Marilyn Frye

Missionary Sexuality

• Missionary sexuality
• Male-dominant, female-subordinate genital intercourse
• Common form of oppression for both gay men and lesbian women - if you don't participate in this form of sexuality, you get ostracized

• The worlds of lesbian women and gay men are very different: both groups deviate from what is perceived as “normal,” but this still happens in an overall male dominated world
• Frye argues that that gay rights movements and gay male culture are in harmony with the values of male-supremacy - since these values are inherently hostile to women, there cannot be a genuine union between lesbians and/or feminists and gay men.
• The 6 values of male-dominated society that Frye identifies are:
• The presumption of male citizenship
• Worship of the penis
• Male homoeroticism, or man-loving
• Contempt for women, or woman-hating
• Compulsory male heterosexuality
• The presumption of general phallic access

Male Citizenship

• Male citizenship
• “the principle that if, and only if, someone is male, he has a prima facie claim to a certain array of rights, such as the rights to ownership and disposition of property, to physical integrity and freedom of movement, to having a wife and to paternity, to access to resources for making a living, and so forth.”
• The goal of male-led Civil Rights movements - ensure participation in male citizenship
• Gay rights movement - wants to join the male citizenship, not to reject it
• However, even moderate feminism has to start off by rejecting the idea of male citizenship simply by virtue of the fact that its constituents are women!
• So with regard to attitude towards male citizenship, gay men are not allies of feminists

Phallocratic Culture

• Phallocratic culture
• “A culture in which penis is deified, fetishized, mystified and worshipped”
• A culture of male dominance: Being a male makes you have social power and worth, that’s why phallus as a symbol of manhood is so important
• Gay community doesn’t reject the basic premise of phallocratic culture, which is being male equals having power
• Women's attitude to phallus
• On the one hand, phallus is advertised as a source of excitement and sexual gratification
• On the other hand, it can violate women's bodies (precisely because there is a power imbalance)
• Lesbians and feminists are groups that are less likely to participate in worship of phallocratic culture

Woman-Hating

Woman-hating

• A value "so common that it's sometimes hard to see"
• humor, pop culture, pornography
• word "woman" or "girl" used in derogatory ways
• Dual function:
• Instrument of solidarity among men - men before women
• Instrument of hierarchy - men above women
• Being seen as woman-like results in ostracization, intimidation, etc.
• Gay men are common subjects of this
• However, Frye thinks that intentional appropriation of femininity by gay men is harmful to women, because to women, traditional feminine behaviors are not optional - they are an important element of partiarchy that they were forced to adopt

Compulsory heterosexuality

• Having sex with women is an activity that is “generally compulsory” for men in our culture - it's a man's duty to have sex with women, and ideally a lot if it
• Means of ensuring that women stay subordinate - they are the passive, receiving party here

• Frye believes that gay men are not challenging the principle of compulsory heterosexuality as a whole - instead, they do not want to be limited to it - other forms of sexualities should be acceptable as well

Compulsory heterosexuality

The presumption of general phallic access

• “Men in general in this culture consider themselves, in virtue of their genital maleness, to have a right to access to whatever they want”
• The only legitimate limitations on men's potential can come from other men; not from women
• Important limitation of phallic access: Men are not supposed to have sex with other men
• Gay community is in violation of this principle
• Frye, again, believes that gay rights movement doesn't challenge the idea of phallic access, rather, it wants to expand it to include male bodies as well as female bodies

General

phallic

access

Masculinity

• "The belief that, as a man, on is the center of a universe which is designed to feed and sustain one and to be ruled by one"
• Rule: Properly masculine beings do not conquer other masculine beings
• Homosexuality introduces "othering" among men

Privilege

• The privilege of being normal and ordinary usually is a form of “unconsciousness”
• “if one is the norm, one does not have to know what one is. If one is marginal, one does not have the privilege of not noticing what one is.”
• “The absence of privilege is a presence of knowledge.”

Masculinity