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Marilyn Frye

Marilyn Frye Biography

Philosopher

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“To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. The people whom they admire, respect, adore, revere, honor, whom they imitate, idolize, and form profound attachments to, whom they are willing to teach and from whom they are willing to learn, and whose respect, admiration, recognition, honor, reverence and love they desire… those are, overwhelmingly, other men. In their relations with women, what passes for respect is kindness, generosity or paternalism; what passes for honor is removal to the pedestal. From women they want devotion, service and sex. Heterosexual male culture is homoerotic; it is man-loving.”

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Book:The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory
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“Differences of power are always manifested in asymmetrical access. The President of the United States has access to almost everybody for almost anything he might want of them, and almost nobody has access to him. The super-rich have access to almost everybody; almost nobody has access to them. ... The creation and manipulation of power is constituted of the manipulation and control of access.”

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Author:Marilyn Frye
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“Female heterosexuality is not a biological drive or an individual women's erotic attraction or attachment to another human animal which happens to be male. Female heterosexuality is a set of social institutions and practices... Those definitions... are about the oppression and exploitation of women by men.”

MenHumansHappensIndividualSocialAnimalPracticeFemaleInstitutionsMalesDefinitionsFeministAttractionOppressionAttachmentExploitationEroticHuman AnimalHeterosexualitySocial InstitutionsMale FemaleHeterosexuality Is
Author:Marilyn Frye
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“The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction. It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped.”

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Book:The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory
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“I wish you would stop and seriously consider, as a broad and long-term feminist political strategy, the conversion of women to a woman-identified and woman-directed sexuality and eroticism, as a way of breaking the grip of men on women's minds and women's bodies, of removing women from the chronic attachment to the primary situations of sexual and physical violence that is rained upon women by men, and as a way of promoting women's firm and reliable bonding against oppression. . . .”

MenWayMindLongBodyPoliticalWishTermSituationViolenceStrategyFeministSexualityConversionOppressionPrimariesFirmLong TermAttachmentBroadsPromotingWish YouBondingWomen's BodiesHeterosexualityPhysical ViolenceI Wish You Would
Book:Willful virgin: essays in feminism, 1976-1992
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“There is so much pressure on women to be heterosexual, and this pressure is both so pervasive and so completely denied, that I think heterosexuality cannot come naturally to many women: I think that widespread heterosexuality among women is a highly artificial product of the patriarchy. . . . I think that most women have to be coerced into heterosexuality.”

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Book:Willful virgin: essays in feminism, 1976-1992
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