An introduction to gender studies (from 4/28/10)

The introduction to gender studies/gay and lesbian studies/queer theory within our text begins with the telling of a riot that took place within New York in 1968. The event occurred because gay, lesbian, and transvestites did not want to be subjugated by the persecution of the NYPD simply because they were trying to let their voices be heard. Our text asserts that they were fighting against a regime. In modern times it may be hard to imagine but before the early 70's (and some might argue that there is an undercurrent of hetero-elitism to this day) heterosexuality was considered to be "normal" and homosexuality was considered to be "perverse" (Rivkin and Ryan, 885). Even was science was used to prove that heterosexuality was natural and it's opposite was contrary to nature. As a result people who did not fit into the rigid gender roles that society had constructed could be labeled as homosexual and alienated from their peers.

Therefore, gender studies and gay/lesbian studies should not only be considered important to homosexuals and transgendered individuals because the effects of gender roles can be stifling on all the members of society who may not feel the need to prescribe to these set expectations. For example if a man wants to be single his whole life he runs the risk of being labeled homosexual and being judged as inferior to the rest of his married peers (the same is true for a woman). Of course we have Hugh Hefner to help us dispel these rigid gender roles but he does so by exploiting other gender roles, like the fact that woman are disposable once they have given their partner sex. His is a different kind of gender role, the role of a king. But what of the man who does not wish to exploit many women and who only wants to be in relationships with one woman at a time, just never involving matrimony? Or what about the man who may want to be with women and men? There are a myriad of scenarios that are deemed perverse by society and without gender studies we have no field in the academia who is responsible for monitoring and dispelling archaic traditions of sexuality.

Works Cited

Rivkin, Julie. "Introduction: Contingencies of Gender" Literary Theory: An Anthology. Second Ed. Julie Rivkin & Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004. 397-414. Print.