Adrienne Rich - "Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying"

In Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying, Adrienne Rich analyzes women's tendencies to lie, not only to men, but also to each other. She holds an important discussion with the reader about the ways in which women are considered honorable, and the rewards society heaps upon women for lying. Her essay points out how even small aspects of femininity, like painted nails or dyed hair, are ways women "lie with [their] bodies" (4). It also discusses relationships between women and why women lie to each other even when there is no power imbalance, like gender, playing a role in the relationship.

As a US poet and scholar dedicated to the feminist movements occurring in the 1960s and 1970s, Rich's work frequently took on lesbian and feminist undertones, and this essay is no exception. Before graduating from Radcliffe College, her poetry was selected by W.H. Auden for publication in the Yale Younger Poets Series in 1951. Rich openly acknowledged her attraction to women after being married to a man for seventeen years, and later began a relationship with writer Michelle Cliff which lasted until Rich's death.

Women and Honor was published in 1977, a time where feminist movements converged with LGBT movements to create second-wave feminism. This new movement drew attention to issues like sexuality, reproductive rights, and domestic violence, ones which were rarely talked about in feminist spaces of the past. Rich's essay exemplifies this brand of feminism in its approach by openly discussing the dominance of lies in both straight and lesbian relationships. She discusses issues that a lesbian woman has in society, such as being forced to lie about her sexuality or risk being labeled a criminal or a pervert.

Rich reaches out to her female audience by the use of collective pronouns like "we" and "us", which serve to unify her audience. Additionally, she utilizes rhetorical questions such as "As we cease to lie with our bodies, as we cease to take on faith what men have said about us, is a truly womanly idea of honor in the making?" and "Women have been forced to lie, for survival, to men. How to unlearn this among other women?" (4) to engage her readers, asking women the difficult and sometimes unanswerable questions that are often at the center of many feminist debates. Through masterfully crafted depictions of lies and difficult questions aimed at her female audience, Rich accomplishes her purpose truly and accurately and sets up a discussion aimed at women around the world.

Hayley Kiyoko, a prominent icon for LGBT girls, is known for her songs "Girls Like Girls" and "Gravel to Tempo", which discuss the hardships and internalized struggles that come with a relationship between two women.

source: Spotify