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Think about the stories you grew up with – from fairy tales to rom-coms, the characters and formulas are all pretty much the same. Like heteronormativity, compulsory heterosexuality assumes that straightness is “the default”, and this assumption is drilled into everyone from birth. She argues that this looming societal conditioning is what forces lesbians to struggle with their lesbianism for years, and what pushes them to get into date men – despite being attracted to girls. Luz states that because of compulsory heterosexuality, many lesbians feel a struggle between what they’ve been taught to desire (relationships with men) and what they really want deep down (relationships with women). In the “Am I a Lesbian” masterdoc, Luz draws from Rich’s theories and states that, “compulsory heterosexuality easily ties in with the misogyny that causes a woman’s sexuality and even identity to be defined by her relationships with men”.
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The lesbian existence, Rich argues, can be seen as an extension of feminism as it challenges the notion that women must depend on men to survive.
In her essay, “ Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence ”, Rich posits that heterosexuality is not innate or “natural” but rather a political institution that is imposed upon women from a very early age as a means to disempower them. “Compulsory heterosexuality” was a term first made popular by American poet, essayist, and feminist Adrienne Rich in the 1980s. The document, though written in an informal and conversational tone, dives into the rather complex topic of compulsory heterosexuality and how it affects the way women and AFAB non-binary people perceive their sexuality and even gender identities in relation to long-held societal expectations. But this is not your stereotypical BuzzFeed quiz or Cosmo sex tips article. The “Am I Lesbian” Masterdoc” is something of an informal guide that aims to help women and non-binary AFABs who are struggling to understand their sexual identity. What does the Lesbian Master Doc Discuss? Most recently, the doc went viral on Tiktok as well, with various content creators talking about how the doc helped them come to grips with their own lesbianism and attraction to women. There are numerous “Am I a Lesbian? Masterdoc” Google Docs and PDFs that can be found on Twitter and Reddit. Despite this, various users kept the lesbian masterdoc document alive online. Created by user or Anjeli Luz, the blog post is divided into eight handy sections – discussing topics like compulsory heterosexuality, heteronormative societal conditioning, and same-sex attraction – and features bullet point lists that help women and non-binary folks answer the question, “Am I a lesbian?”Ī highly popular post among Tumblr’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, it amassed over 30,000 notes until it was removed by the website for “violating terms of service”. The “Am I a Lesbian? Master Doc” is a 30-page document that initially circulated on Tumblr in January of 2018.