Are Lesbians Women? by Jacob Hale

“The fear of abjection, of exile from the category woman, functions to ensure that many birth-assigned females will strive unceasingly to embody their membership in that category as fully as possible…” 

The above statement made by Jacob Hale in his piece, Are Lesbians Women? raises an interesting point, similar to that made in De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. He seems to be mentioning the concept of forcing ones’ self to adjust to societal requirements even when that potentially goes against what one values. I find this belief to be rather significant in that it points not only to the forcing of the gender binary on infants, but also to the societal pressure all oppressed by the patriarchy feel in terms of being forced to conform.

I believe that many a feminist, including Judith Butler, would agree that the fact that at birth, we assign biologically non-binary babies to one sex or the other (typically female if there is not clear phallic genital potential, according to Hale) hinders the feminist’s mission. While some may argue that assignment of a specific sex at birth is necessary, the amount go intersex babies born into the world, and the amount of research indicating the fact that sex (as well as gender) is a societal construct makes a solid case against that. What is the necessity of gendering from birth? According to Hale’s statement, it would be to force someone into a category — in this case, the category of woman.

The point I find to be most significant and intriguing in this statement is that many “women” will do everything in their power to maintain their place as “women” in society. What does this entail? Hale discusses a positive and negative paradigm, with the positive forces being those that follow the stereotype of what a woman should be (a nurse, teacher, housewife, etc.) while a negative force is one that tries to break the stereotype (sexually “loose” women, homosexual women, women that present in a more masculine fashion, etc.) Similarly to the point De Beauvoir made, I find it to be true that sometimes falling into the expected category is the easiest thing to do — there are no hurdles to jump in trying to fall in line. No one of the dominant culture is shaming you for being “unfeminine” or going against the grain. However, while I agree with Hale’s statement that many females fall into this way of life either consciously or subconsciously, I do have to say that as females progress further in life as time goes by and as feminist philosophies reach larger and more mainstream crowds, this seems to stand less and less true. The more obvious progressiveness in society becomes, the more obvious female oppression becomes, and the more willing (I believe) females are willing to rebel against the paradigm in terms of not conforming to the positive paradigm Hale discusses. While I agree that many females find themselves conforming to what society expects of them, I am also willing to believe that as common concepts of a gender binary dissolve, so do the thoughts of women having to be one way or the other.