Especially the French ones, even though this seems counter intuitive. Irigaray says that "Woman, in this sexual imaginary, is only more or less obliging prop for the enactment of man's fantasies. That she may find pleasure there in that role, by proxy, is possible, even certain. But such pleasure is above all a masochistic prostitution of her body to a desire that is not her own." The phallus is oppressive, sex with a man is humiliating, consensual heterosexual sex (because compulsory heterosexuality is enforced upon women in all sorts of insidious ways, and because sadomasochism is often viewed as okay) is quite similar to rape. "The ideology of heterosexual romance" is a tool used by men to force women into heterosexuality. Rich believes that homosexuality is the natural orientation for all women. Relationships between women are inherently more egalitarian, nurturing, and supportive.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving my Gender Theory and Lit class, and I do agree with a lot of points made by the authors we read. But ever once in a while I step back and think "Ladies... really?" I think what a lot of them really needed was to bring home a man who wasn't a douchebag and get him to go down on them. Even better if he didn't ask for anything in return. Buy a dildo. Cultivate a relationship with your showerhead. Occasionally one of them mentions the 'auto-erotic nature of the clitoris' but I don't think any of them ever actually masturbated. I think it could have changed their perspective and impacted the entire feminist movement. Or, maybe just made them a little less militant and a little more... satisfied.
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