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Marilyn Frye and Gender Theory
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Discusses gender theory regarding the denial of lesbianism in phallocratic society as described by ...... More...
4 Pages / 900 Words
1 sources, 14 Citations, MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses gender theory regarding the denial of lesbianism in phallocratic society as described by Marilyn Frye. Argues that denial of the existence of lesbians protects males from scrutiny. Taken from "To Be and be Seen: The politics of Reality."

Paper Introduction:
Gender Issues in the Philosophy of Marilyn Frye In To Be and Be Seen The Politics of Reality Marilyn Frye begins her analysis of gender theory by citing a statement by SarahHoagland who argued that there is no such thing as a lesbian This puts alesbian in the interesting and peculiar position of being something thatdoesn\'t exist and this position is a singular vantage point with respectto the reality which does not include her From Frye\'s - perspective Hoagland\'s portrait indicates that

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162-175. Insofar asthe phallocratic scheme permits the understanding that women perceive atall, it features women's perceptions as passive, repetitive of men'sperceptions, nonauthoritative." Part of the problem that Frye (17 )identifies in her analysis is that while women as a whole "are erased inhistory and in speculation," they are unlike lesbians "regularly andsystematically invited, seduced, cajoled, coerced, and even paid to be inintimate and constant association with men and their projects." Women as aclass fulfill roles in a phallocratic society and are absolutely necessaryto and problematic for the dominant reality. Lesbians therefore become logicallyimpossible without a reality. This mode is an insane reversal of thereasonable procedure of adjusting one's views so that they accord withreality as actively discovered." Frye (169) makes this point by stating that "the phallocratic schemedoes not admit women as authors of perceptions, as seers.... Frye (172) states that "one might try saying that a lesbian is onewho, by virtue of her focus, her attention, her attachment, is disloyal tothe phallocratic reality." The lesbian is in no way committed to themaintenance of this reality or the maintenance of those who maintain it.The lesbian may well be intent upon a program of destruction in which sherefuses to be ignored or to allow her reality to be ignored. Feminism and Philosophy, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995, pp. As Frye (168) puts it, this"project of annihilation can be seen to presuppose the nonexistence of theobjects being eliminated. Work CitedFrye, Marilyn. Frye (164) draws upon dictionary definitions of the word "lesbian" topoint out that it could be used to refer to someone or something pertainingto the island of Lesbos, a homosexual female, a woman who has sexualrelations with other women, and other phrases which tend to deny issues ofbeing a lesbian which Frye (165) sees as significant. Further, Frye (165) suggests that manydefinitions of lesbians or attributions related to lesbians position it(and them) as unnatural, contrary to the laws of nature. Since the dictionarybroadly defines sex and sexual relationships as necessarily involving apenis and a vagina, Frye (165) suggests that the very notion that two womencould "have sex' is itself denied. In contrast, lesbians are notinvited to join the phallocratic reality, are deliberately excluded from itand find that their very existence is denied. She positions lesbians as"woman-seers" who are unlike males in that they can see women clearly andbe seen by them. They are not and are notseen. Lesbians are excluded from theconceptual scheme of the phallocratic reality as a whole, but Frye (168)cautions that just as lesbians are not real, women in general "are notcountenanced by the phallocratic scheme, are not real; there are no women." Of course, one recognizes that women exist and exist of necessity. She contends thatthere has been an ongoing effort to quite literally erase women from thereality of the phallocratic world view. Such an interpretationin Frye's (165) view not only diminishes lesbians and their experiences,but also denies them a meaningful reality. Frye's (167) concern is thatthe denial of lesbianism as natural positions it outside of the ontologicalcommitments of a phallocratic system. Here, Frye (166) is making the case that "being a lesbian isunderstood as something which could be nobody's natural configuration butmust be a configuration one is twisted into by some sort of force which isin some basic sense 'external' to one." Just as illness is not natural,so, too is lesbianism considered to be unnatural. This puts alesbian in the interesting and peculiar position of being something thatdoesn't exist, and this position is a singular vantage point with respectto the reality which does not include her." From Frye's (162-163)perspective, Hoagland's portrait indicates that lesbians not only live in astate of exile, but are excluded from phallocratic conceptual schemes.Throughout her essay, Frye (163) focuses on how lesbians are excluded froma conceptual scheme and their reality diminished, resulting in the denialof lesbians as meaningful participants in society. WhatFrye (168) is suggesting that women exist primarily to reproduce malebabies and otherwise ensure the survival of the species. This particular gender theory rejects the phallocraticcognitive or conceptual schema which denies women's autonomy and theexistence of lesbians whose presence (if acknowledged) would invariably bethreatening to male hegemony. Gender Issues in the Philosophy of Marilyn Frye In "To Be and Be Seen: The Politics of Reality," Marilyn Frye (162)begins her analysis of gender theory by citing a statement by SarahHoagland who argued that "there is no such thing as a lesbian. Frye's (173) argument is compelling. The point being made by Frye (173) is that "heterosexuality for womenis not simply a matter of sexual preference, anymore than lesbianism is.It is a matter of orientation of attention, as is lesbianism, in ametaphysical context controlled by neither heterosexual nor lesbian women." Women who are heterosexual and women who are lesbians are better able inFrye's (174) view to see each other and to be seen by each other than arewomen and men. Women see men, perceive them, and recognize the masculinereality. The problem is that in a phallocratic system, men's perception ofwomen is always focused upon what women can do for men rather than whatwomen are capable of doing for themselves. "To Be and Be Seen: The Politics of Reality." In Nancy Tuana and Rosemarie Tong, Editors. By marginalizing lesbians anddenying that they exist, men appear to be further subordinating women'sattention and requiring women to gaze only upon men while ignoring oneanother.

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