Choices

In Rich's essay, what really got to me was when I read about the women who was forcefully raped as a form of treatment for 6 months by her own husband to try to make her realize she is not homosexual. I can't believe the boundaries that society will cross to try and prohibit homosexuality. I feel that people against lesbian and gay people are just naive to the fact that lesbian and gay people are born that way ad would probably not choose that lifestyle if they were given a choice. Rich states that there is "an absence of choice" when it comes to people falling in love. Rich also states that because of this, women "will remain dependent upon the chance or luck of particular relationships". We talked about this in class but I want to stress again that the idea of love leads us to believe that it is by "chance" or "luck" and women have no say in who they fall in love with. That, I feel, has partial truth but is ultimately false. Maybe it is hard or close to impossible to stop yourself from falling in love with someone or feeling attracted to someone, but it is completely a woman's choice whether or not she will stay in the relationship. This capability of choice can be toxic to many lesbians because they DO have the choice to be with a man instead of a women which can cause emotional and self-esteem issues and even suicide.