Assignment 05 Peterson and Parisi Are Women Human?
After reading the text I can see even more clearly how citizenship is sexualized and normalized as being heterosexual. But again to be a citizen implies that one must be male, white and heterosexual and to enjoy human rights you must be human which women are not thought to be human they are believed to be the other , “the marked and denigrated.” So to enjoy or exercise rights one must be a citizen which makes them human. Women and other groups (African Americans, immigrants, gays and lesbians) do not enjoy human rights protections because the institutionalization of heterosexism assumes men as the norm.
For Peterson in Parisi heterosexism is the best lens through which to see the structural inequalities that effect women and other vulnerable groups. Inequalities are produced and reinforced by the prevailing gender norms of society, which associate men and women with socially constructed gender identities. These norms play a dominant role in the unequal relations between men and women. Women and other groups are subordinate under heterosexism and face inequitable economic and health treatment, as well as an increased vulnerability to being victims of violence.
Heterosexism implies certain gender roles and responsibilities and protections. ” The heterosexual nuclear family unit becomes the primary social unit preserved and protected by the state, even as the state denies intervention in the private sphere” (Parisi, 1998, p. 144). Being that women are relegated to the private sphere they are not protected under human rights. They are subordinated in the private sphere and experience varying forms of human rights violations.
From what I’ve read so far, the language of various declarations of rights and the principles for which human rights framework is derived was created to defend the rights of man and in particular elite men; male household heads. Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 declares: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor attacks upon his honor or reputation”(United Nations) This article repeatedly uses the terms “man” and “his” and it also only seems to be talking about how to protect the rights of the family from outside intrusion which is only addressing the public sphere. There is no mention of woman or how she would be protected in the private or public sphere. Human rights are worded and built around male experiences and do not address the risks that women face (violence, unpaid labor, reproductive, political representation, etc). Heterosexism is precisely the way to analyze relationships of gender differences and human rights because the early normalization and institutionalization of the man as property owners, man as citizens and man as breadwinner has continued to influence culture politics and economics and continues to be the greatest factor impacting human rights discourse which continues to exclude women based on male ideals and norms.
