Quote of the Week – Gay Issues Are Women's Issues

“Gay issues are also women’s issues because homophobia is a form of misogyny.”
-Jennifer Beals, New York Times Talk

This statement might be a no-brainer for some. The most obvious example is when flamboyant homosexual men are hated on for their ‘femininity’ and labeled as ‘not men enough.’ That is misogyny, defined as hatred or contempt for women.

Misogyny is also apparent when women are held in contempt for loving women or not seen as women simply because they may be androgynous or gender-bending.

So when I read the headline in the the Examiner article juxtaposing “Gay Right’s Versus Women’s Rights,” I went into attack mode. The writer might need to use spell check but this is the crux of her argument:

But instead, he incited another social-political battle (or battles): one that attacks those who dissent with unpopular opinions and most importantly, women and their collective integrity by haphazardly slamming a “bitch” and “cunt” label upon the beauty contestant — invalidating all of her opinions that do not resonate with his by using her femininity against her and ultimately aiming to degrade her entire worth as a person. If he had wanted to prove a political point about gay rights, he might have better expressed himself with more socially acceptable word choices instead of irrelevantly denigrating her and women through the use of his derogatory statements.

I won’t defend his choice of words and at the same time I cannot possibly come down on the side of Miss California for using the platform to spew more hatred and ignorance. “Opposite marriage?” C’mon.

At the end of the day both Ms. California and Perez Hilton are responsible for promoting misogny to the detriment of our civil rights.

Make no mistake. The anti-abortion and anti-gay movements stem from the same philosophical and political motivations: denying people control over their own bodies and maintaining control over female sexuality.

Some may feel that it is wrong to compare struggles but the women’s rights movement is inextricably linked with the movement for LGBT liberation. If we cannot liberate gender from its assumed normative boundaries, we cannot achieve sexual liberation.

Too many times we forget the intersections and connections between all oppressed groups in society. We are all citizens of this world and the boundaries between various struggles for civil rights are mostly artificial and contrived.