Wednesday, October 6, 2010
We've all heard the "You're so not the type..." before. Girls and guys alike. But who constructs this notion that there is a specific "type" for specific things? Was Laurel Gilbert, someone who loves the internet and horseback riding, not the "type" to get pregnant? According to her peers, no, she wasn't. She was bisexual, she was pregnant, and she was smart. Three things you don't necessarily hear very often. She noticed though that she was "no longer expected to succeed; [she] was expected to settle"(Gilbert, 82). Imagine living life knowing that no one expects anything from you. I don't think I could. Not to mention the fact that Gilbert brings up something very interesting. She says that there are people who deal with problems but who don't show it--(abusive parents, drug or alcohol abuse) so they aren't judged like her; someone who WEARS her difference...everyday. With the hep of Adrianna Rich's "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Experience", she was better able to put a name on the feelings she'd had her whole childhood. Rich encourages people to question heterosexuality as a "preference" or a "choice". She claims that by doing this it allows for a "freeing-up of thinking", the exploring of new paths, the shattering of another great silence, new clarity in personal relationships" (Rich,317). This is precisely what Gilbert had discovered. By merely questioning her sexuality, she learned more about herself than she could have imagined. Who says heterosexuality has to be THE natural inclination for women? Who says anything but heterosexuality is not normal? Why does society create such naive standards for the rest for the world? What is "abnormal"? "natural"? "Innate"? "preferred"? "Chosen"? I feel like I may just be rambling, but after reading these pieces I'm beginning to really understand where not only feminists, but female liberators are truly saying. All Rich wants is for heterosexuality to be seen as a political institution. Why must a lesbian existence be hidden from scholarly work or writings? People say if men were to take over child care and parenting that the imbalance between the power men have over women. But why? Because society makes it seem "normal" and "natural" for women to be the primary caretakers of children? So if a man decided to take over that suddenly the roles are switched? No. This is not the case and I honestly don't think this misconception will ever be changed. Women will constantly have that label and so will men and I don't know if anything will ever change that.
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Courtney brings up a good point with the quote "You're so not the type..." Many times we judge people upon first glances and first impressions. For example, society judges women with short haircuts as being butch or lesbians. But Rihanna now has short hair. Does that make her a lesbian? Or is it ok for her to do that because she is a celebrity? As a society, we constantly label and judge right away. We don't really take the time to get to know people all that well. If we see something that bothers us, we label is and stay away from it.
ReplyDeleteI think that all of these readings really emphasized the strength that society has over controlling peoples lives. However, I did have a hard time reading both "You're Not the Type" by Laurel Gilbert and "The Body Politic" by Abra Fortune Chernik. Both of these readings seemed to be slightly unrealistic to me. However, they did show how influential society can be on individuals. I found it so horrifying how common Laurel Gilbert thought teen mothers were in her home town. It just goes to show that since society is not effectively condemning teen sexual activity, that more drastic measures are necessarily. Similarly, Chernik, almost died because she was complying to what society viewed as the proper female image. What society deems "normal" is what we try to accomplish. I thought that Adrieen Rich brought up a great point about lesbians. We are so quick to believe that the reason that women are with other women rather than men is out of hatred for men. Additionally I thought that it was really interesting how the other day in class we were discussing whether we thought taht we would ever be able to have more than two sexes or more of a continuum of sexes and how we learn in "Toward a Global History of Same-Sex Sexuality" that some cultures do have these ideals already in place. It just solidified my belief that the reason that our culture has two distinct sexes is because of lack of awareness. We have our ideas of what is "normal" in society and anything else is seen as "not normal."
ReplyDeleteI think you are smart to point out society's trivial use of the words "natural" and "normal." Heterosexuality should be seen as a political institution as Rich notes and as a result (and lucky for us), can be altered. The rules that govern our roles in society are shaped by everyone participating in those roles. In order to change these rules, like those that dictate who we are and who we ought to be, we must work to deconstruct the system of oppression operating in contemporary America and around the world.
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