640 Compulsory Heterosexuality disruption of women's creative aspirations: 9 erasure of female tradition];2°and 8. to withhold from them large areas of the society's knowledge and cultural [by means of noneducation of females(60% of the world,'s illiter- ates are women); the " Great Silence"regarding women and par ticularly lesbian existence in history and culture: 2 sex-role stereotyping which deflects women from science, technology, and other" masculine"pursuits; male socialprofessional bonding which excludes women: discrimination against women in the professions These are some of the methods by which male power is manifested and maintained. Looking at the schema, what surely impresses itself is the fact that we are confronting not a simple maintenance of inequalit and property possession, but a pervasive cluster of forces, ranging from enormous potential counterforce is having to be restrained Some of the forms by which male power manifests itself are more easily recog nizable as enforcing heterosexuality on women than are others. Yet each one I have listed adds to the cluster of forces within which women have been convinced that marriage, and sexual orienta tion toward men, are inevitable, even if unsatisfying or oppressive com- ponents of their lives. The chastity belt; child marriage; erasure of les- d e)in art, literature, filr of heterosexual romance and marriage-these are fairly obvious forms of compulsion, the first two exemplifying physical force, the second two control of consciousness. While clitoridectomy has been assailed by feminists as a form of woman-torture, kAthleen Barry first pointed out that it is not simply a way of turning the young girl into a"marriageable"woman through brutal surgery: it intends that women in the intimate proximity of polygynous marriage will not form sexual relationships with each other; that--from a male, genital-fetishist perspective--female erotic connections, even in a sex-segregated situa- tion, will be literally excised, 2 One' s Own(London: Hogarth Press, 1929) Guineas(New York: Harcourt Brace Co, [1938] 1966): Tillie Olsen, Silences Delacorte Press, 1978): Michelle Cliff, ""The Resonance of Interruption, " Chrysalis zine of Women's Culture 8(1979): 29-37. 20. Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father( Boston: Beacon Press, 1973), Pp 347-51: Olsen, 21. Daly, Beyond God the Father, p 22. Fran P. Hosken, "The Violence of Power: Genital Mutilation of Females, Heresies: A Feminist Journal of Art and Politics 6(1979): 28-35: Russell and van de Ven, 19495 23. Barry, pp. 163-64
Compulsory Heterosexuality disruption of women's creative aspirations;'9 erasure of female tradition];20 and 8. to withholdfrom them large areas of the society's knowledge and cultural attainments [by means of noneducation of females (60% of the world's illiterates are women); the "Great Silence" regarding women and particularly lesbian existence in history and culture;21 sex-role stereotyping which deflects women from science, technology, and other "masculine" pursuits; male social/professional bonding which excludes women; discrimination against women in the professions]. These are some of the methods by which male power is manifested and maintained. Looking at the schema, what surely impresses itself is the fact that we are confronting not a simple maintenance of inequality and property possession, but a pervasive cluster of forces, ranging from physical brutality to control of consciousness, which suggests that an enormous potential counterforce is having to be restrained. Some of the forms by which male power manifests itself are more easily recognizable as enforcing heterosexuality on women than are others. Yet each one I have listed adds to the cluster of forces within which women have been convinced that marriage, and sexual orientation toward men, are inevitable, even if unsatisfying or oppressive components of their lives. The chastity belt; child marriage; erasure of lesbian existence (except as exotic and perverse) in art, literature, film; idealization of heterosexual romance and marriage-these are some fairly obvious forms of compulsion, the first two exemplifying physical force, the second two control of consciousness. While clitoridectomy has been assailed by feminists as a form of woman-torture,22 Kathleen Barry first pointed out that it is not simply a way of turning the young girl into a "marriageable" woman through brutal surgery: it intends that women in the intimate proximity of polygynous marriage will not form sexual relationships with each other; that-from a male, genital-fetishist perspective-female erotic connections, even in a sex-segregated situation, will be literally excised.23 19. See Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (London: Hogarth Press, 1929), and Three Guineas (New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., [1938] 1966); Tillie Olsen, Silences (Boston: Delacorte Press, 1978); Michelle Cliff, "The Resonance of Interruption," Chrysalis: A Magazine of Women's Culture 8 (1979): 29-37. 20. Mary Daly, Beyond God theFather (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973), pp. 347-51; Olsen, pp. 22-46. 21. Daly, Beyond God the Father, p. 93. 22. Fran P. Hosken, "The Violence of Power: Genital Mutilation of Females," Heresies: A FeministJournal of Art and Politics 6 (1979): 28-35; Russell and van de Ven, pp. 194-95. 23. Barry, pp. 163-64. 640 Rich
The function of pornography as an influence on consciousness is a major public issue of our time, when a multibillion-dollar industry has the power to disseminate increasingly sadistic, women-degrading visual images. But even so-called soft-core pornography and advertising depict women as objects of sexual appetite devoid of emotional context, without individual meaning or personality: essentially as a sexual commodity to be consumed by males (So-called lesbian pornography, created for the male voyeuristic eye, is equally devoid of emotional context or individual personality. )The most pernicious message relayed by pornography is that women are natural sexual prey to men and love it; that sexuality and violence are congruent; and that for women sex is essentially masochis- tic, humiliation pleasurable, physical abuse erotic. But along with this message comes another, not always recognized that enforced submis- sion and the use of cruelty, if played out in heterosexual pairing, is sexually"normal, "while sensuality between women, including erotic mutuality and respect, is"queer, "sick, " and either pornographic in itself or not very ting compared with the sexuality of whips and which nd violence are interchangeable; it widens the range of behavior considered acceptable from men in heterosexual intercourse-behavior which reiteratively strips women of their autonomy, dignity, and sexual potential, including the potential of loving and being loved by women in mutuality and In her brilliant study, Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination, Catharine A. MacKinnon delineates the intersection of compulsory heterosexuality and economics. Under capitalism, women are horizontally segregated by gender and occupy a structurally inferior position in the workplace; this is hardly news, but MacKinnon raises the question why, even if capitalism"requires some collection of individuals to occupy low-status, low-paying positions.. such persons must be biologically female, "and goes on to point out that"the fact that male employers often do not hire qualified women, even when they could pa nem less than men suggests that more than the profit motive is implicated [emphasis added]. 25 She cites a wealth of material documenting the fact that women are not only segregated in low-paying, service jobs(as sec retaries,domestics, nurses, typists, telephone operators, child-care yorkers, waitresses) but that"sexualization of the woman"is part of the job. Central and intrinsic to the economic realities of women 's lives is the requirement that women will"market sexual attractiveness to men, who 24. The issue of"lesbian sadomasochism"needs to be examined in terms of the dominant cultures'teachings about the relation of sex and violence and also of the accep- tance by some lesbians of male homosexual mores. I believe this to be another example he"double-life" of women 25. Catharine A. MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Se Discrimination(New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press, 1979), Pp. 15-16
Summer 1980 641 The function of pornography as an influence on consciousness is a major public issue of our time, when a multibillion-dollar industry has the power to disseminate increasingly sadistic, women-degrading visual images. But even so-called soft-core pornography and advertising depict women as objects of sexual appetite devoid of emotional context, without individual meaning or personality: essentially as a sexual commodity to be consumed by males. (So-called lesbian pornography, created for the male voyeuristic eye, is equally devoid of emotional context or individual personality.) The most pernicious message relayed by pornography is that women are natural sexual prey to men and love it; that sexuality and violence are congruent; and that for women sex is essentially masochistic, humiliation pleasurable, physical abuse erotic. But along with this message comes another, not always recognized: that enforced submission and the use of cruelty, if played out in heterosexual pairing, is sexually "normal," while sensuality between women, including erotic mutuality and respect, is "queer," "sick," and either pornographic in itself or not very exciting compared with the sexuality of whips and bondage.24 Pornography does not simply create a climate in which sex and violence are interchangeable; it widens the range of behavior considered acceptablefrom men in heterosexual intercourse-behavior which reiteratively strips women of their autonomy, dignity, and sexual potential, including the potential of loving and being loved by women in mutuality and integrity. In her brilliant study, Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination, Catharine A. MacKinnon delineates the intersection of compulsory heterosexuality and economics. Under capitalism, women are horizontally segregated by gender and occupy a structurally inferior position in the workplace; this is hardly news, but MacKinnon raises the question why, even if capitalism "requires some collection of individuals to occupy low-status, low-paying positions ... such persons must be biologically female," and goes on to point out that "the fact that male employers often do not hire qualified women, even when they could pay them less than men suggests that more than the profit motive is implicated" [emphasis added].25 She cites a wealth of material documenting the fact that women are not only segregated in low-paying, service jobs (as secretaries, domestics, nurses, typists, telephone operators, child-care workers, waitresses) but that "sexualization of the woman" is part of the job. Central and intrinsic to the economic realities of women's lives is the requirement that women will "market sexual attractiveness to men, who 24. The issue of "lesbian sadomasochism" needs to be examined in terms of the dominant cultures' teachings about the relation of sex and violence, and also of the acceptance by some lesbians of male homosexual mores. I believe this to be another example of the "double-life" of women. 25. Catharine A. MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1979), pp. 15-16. Signs