Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence by Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich argues that there is nothing “natural” in having relationships with men: it is no accident that there are “taboos against homosexuality”; but, throughout history, women have created alternative lifestyles for ourselves to resist male control. She claims that, if we broaden the concept of woman-identified experience, what we find is a “lesbian continuum”, because all women experience “forms of primary emotional intensity” with other women at some time in their lives.