Surviving

Adrienne Rich’s article explored the idea that women of lesbian existence had to enter heterosexual marriages in order to survive. Marrying men often times guaranteed economic stability and social respectability in times where a woman could not survive on her own. This is an interesting and unfortunate concept. It shows the general status of women in society: they are unable to provide for themselves economically. It also shows the social status of lesbian existence: one would rather choose a life they do not belong to in order to maintain a sort of “normalcy.” The beautiful thing about this choice is that women of lesbian existence did not forfeit their feelings or sensuality to the institution of marriage but rather their lesbian existence was merely tamed by it. They maintained emotional and passionate relationships with women during their marriages. This enabled them to have children who would grow up economically and socially safe but still allowed for them to find love. Rich offers the idea that there are no statistics on how many women of lesbian existence actually stayed in these marriages and how many eventually left.

This adaptation by women of lesbian existence to society’s norms is considered to be a crime towards women. Forced heterosexuality onto women was named a crime in 1976. The need for men to maintain their dominance through the use of an institution such as marriage is appalling. Women are taught that marriage is a duty of their gender, and it became a way for many to survive, whether in happy situations or not.