Arlene Stein's Sex And Sensibility

Because of his choices, he reflects, “I didn’t have to fight to get out of the ghetto. I was kicked out.” In the third article “The transformation of silence into Language and Action” A black lesbian poet who struggles because of society misunderstandings, focuses on action rather than silence. She believes that we have to speak out and act if we want to reach our goals and dreams, otherwise we would be struggling and feeling uncomfortable.

The idea of being only one or the other is rooted in the gender binary of being male or female, and Anzaldúa critics this mindset. She ends this section claiming “I, like other queer people, am two in one body, both male and female”(41). Through this declaration Anzaldúa through the influence of heteronormative ideology describes queerness as

A lesbian is a woman- indentified woman and Adrienne Rich calls it ‘Lesbian continuum’ she explains lesbian continuum is “Include is a range through each woman’s life and throughout history of woman indentified experience no simply the fact that a woman has had consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman (25)”. Rich argues to embrace many more forms of primary intensity between and among women including the sharing of a rich inner life. Their Eyes were watching God is overwhelmingly centered on Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Whereas certain critics recognize the female search for self and need for community as key issues in the novel, most still give priority to heterosexual love and experience as the sole informers of Janie’s existence.

Alexis Tandazo April Sharkey SXST 1600 19 October 2015 Fall Term Assignment: Sexuality and Marxism Sexuality is often defined as the way an individual identifies their sexual orientation, desires and with whom, however human sexuality does not tend to fall into neat categories. Many philosophers such as Karl Marx have built upon theories regarding human nature, including our sexuality to further explain who is in control of power, who is being marginalized and how human sexuality intersects with other axes of power such as race, gender and class that produces societies norms. Although Marx did not have much to say in regards to sex, he believed that human nature, including our sexuality, is shaped by society and as a result changes historically.

Despite the claim that the world has made progress towards gender equality, women are expected to depict feminine characteristics and mannerisms deemed suitable by society. Sandra Cisneros challenges these societal expectations in her poem “Loose Woman” by embracing the negative connotations of a masculine woman. Cisneros faces the pressures of conforming to the American and Latin American status quo of being a woman. Because Cisneros chooses to defy many womanly ideals, she is labeled with “undesirable” identities heavily influenced by religious beliefs. These religious views impact the social expectations of a woman’s sexual orientation as well as her social behavior.

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.

Jorgensen’s embodiment of white womanhood made her more accessible to the public, and made it clear why it was her, specifically, that became the icon that she is. An article entitled “Constructing the ‘Good Transsexual’: Christine Jorgensen, Whiteness, and Heteronormativity in the Mid-Twentieth-Century Press”, by Emily Skidmore, examines how Jorgensen’s image was built up, and how it contrasts with the images given to trans people of color of the same time period, looking at Jorgensen’s experience from an intersectional perspective. The very language involved in the New York Daily News article that first exposed the country to Jorgensen already set up how she would be treated as a woman from then on. Skidmore talks about how characterizing Jorgensen as a "’blond beauty’" simultaneously aligned Jorgensen's body with an idealized femininity and asserted her desirability as a woman to an assumed male viewer” (273). Another article said Jorgensen is “not only female; she's a darn good looking female” (275), again placing her degree of passing at the top of the list.

“People are always ready to see the lesbian as wearing a felt hat, her hair short, and a necktie; her mannishness is seen as an abnormality indicating a hormonal imbalance” (De Beauvoir, 479). With this quote French feminist writer, Simone the Beauvoir, starts her chapter on “The Lesbian” in her book The Second Sex (1949). It is peculiar that the stereotype of the masculine lesbian can still be found in contemporary popular culture and literature, yet slightly altered to a more contemporary version. This chapter will explain what lesbian literature is, give some historical background on how lesbian literature developed from 600BC to present day, and show various lesbian identities and stereotypes that recur in lesbian fiction. As stated in

Bednarska, Passing Last Summer; keyword: queer Keyword: Queer Bednarska does not directly define “queer” or “queerness,” but a few sentences hint to its definition. The second to last page, “I’m fully aware that my desires around the kind of sex I want could change over time, depending on the partner and the possibilities and the mutability of our own desires.” Main Argument: Bednarska gives an overview of the dynamic complex fluidity that gender and sexual attraction should have and those that exist outside the limited categories. Throughout, she explains that many people she knows that activities and interests change over time, just like emotions do.

Queer women frequently felt unsecure and disgrace toward their sexuality in the mid twentieth century greatly influenced by governmental anti-gay policies and the notion of medicalized homosexuality. Changes were seen during the homophile movement in 1950s, queer women fought for their voices to be heard by establishing their organization – Daughters of Bilitis (abbreviated as DOB) – to connect with other lesbians via The Ladder magazine throughout the world and gaining support from well-educated individuals such as a group of San Francisco clergies. During the period, they also battled for their civil and political rights by organizing silent protests against government’s anti-gay policies and challenging the notion of medicalized homosexuality.

In relation to this, feminism encourages “a popular culture which enhances rather than degrades one 's self-respect and respect for others” as well as the “freedom to define social and sexual relationships” (Hyde Park Chapter). This means that feminism inspires one to define their own relations with others and to participate in a culture that bolsters one’s self-confidence and self-reliance. Through Hannah, Morrison voices components of feminism revealed in the above quotes which further develops the book into a feminist piece of literature. Another way that Morrison

This novel follows the life of a recent college graduate, Marian MacAlpin, through her career and emotional maturation in a somewhat unnatural, if not threatening world. The queer concept of this world is branded by a spectrum of moral viewpoints of gender politics that manifest themselves and surround Marian. The political and cultural values and practices of a male dominated and sex driven society depicted in the novel are so strong that they seem to devour Marian physically and emotionally. She rebels against this cannibalistic, patriarchal society through a comestible mode and the end, reclaims her identity crisis by restoring her relationship with

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.

Crenshaw (1989, 1993) argued that race and gender are not mutually exclusive social identities that a Black woman experiences, the intersection of race and sexuality go accordantly with each other. Similarly, hooks argued that they are equally congruent values to the lives of those affected by such identities (2000). Crenshaw (1989) criticized the feminist movement for its failure to consider and promote the voices of women in the margins; the women who occupy more than one oppressed space and hold more than one oppressed status because of their race, sexuality, class, as well as gender. She noted, in “mapping the margins,” as did hooks, that some women are so oppressed in ways other than their gender that they do not see the feminist movement

There are elements of realism intricately woven within the fabric of the novel. Its depiction of sexuality is a positive portrayal of lesbian love, both sexual and non-sexual love. While Celie compares male sex organs to frogs, Sofia is tired of Harpo’s mechanical lovemaking. On the other hand, Celie’s act of lovemaking with Shug is devoid of any guilt and is liberating. Further, it is a powerful ‘womanist’ text showing productive and strong bonds between women characters and their work culture which together combat the elephantine patriarchal exploitation.