Week 7: Peterson and Parisi
In V. Spike Peterson and Laura Parisi’s article, Are women human? It’s not an academic question, they bring forth the question of whether or not women are considered to be human. In addition, they bring get forth the argument that when thinking about human rights, we must consider the fact that all the rights created and included are mainly androgentric. The very fact that the first concept of any kind of human rights to be created was called the rights of man is a perfect first example to help back up their argument.
Now, taking a look at Peterson and Parisi’s article, they start off by giving, what I believe to be, a very powerful sentence, “… women suffer more violations of human rights than any other group in the world, both in times of war and through traditional practices excused by culture”(Bahar 1996, 107: 132). Womens humans rights are the most violated out of any other ethnic or religious group that can be thought of.
Having that in mind, Peterson and Parisi bring about another argument which is that heterosexism is a more precise way to look at the relationship between gender differences and human rights. They state that heterosexism is now institutionalized and defined as the only “normal” form of sexual identity and orientation. They also state that with heterosexism, women are capable of taking on more masculine traitso and males could do the same. However, the typical male attributes and stereotypes such as “reason, agency and dependency” are considered more the norm and are more widely taken up than the female attributes and stereotypes (132). Thoseven attributes and stereotypes being the complete opposite of men which are “affect, non agency, and dependence” (132). The fact that men are held to a higher standard physically, mentally and emotionally is what has set them and their “stereotypical attributes” as the norm, generalizing it which is preventing the equality between men and women. However, this leaves out room for any other forms of sexual identity and orientations, such as homosexuals, Transgender people, etc.
Although, while the main distinction remains between men and women, it’s mainly all a man’s world. Women were always subordinate to men, and this argument of heterosexism is just another way to come to more or less the same conclusion. Even though women are supposedly made to be included in these basic human rights, they’re really not it’s just to make them feel like they are.
