Arlene Stein’s book “Sex and Sensibility” is a literary masterpiece that develops the framework of content that was essential towards explaining the rise of the lesbian movement; though solid in its message, Stein’s bias is recognized throughout the text, she was cognizant of issues and factors that affected the movement but she fails to piece together the entire spectrum. Stein captures three fundamental factors displayed throughout the text: (1). The recognition of new sexual identities and their associated orientations (2). The separation of the Feminist and Lesbianist movements, and (3). The differentiation of the “Old Gay” and “New Gay”lesbian identities. Though these factors are important, she consistently neglects specific fragments …show more content…
Depending on the social atmosphere, an individual surrounds themselves in, will determine their orientation and identity at that particular time, she asserts herself as bisexual, reinforcing the “new gay” identity. Lastly, the third woman in the chapter demonstrates the notion of non-conformity, that, though she identifies as lesbian, her identity does not conform to any particular binary system. (Stein 1997, p 47-65) Stein’s display of these individuals is intriguing; the three stories relate to the recurring theme of intersectionality, that all three individuals identify as lesbian but have different definitions of being a …show more content…
Similarly, with the perception of the feminist movement, the majority is a Caucasian and middle-class sector, both groups seem to undermine the importance of other identities.
This entire situation reeks of irony; a particular aspect that I believe both the feminist and lesbianist movements seem to neglect is that both movements (regardless of profound differences) were responsible for drawing awareness to each other’s sector and because of this, allowed both movements to describe their motives and bring increased awareness to issues regarding women’s rights.
Overall, Stein is brilliant in presenting the toil and hardships of the lesbian movement’s ascent to prominence, but she fails to notice various identities and individuals who played a part in the movement’s rise as well as their strides for notoriety; she is biased in her perception, only speaking from the eyes of a middle-class, Caucasian woman. She flaunts independence and notoriety but excluding various identities and movements, her style of writing is best described by her character, willing for change yet change for her own benefit, I describe her as a mainstream feminist and lesbianist only supporting the ideals of mainstream
“The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York: "An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail" : Stephan Cohen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 14 August 2019, https://archive.org/details/cohen-gylib. Accessed 23 March 2023. K, Kristi. “Something Like A Super Lesbian: Stormé DeLarverie (In Memoriam).”
As someone who feels as though they are well versed in issues of LGBT discrimination and history, I felt so taken aback by this history of violence and systemic homophobia, and that I wasn’t even fully aware of it’s extent. Feinberg’s writing provided me with a lot of insight relating to current issues and the history of the LGBT movement. The most important thing I think to take away from this novel is to think outside of the binary in terms of gender expression or sexual orientation. Humans are not black and white and neither are their psychological makeups, trying to fit all of humanity into two neat, strict boxes does not work for a vast majority of the population. Realizing that even within the gay and lesbian community pressure to identify as “the man” or “the woman” in a relationship is very real.
Camille Yates Dr. Paige ENGL 1113 21 April 2023 Rhetorical Analysis Essay Unit #2 Bad Feminist is a book written by American writer Roxane Gay published in 2014 that became a New York Times Best Seller. Gay exemplifies her “bad” feminist traits and contrasts them with her “good” feminist traits. The purpose of this formal essay is to broaden the definition of what a “feminist” actually means. Many women do not fall underneath the certain opinions of what “feminist” would be. Gay discovers her definition of what a feminist is by utilizing her use of rhetorical appeals and elements that ultimately successfully contributes to her purpose in writing Bad Feminist.
Even to this day, shame about one’s sexual orientation remains a prominent topic. Whether one identified themselves as gay, lesbian, and transgender, society viewed them and their actions as a sin, a crime, and a disease, which only increased the amount of shame–a painful feeling of distress or humiliation caused by the consciousness of wrong or fooling behavior–they saw within themselves. Then changes began to occur as a group of gays, lesbians, and transgender people confronted police in an event known as the Stonewall Riots or the Stonewall Uprising, which became a turning point for gay liberation. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is a 1980s, family tragicomic-graphic memoir that addresses this perspective turning point through the use of the labyrinth
The article reveals the racism that gay men and women deal with within the black culture. It speaks on, an unspoken action that is ignored in the African American community. Lorde (1984) speaks about the African American women smuggles as a lesbian, Icard (1986) speaks no how the African American male is seen an inferior. Loiacano
Serano goes on to explain how working class trans people and trans people of color are at the highest risk for transphobic violence, and how her narrative should only be seen as part of a much larger story (xxiii). This statement truly illuminates the reader to the absence of race as an intersection in the book, which limits the view of transgender identity, shows this dire issue is able to be ignored because the writer, Serano or Clare,
Of Mice & Men John Steinbeck’s Of Mice & Men is a novel packed with racial and gender inequalities. The way it portrayed the character of Curley’s wife is particularly interesting and spoken about, and for good reason. Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife – who, accordingly, was never called anything else – was consistently dehumanized, and forced to fit into certain stereotypes. It’s also worth noting that Curley is an abusive husband towards her. Curley’s wife is a victim of sexism, correctly depicted by Steinbeck’s illustration of how society used to be.
In the world, over 10% of the global population are part of the LGBTQ+2 community. In the novel The Patron Saints of Nothing, we are exposed to numerous homosexual relationships such as Tita Chato and Tita Ines being in a public lesbian relationship, Grace and Jessa in a private relationship, and Jay’s older brother being in a gay relationship in which we do not learn much about. The Patron Saints of Nothing is an astonishing novel that represents many in the LGBTQ+2 community. Members of the community feel heard as they can relate to the situations of their own relationships. In this essay we will be speaking about how well the novel handles the relationships.
Jill Johnston’s book, The Myth of the Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm, taken from her book, “Lesbian Nation”, takes the readers on a wilder ride than Anne Koedt’s excerpt, The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm. In it, she proclaims that “all women are lesbians” and that the only solution to Feminists massive complaint towards the man is to seek lesbianism (505). She explains that a man’s equipment, no matter how diluted, will always be the instrument to conquer. The solution, therefore, is lesbianism. She stated “until all women are lesbians, there will be no true political revolution” (505).
Octavia Butler is an Afrofuturist, science fiction author who writes many dystopian stories that allude to questions about gender, social structures, and an individual’s ability to control her body and sexuality. When people think of speculative and science fiction they tend to think of nerdy white men writing stories about space and light sabers, but Octavia Butler challenges this stereotype herself by being one of the few African American women in this genre. In Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction short story “Speech Sounds” there is a reversal of gender roles and a strong idea of feminism that is portrayed through the main character Rye. There is also the use of simile and metaphor to help point out flaws in the social structure of the story and the world of the reader.
The queer historical past has been characterized positively, with aspects such as identification, desire, longing, and love highlighted (31). In contrast, Heather Love seeks to focus on the negative aspects that characterize the relationship of queer history amid the past and present, in her work, “Emotional Rescue: The demands of Queer History,” the first chapter in her book, “Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History” (31-32). According to Love, some queer critics have failed to include the harsher accounts when studying queer cross-historical relations. The negative aspects of the past that queer figures can relate to makes it relevant. In her article, Love critiques various works to identify the negative aspects present within the queer history.
They argue that although there are feminist ideas established throughout the book, it doesn’t fit under the feminist ideology or definition. Many say that feminism is the “political, social, and economic equality of the sexes” and that Morrison is not advocating for this in any way (Watkins). Critics fail to understand that although that is the modern day definition of feminism, it may not have been the definition of feminism back in the twentieth century setting of the novel. Women faced different forms of discrimination back during that time when compared to today.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in her Epistemology of the Closet claims that “many of the major nodes of thought and knowledge in twentieth-century Western culture are structures—indeed, fractured—by a chronic, now endemic crisis of homo/heterosexual definition” (Sedgwick 2008, 1). Sedgwick argues that it is a crisis “indicatively male, dating from the end of the nineteenth century” (1). This is an interesting point since the male perspective is the pillar, of the Western Patriarchal model of gender role’s construction—and for our purpose sexual identity constraint. The author, in her book, says that “virtually any aspect of modern Western culture must be, not merely incomplete, but damaged in its central substance to the degree that it does not incorporate a critical analysis
Gender is it a concept or is it made apparent by our DNA when you are born or does it change as you grow older? Often gender is something that society defines at birth. According to society certain gender roles are pre established when we are born. The majority of society believes that if you are born to a specific gender you should adhere to the gender roles while other people believe that instead we may be born to a gender but it does not always decide if you are that gender. Science has proven that just because you are born a male or female does not mean that you mentally see yourself as that gender.
Adrienne Rich lived during the feminist and women’s movements. This largely influenced her life, including accepting herself. This led her to accept she was a lesbian. Her poetry, style, and themes were changed because