Philosophical Aspects of Feminism Carolina Flores
1
Heteronormativity and Compulsory Heterosexuality
Questions:
- How do heteronormativity and sexism intersect and support each other?
- In what ways are queer women oppressed? How is this different from oppression faced by
straight women?
- Is sexuality socially constructed? How?
Some Background on Sexual Orientation, Sexual Identity, and Heteronormativity
Sexual Orientation:
- What is it? Desire view vs. behavior view.
- Defined in terms of sex or in terms of gender?
Sexual Identity: how you identify (what label you apply to yourself); way of life, culture, community.
Has a political dimension.
The LGBTQ+ label: stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer/questioning. Sometimes “I” and
“A” are added, for intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+).
Some other important concepts: sexual fluidity; the Kinsey scale; gender presentation.
.
Question: why to these concepts and labels matter? And should we have more fine-grained sexual
orientation labels?
Oppression in virtue of sexual orientation:
- homosexual behavior: criminalized in the US until 2003; still criminalized in over 70 countries;
death penalty in 10 countries.
- gay marriage only legal in the US since 2015; only legal in 25 countries (i.e. illegal in about 170
countries).
- Same-sex attraction was considered a mental illness in the US until 1973.
- No federal anti-discrimination laws on the basis of sexual orientation.
Question: oppression does not occur only through the law. Other examples?
Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”
Central claim: heterosexuality in women is not a natural inclination; instead, heterosexuality is a
political institution that partly constitutes the oppression of women: by removing the capacity to choose
the place of sexuality in one’s life, and by putting women at the service of men.
