How Is Adrienne Rich Compulsory Able-Bodiedness?

Through my experiences with people of many backgrounds, as well as my education, I have learned to separate the idea of sex and gender. I still maintain certain traditional views regarding gender, however I’ve come to the realization that the social constructs of men and women are not, and should not, be as rigid. In my opinion, I have acknowledged that there are differences between ‘men’ and ‘women’, however these differences should be used to uplift one another, rather than to tear the other gender apart. For example, a family unit in which the man decides to take on the responsibilities of the

Ableism has given people so many advantages that people take for granted. In an Exploring the Invisible Knapsack of the Able-Bodied Privilege, an essay written by May-Machunda, she discusses the ways the able-bodied people have major privileges that do not get unacknowledged by the dominate group. The dominant group is unaware of their privileges because they have never checked their own privileges. The able-body has to acknowledge the privileges they have to understand how life is not structured for every person. Ableism helps people understand the advantages of the able-body by observing how “able-body” privileges have offered many people benefits that people take for granted.

A privilege is any unearned advantage available to a particular person or group of people. As McIntosh had described, privileges are invisible, weightless knapsacks containing special provisions, maps and passports (White Privilege). The privileged rarely see themselves as the oppressor, but instead take the majority of their rights for granted, which protects them from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence. In the following paper, I describe the hardships associated with disability and homosexuality through the perspective of Connie Panzarino, as portrayed in her memoir The Me In The Mirror. I will then relate her experiences to class readings and describe how able-bodied and heterosexual privileges are threats to those who do not fit into either category.

Firstly, the primary argument put forth by the authors of this article is the idea that even with numerous feminist movements and positive progressions in the ways that the female population is being integrated and better valued in society, the disabled members of these feminist groups are still not equivalent nor are they being perceived as equivalent relative to the nondisabled portion of feminists and that their status is not improving. They mention how, “mainstream feminist theories tend to privilege the functional capabilities and social role characteristics of ‘normal’ women” and that, “nondisabled women have severed them from the sisterhood in an effort to advance more powerful, competent, and appealing female icons” (Israelite, Swartz, 2013, p.155). This goes against the entire purpose of having social movements and entire academic disciplines related to the study of human

A peculiarity he mentions after explaining the search for a specific gender partner is how, in the South where he is, gay men tend to seek “masculine” partners, which defeats the idea of gender roles in same-sex relationships. The concept of gender is defined as “the identity and roles associated with, and/or appropriated by specific persons, regardless of their biological sex,” (Rich, 2016). While the concept is different across cultures and time, a constant happens to be the grouping and automatic attribution of roles based on a person’s biological sex. The author challenges the idea of gender roles associated with biological sex, however, saying that these men in the South tend to seek boyfriends who are sporty and have other classic masculine characteristics. Mays comments that there are few actions or characteristics that can be classified as gender neutral as these can be in present-day society. Thus, in their case, if both partners will exhibit these masculine qualities, they will both, in turn, be forced to take up women’s roles to live normal lives, for example cooking and cleaning, which would lead to the canceling out of masculine or feminine qualities.

Women are allowed to be independent by having their own car, job, and money. Men do not have to be detached from their feelings and masculine. It should be okay for a man to express himself and to ask for help when needed. There are also different types of men and women who should be accepted in society. Lesbians and gays should be accepted due to the fact they are human and their sexuality should not define who they are.

All of these concepts of heterosexism, masculine gender performance, and racial identity can be tied back to the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness. In Compulsoy Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled Existence, McRuer introduces the concept of compulsory able-bodiedness in tandem with Rich’s conception of compulsory heterosexuality, summing it up with: “Like compulsory heterosexuality, then, compulsory able-bodiedness functions by covering over, with the appearance of choice, a system in which there actually is no choice” (371). Instead of arguing these as separate points, however, McRuer goes on to explain how both compulsions work together to create this idea of what has been deemed

Affirmative Action is an employment legislation protection system that is intended to address the systemized discrimination faced by women and minorities. It achieves this by enforcing diversity through operational intrusions into recruitment, selection, and other personnel functions and practices in America. Originally, Affirmative Action arose because of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s desire to integrate society on educational, employment, and economic levels, yet it was John F. Kennedy who issued Executive Order 10925 to create the Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, a commission that evolved into our modern Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Generations of families have suffered due unequal laws or prejudices set in place to prevent minorities from growing. Slavery, segregation, separate but equal laws, the trail of tears, failing ESOL classes, unequal pay and so much more effect today's youth and causing history to change slowly if at all. Affirmative action has good intentions and is very much needed in today's world however it sometimes fails doing what it was created to do.

Will Kymlicka has considered the basic three such arguments. The first argument basically deals with the ‘gender-neutral’ on sexual discrimination. The second argument deals with public-private distinction. Both of these arguments claim essential aspects of liberal and democratic concept of justice that are generally male bias. On the other hand, the third argument claims that the very emphasis on justice is itself and everywhere reflective of a male bias, and that the theory which is responsive to interest and experiences of women will replace the emphasis on justice with an emphasis on caring. These all arguments carry an idea, which is limited to some extent, of the scope of recent feminist theory, but they raise some necessary issues which

The patriarchal society created the ‘Woman”, and assigned the attributes for a woman, which led to the oppression of women. Wittig states that “To refuse to be a woman, however, does not mean that one has to become a man” (p. ). That is, refusing to “be a woman” is simply just refusing to accept male imposed ideas of femininity. If the society classifies all individuals as men and women then, twitting says, “Thus a lesbian has to be something else, a not-woman, a not-man, a product of society, not a product of nature, for there is no nature is society” (p. ). However, I do think a classless society devoid of oppression might take many more years before it becomes a reality.

Affirmative action has been around for decades. Some believe it isn’t fair but others do. Those who believe and agree with affirmative action tend to say, “The principle of affirmative action is to promote societal equality through the preferential treatment of socioeconomically disadvantaged people” (Bidmead, Andrew pg 3). Others that disagree with it and find it unfair simply see it as another form of discrimination, giving one group extra advantages based upon nothing but their skin color (Cline, Austin pg 1). I believe that affirmative action is indeed fair because it gives minorities a better chance at having a successful career in their near future.

Firstly, Frye discusses the etymology of the word ‘oppression’ stating that it has its elements from the word “press”, 1983, p: 2. She then gives imagery in order to demonstrate that the word is very restrictive in nature as if something were; “caught between or among forces and barriers which are so related to each other that jointly they restrain, restrict or prevent the thing’s motion or mobility”, (Frye, 1983, p:2). Frye makes the point that he first criterion in defining oppression is that the oppressed is restricted or limited in some manner, giving the sense that they have been moulded, immobilised or reduced. She exemplifies this notion with the following comparison using her theory of the “double-bind” theory. According to Frye, in the United States, young women, are locked in a bind where if they exhibit that they are heterosexually active, then she is explicitly regarded as “loose, unprincipled or a whore”, 1983, p:2. The woman may then feel that she must hide her behaviour from her parents who are likely to look down on her for her promiscuity. She will also face criticism by her peers as being an “easy lay” and put down in comparison to her friends who practise more restraint, (Frye, 1983, p:3).

Adrienne Rich also speak compulsory heterosexuality in her work, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Compulsory heterosexuality as discussed by Rich is how we view heterosexuality as a part of institution of capitalism that maintains power through the ideas of heterosexuality being acceptable to society and how we do not allow for differences in the binary system. As Rich states, “the failure to examine heterosexuality as an institution is like failing to admit that the economic system called capitalism or the caste system of racism is maintained by a variety of forces, including both physical violence and false consciousness” (Rich, 135). Meaning that we understand how heterosexuality is maintained by our capitalism system just as we understand oppression of classism, racism, and gender differences. Heterosexuality becomes institutionalized by maintaining through the normalization of forcing us to believe in the capitalism

Sex and gender categories, such as “men,” “women,” “masculine” and “feminine,” have been in place for generations. They are socially constructed categories and expectations assigned to children at birth, in order to regulate and shape them into this “ideal” heterosexual being. Men are expected to embrace masculine qualities, while women are required to be feminine and submissive to the male authority. Monique Wittig’s article, “One is Not Born a Woman” observes how the class of “women” is not “natural,” but is created by the society and framed by the male ideology, as a way of producing a clear gender difference between men and women. J. M Coetzee reinforces Wittig’s beliefs by sharing similar ideas of hegemonic masculinity and male dominance