Reminder that “compulsory heterosexuality” as a term was coined by
Adrienne
Rich, a contributor to the infamous TERF book The Transsexual Empire.
Wait how is compulsory heterosexuality a terf thing. I’ve never heard that ? (I’ve barely heard anything about the term in general though so.)
The informal concept that we are all compelled by society to be heterosexual is real and important. But the phrase/language use of “compulsory heterosexuality” was coined or at least popularized by Adrienne Rich in her essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, which was extremely sex-essentialist and included stuff like… a mother nursing her female child as a lesbian experience. Or a nurse caring for a female elder a lesbian experience. Even if not all lesbian experiences are sexual, that’s kind of getting into a sketchy area (is caring for a male child ‘straight?’ is a latina or black nanny caring for a white girl baby having a ‘lesbian’ experience?) that is questionable at best.
the experience that all people are conditioned by a heterosexual society to be straight and see straightness as success and a default, is real– this post is not intended to remove that concept from anybody or ‘take away’ the right to express that concept in language. Lesbians experience it in a unique way, and almost all over lgbqa+ women (and others!) experience it in different unique ways. Its important. we gotta talk about it.
it’s just that this language as it was solidified, was done so by someone who did not think bisexuality, pansexuality, asexuality, were valid. And it was done so by someone who did not think that trans women were women, or that nonbinary dfab people were anything but cis women, or that trans men were anything but women. That’s what anon means when they say “it was never meant for the rest of us.” Many posts that are about “identifying compulsory heterosexuality” are posts that contain a lot of bi, pan, ace, trans, nonbinary, and other experiences as brainwashing and not as nuanced stores told by diverse people.
(which is not to say that a lesbian can’t have experiences where a heterosexual society tried to use bisexual and other categories as weapons or tools to keep them open to including men. We’re furious about that too.)
incidentally, TERFs would really love it if being a terf was synonymous with ‘lesbian experience.’ They have been trying to make that a reality for years. One of the ways they do so is popularize their language and references to their literature as I-thought-it-meants and get newcomers to lgbtqa+ community to use them and accept them. It can be really disappointing to find out that what seemed like useful language was coined in a context that is exterminatory of others but I’m sure that moving forward alternatives can be found that don’t include contributors to The Transsexual Empire.
last time i asked, someone told me that it’s been suggested (so idk how widespread the use is yet) that we use “coercive heterosexuality” for a non-terfy version of the concept
made a lesbian edit of the het pikachus in the official art from here
Isn’t that just taking their art without permission and just drawing something over it??? That’s… A little low…
Yeah I agree, this is kind of shady. The least u could have done was use a reference and redraw the entire thing instead of just drawing over their art w/o permission, op.
okay but like op said, this is literally official art. are you expecting them to actually contact someone who made official art for a popular series to ask for permission to make a small edit? also if we’re going for people who make official art edits are we gonna go for people who made homestuck sprite edits and danganronpa edits in like 2012-2014
me: *calls up reggie at his house* hey can i copy and paste the tail of one pikachu in some official pokemon art onto another pikachu in mspaint and post it on tumblr?
this is easily the most self-indulgent thing i’ve ever done. anyway happy pride, canon’s not real, here’s the girls decked out in some classic 90s queer direct action group looks. image description below the cut.
[ID: fanart of america chavez, kate bishop, and loki–the queer girls of the young avengers. the three pose beneath a lesbian avengers banner, because i think i’m funny.
america stands with a baseball bat slung over her shoulder. her jacket is half-on and falls behind her, and she has several pins – “DYKE”, “ask not what a lesbian can do for you but what you can do for a lesbian”, “dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians”, “i’m doing my part to piss off the radical right” – and a black triangle patch on the jacket’s breast. she wears a loose-fitting crop top printed with the lesbian avengers’ iconic bomb graphic.
kate stands slouched forward, looking up through her lashes as she mimes eating someone out. she wears a labrys pendant, a tight-fitting purple crop top reading “civil rights or civil war”, and grey cargo pants with a chunky black and purple belt. her nail polish, lipstick, and hairband are also, you guessed it, varying shades of purple.
loki (with messy shoulder-length hair, broken helm, and missing tooth as per late agent of asgard era) stands with one fist raised. she wears a black t-shirt with “the transexual menace” – the spelling used by the eponymous direct action group, not a typo – printed on the front, tucked into a high-waisted green loosely-pleated miniskirt, and, of course, black fingerless gloves and black lipstick.
end ID.]
good morning look at my daughters i love them
hey i want this on a sticker
i’m a good friend and you asked so here’s the full thing as a print or laptop skin [link: x], and here’s america [link: x], kate [link: x], and loki [link: x], all on stickers & phone skins and also spiral notebooks bc america looked rlly cool on it so why not
You can’t say your blog is “a safe space for all wlw” if you reblog posts that make a spec wlw uncomfortable.
Don’t say “a spec wlw included” or “all wlw are welcome here” if you:
• reblog aphobic content (both explicit and implicit)
• reblog from aphobes
• refuse to acknowledge a post is aphobic even if an a spec wlw tells you it’s making them uncomfortable
• don’t support a part of our identity
As a neurodivergent ace wlw, I deserve to know if your space is really safe for me, or if it’s dangerous for my mental health.
If it’s not safe for me I just need to know, so I won’t follow you.
I am a lesbian, I am ace, I am neurodivergent:the wlw part of my identity doesn’t erase my sexual orientation and seeing aphobic content in “wlw safe spaces” triggers my anxiety.
Just so y’all know, this blog is absolutely a safe space for aspec wlw. Aphobia won’t be condoned here, ever.
🍓🧀 (archive) 