1. An expectation or assumption I previously held that has been challenged by this weeks assigned readings. Elaborate on this assumption through citation or paraphrase.

I want to start by saying that both Suzanne Pharr’s and Adrienne Rich’s pieces were very well written. Rich put so many things that I think of into the perfect sentences. I knew what she was saying, just not how to say it so eloquently and down right truthful. I guess you could say that my assumption challenged this week was more of an eye-opener, something I never correlated before. In “Homophobia; A Weapon of Sexism”, Rich makes many points touching on the fact of the relationship between heterosexism and homophobia. She states that, “Heterosexism and homophobia work together to enforce compulsory heterosexuality and that bastion of patriarchal power, the nuclear family.” It was right in front of me the whole time yet I never connected the two. I have lesbian friends and gay friends. I love them all. I never would have looked down on them for their sexuality. The fact that girls are taught to form a dependency on a man in life is no surprise to me. I have a new understanding of this battle against sexism. WE are to fight for equality of all women, not just white heterosexual ones, if we are to get anywhere in this fiasco. 

A second assumption I noticed was from Pharr’s piece on Compulsory Heterosexuality. She talks about all these articles or books written by feminists that do not take into account the lesbian’s problem or how and why they exist. She means a real definition and not just the one that stereo typically puts, “Lesbian existence as a form of nay-saying patriarchy.”  Her point about the mother contact as a first form of eroticism is right. From there on girls are taught compassion and all the attributes you can list that make this world a better place. It is NO WONDER that women have saught attention from other women through out history. And with great reason, Why in the hell would you want a man’s attention when you could have a females whose connection is way more close to her own?  Rich hits it on the head by mentioning all the ways that men make this world shity, especially for women. I am very aware of this and don’t know what to do to “fix” it. I feel like we are so far gone that there is no hope. I also have visions of  excitingly and brutally wiping out men and starting over. But ssshhh, You didn’t hear that. Plus it’s not very lady like, is it? 

2. Something I did, read, happened, witnessed, or was involved in this week that resonated with the readings/discussion/film/topics from this week’s class.

The only topic I can strongly relate to here is the one of male dominance over female sexuality. Here we go. I can not tell you how much it disgusts me that prostitution, porn, TV, and the list goes on, are so abundant in our culture. As one comedian put it, We have flooded the market with tits and ass. I, on one hand  am so appalled but on the other I want to see more men naked if it has to be this way.  It might as well be equal. Any who, this resonates with Rich’s idea of lesbianism in our society. How can these men flash fake, beautiful unrealistic women damn near everywhere and expect women to “prefer” heterosexuality? I mean come on! If they crave females so bad because their beauty can’t be denied then why the hell wouldn’t women do the same? The fact that the lesbian woman is looked at a defiance to male control is a joke. Again our culture, thanks to men, is obsessed with the female body. I know I see it everyday. Men shouldn’t  be naive to think their public obsession won’t trickle over to women enjoying other women. This is a topic I could go on and on about but I can’t quite write so clear as Rich does in her piece on compulsory heterosexuality. 

Another point I heard in the reading: Men control women for “fear of women.” You damn right. It might just be true, that we hadn’t been forced into heterosexuality we might not prefer men at all or very little. Who knows how it would have turned out. As long as men control this earth we are all doomed, even other men who are good guys. If these so called intelligent men would just think without denial for one second then they might see how logical it is for a women to seek another women for camaraderie rather than a man, especially after analyzing mens’ actions toward women since the beginning of time, maybe they would change it by changing their actions. I’m sorry but I highly doubt it. They are creatures who are to easily corrupted.