a satisfying life within the world as it is? What kind of a world are we actually living in?
According to The International Lesbian and Gay Association study in 2007, 85 countries criminalize consensual same-sex acts between homosexuals. Not all enforce these laws, but they remain on the books. Some of the countries consider lesbianism as an offense against public morality. Interestingly, nations that consider lesbianism legal include both Muslim (Indonesia) and Catholic (Austria) nations, socialist (Poland) and capitalist (Canada) nations, developed (Denmark) and developing (Guatemala) nations, and nations from various continents.
In the United States, the legality of lesbianism is determined on a state-by-state basis. Obviously, legal status does not always correlate with practice or tolerance. There are sodomy laws for both heterosexuals and homosexuals in 10 states. Four states, (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas) are more explicit in banning homosexual activity.
Despite the loosening of laws in some states to allow same sex unions, second parent adoptions, and domestic partnership rights, limitations continue to exist. Resistance and prejudice remains in the collective consciousness even though baby steps are being taken to give us equal human rights.
Society at large tends to define a relationship according to the presence of sexual activity. If two same-sex people are not having sex, then they are not considered a couple. In contrast, the legal status of marriage defines married heterosexual couples as a unit regardless of sexual activity. In lesbian couples there is a large emphasis on emotional closeness, love, and security. According to lesbians, the strength of a relationship is considered to be the level of intimacy, uniqueness, and equality that can be achieved between two women.
For most lesbians, the emphasis is not on sex but on other aspects two women together can create in terms of safety and compatibility. Society at large fails to see lesbianism as a choice of lifestyle rather than merely a sexual choice. A large number of Americans still consider homosexuality obscene, vulgar, and “harmful to American life.”
The first entry on lesbianism appeared in Psychological Abstracts in 1927. Written by N. B. Davis, it described a survey of 1,000 married and 1,000 unmarried women. It was the first of many studies comparing the qualities in lesbian and heterosexual women.
The stigma of lesbianism runs counter to 30 years of research indicating that lesbians experience positive adjustment and mental health. In fact, research indicates a tendency for lesbians to be more self-confident than female heterosexuals. In 1969, the American Sociological Association passed a resolution preventing discrimination based on sexual preference, and the National Association adopted this for Mental Health in 1970.
In 1971, the American Psychological Association invited a panel of gay people to discuss the psychiatric label of homosexuality, and in 1972 the National Association of Social Workers rejected homosexuality as a mental illness. After considerable debate, the American Psychiatric Association voted (58% in favor) in 1973 to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder. This was particularly significant because this association publishes the official diagnostic system of mental illness used in teaching, research, and insurance reimbursement.
After 1973, homosexuality was considered a disorder if the individual was distressed by same-sex arousal and wished to become heterosexual. Finally, in 1987, homosexuality was removed altogether as a diagnostic category. A survey of 2,500 members of the American Psychiatric Association was taken in 1980 (Time). It indicated that 69% believed that homosexuality was pathological, 73% viewed homosexuals as less happy than heterosexuals, 60% perceived homosexuals as less capable of mature and loving relationships, and 43% felt that homosexuals presented a greater risk in holding positions of responsibilities.
In contradiction to the prevailing societal perception, lesbians have always been in the vanguard of social change. Lesbian feminists were responsible for initiating alternative health care, feminist therapy collectives, battered women’s shelters, and grassroots political organizations. As these institutions have become more respected and established, lesbians' part in developing these causes have given them the unfortunate experience of feeling unwelcome and ignored.
Arianne Haley stated in a letter to the October, 1987 issue of MS Magazine: “When all other women have given up hope; when all other women have silenced their voices; we will still be there, wearing our pink triangles and working for the equality of all women. Lesbians were there at the start of the movement. Lesbians will be there to the end. We may be your worst nightmare, but we are also your future.”
Adrienne Rich concurred with Haley when she wrote: “women-identification is a source of energy, a potential springboard of female power, violently curtailed and wasted under the institution of homosexuality.”
As we raise issues that we consider to be vital to the lesbian experience, we need to keep in mind and understand the significance of the sociopolitical context of compulsory heterosexuality. Hopefully, an understanding of these issues will not only decrease homophobic stereotypes about lesbians, but also demonstrate how the lesbian experience can serve as an affirmative model for all women to stop denying a continuity of our personal and political herstory. Given the extremely homophobic societal pressures we have had to navigate, it is amazing that we have done so well.
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