"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"

     When I first started reading "Cumpolsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existance" I was overwhelmed with information, breaking down and understanding what was being said. About two pages in everything started to sink in and make sense. There are a few things Rich meant by "compulsory heterosexuality" it is best summed up by a few passages taken from the text. Such as page 84 fourth paragraph last sentence "that heterosexuality, like motherhood, needs to be recognized and studied as a political institution", meaning that heterosexuality should not be taken as just a natural way of life and should be treated as preference, a preference not everyone makes. It should be treated as a choice just like people choose to make decisions whether it be religion, politics, or anything that affects your way of life. Rich talks about the thesis of the book For her own good: 150 years of the Experts' Advice to Women that women are given advice by male health professionals that is not in the best interest of them instead there to benefit the male dominated society Rich says " None of the "experts" advice has been either particularly scientific or women-oriented; it has reflected male needs, male fantasies about women, and male interest in controlling women-particularly in the realms of sexuality and motherhood- fused with the requirements of industrial capitalism"

      Adrienne Rich also talks about "lesbian existence" meaning that the presence of lesbians in history up until today has always been around. Many people are limited in their thinking and believe that lesbianism has been a somewhat more recent thing but only because people have tried to silence it in many pieces of history. Ignoring it didn't make it go away but instead helped silence women who were seeking a relationship with other women because the ideologies are based on having a relationship with a male and carrying that way of life on.

Talking Point #4

Economic inequity is a feminist issue because there is still a large gap between males and females in the work place. Such as certain jobs that are perceived as jobs only men work from the obvious construction and labor intensive job roles. But it seems that there are other jobs overlooked that can have a large impact on economic inequity for women. When you look at the majority of movies the "businessmen", lawyers, and people in a high job position seem to be men. Even in todays society I see this a lot. There could be many reasons for this I believe one of them is that woman are so used to being told thats not a job for you whether its from family members or the less unspoken words in society. Ive seen it first hand my mother was told by her father she didn't need an education and that becoming an accountant is a mans job. Although it didn't stop her I still notice the lack of women in her profession and many other professions like hers. The other reason maybe that men are favored and hired much more than women that go for the same job. The other issue women face is the rather large difference between what men and women are paid for the same job. Often swept under the rug and ignored it is about time that this changes. Whether you are male or female you get the same education/degree and are just as capable as each other so why the difference? Until society changes a view as a whole and relinquishes old ideology that has no place in this day and age there will always be this struggle for women when it comes to economic inequity.

I scrolled through "people like us" and realized I had seen this movie in my writing class it was certainly a movie that caught my attention. We analyzed every part of the movie but what caught my attention and remember to this day was the woman who lived with her children in a trailer barely making ends meet. One of her  children was embarrassed of the way they lived and was pretty critical of his mother. I felt for this woman because she didn't want to accept government assistance and just wanted to be self sufficient walking many miles a day just to get to and from work for a measly paycheck. Everyone plays a certain role in society and the documentary depicted these generalized roles.

Going through the site for The Center for Working Class Studies I actually had a better understanding of what the working class is and means. Many of the statistics did not surprise me the working class is growing larger while the middle class is shrinking.