Negating Identity: A Feminist Analysis of the Social Invisibility of Older Lesbians

SUMMARY

Older lesbians are invisible both within and outside of the lesbian community. Using a postmodern and lesbian feminist approach, in this article we identify a paradox in our society which defines lesbians in terms of their sexuality while older women are generally viewed as asexual. We suggest that this paradox contributes to the invisibility of older lesbians. Our focus is on the interactive nature of the relationship between personal and public constructions of lesbianism in the lives of older women. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of invisibility on self-identity, and using a feminist gerontological framework suggest implications for the empowerment of older lesbians.     

Some myths and anomalies in the study of Roman sexuality

This paper seeks to dispel several myths prevalent in the scholarship on Roman sexuality: that a freed slave was still obligated to serve his former master's sexual demands (I.A.), that the cinaedus cannot be the same as the modern male homosexual because the cinaedus was thought capable of performing cunnilinctus (I.B.), that exoleti were male prostitutes (I.C.), that the Romans were implacably hostile to lesbianism and that they constructed the lesbian as a phallic monstrosity (II.). It also draws attention to some neglected, unfamiliar, or misinterpreted evidence-anomalous on the current understanding of Roman sexuality, where women, boys, and lower-class men are supposed to have equal standing as potential passive sexual partners for adult men-for adult men whose sexual partners are exclusively male, and either active or passive: exoleti as active partners (I.C.), a puer delicatus who is prized for a masculine appearance rather than a feminine one (I.D.), and the Warren Cup, which glorifies a world of exclusively male-male sexuality (I.E.).     

The "new gay" lesbians

The three-stage progression toward homosexual identity that Minton and McDonald (1983/1984) delineate in Bisexual and Homosexual Identities (De Cecco & Shively, eds., 1983/1984) is generally not applicable to women who have come to lesbianism through the radical feminist movement of the past 15 years. Their progression toward a lesbian identity was in an order roughly the reverse of what Minton and McDonald describe: Through the movement they came to understand that society's norms can be critically evaluated and that heterosexuality was detrimental to women's freedom, often before they had homosexual genital experience. The "egocentric" stage for these women may have been no different from that of heterosexuals. They may have escaped the guilt and isolation associated with the "sociocentric" stage because they first viewed themselves as lesbian in the context of a supportive social group. There is also some evidence to suggest that many premovement lesbians made their decision to identify as homosexual on the basis of their political views about heterosexuality. Thus, they too may not have experienced Minton and McDonald's three-stage progression toward identity.     

Negating identity: a feminist analysis of the social invisibility of older lesbians

Older lesbians are invisible both within and outside of the lesbian community. Using a postmodern and lesbian feminist approach, in this article we identify a paradox in our society which defines lesbians in terms of their sexuality while older women are generally viewed as asexual. We suggest that this paradox contributes to the invisibility of older lesbians. Our focus is on the interactive nature of the relationship between personal and public constructions of lesbianism in the lives of older women. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of invisibility on self-identity, and using a feminist gerontological framework suggest implications for the empowerment of older lesbians.     

My gay Antonia: the politics of Willa Cather's lesbianism

Although Willa Cather's lesbianism has recently been publicly acknowledged, her personal and artistic political decisions about the revelation of her sexual preference have not been explored. Most critics who acknowledge Cather's homosexuality see no traces in her fiction of what Lillian Faderman calls "same-sex love." Because of the political consequences of writing openly about lesbianism in the time that Cather came of age, according to Faderman, "perhaps she felt the need to be more reticent about love between women than even some of her patently heterosexual contemporaries because she bore a burden of guilt for what came to be labeled perversion." While it would certainly have been possible for Cather to live a discreet lesbian life without showing traces of her sexuality in her writing, it is more likely that her sexual preferences are present in her works, particularly in her most autobiographical book, My Antonia, in the character who represents Cather, Jim Burden. The "emptiness where the strongest emotion might have been expected," the relationship between Antonia and Jim, is more understandable when we realize that both Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda were imagined by Cather as homosexuals whose deep friendship was based on mutual understanding of their oddness in the heterosexual world of 1918.     

The Erotic Lesbian in the Spanish Sexploitation Films of the 1970s

This article studies the representation of female homosexuality in the newly born erotic Spanish cinema of the 1970s, questioning the political and social implications of these first representations of lesbianism which contributed to shaping the first democratic discourses around women's sexuality. In order to do so, it looks at some of the most relevant films of the genre (most of which have never been studied before) and examines their portrayal of lesbian sex, focusing later on the figure of Ignacio F. Iquino and his film The Mask as the main representative of this genre in order to prove how the narrative construction of the eroticizing lesbian was largely based upon fascist conceptions of homosexuality.     

Disappearing Dykes? Post-Lesbian Discourse and Shifting Identities and Communities

ABSTRACT

Researchers and activists have argued that the term “lesbian” has been disappearing, in decline for decades, and have focused on tensions around gender and sexual identities as the source of its decline. I identify “post-lesbian discourse” as key concept in the changing landscape of LGBTQ terminology, and I highlight four concerns that emerge in this discourse: shifting lesbian politics, a too-inclusive community, a loss of lesbian spaces, and the meaning of embodied lesbian identity. Rather than focusing solely on gender and sexuality, my aim is to explore the development of post-lesbian discourse and its effects on lesbian identities and communities.     

A love letter from NADIA (non-anglo dykes in Australia)

This article is a revised version of a paper I presented at the "Sappho Was A Wog Grrrl" conference in Melbourne, 22 October 1995, which was organized by "Interlesbian," a Melbourne-based political and support group for lesbians from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB). Utilizing a mixed genre format incorporating the first person fictional narrative form of letters to lovers, this parodic piece explores the identity terrains of sexuality, ethnicity and class in Melbourne's lesbian communities. It focuses on how the ethnocentric limits of sexual, cultural and racial identifications constrain the mythical beauty of coming out and staying in. The experiences reported and reflected upon here arose out of my participation as an activist member of Interlesbian. Contextualized in the form of a lover's discourse, this paper is an evocation of a passion towards the (re)visioning of a progressive local lesbian activist politics and community.     

Making history: the challenge of gay and lesbian studies

This paper addresses a central problem of gay and lesbian studies: how is the subject to be defined? Current essentialist and constructionist positions are ultimately ahistorical and reductionist, reflecting the residual influence of the medical model and its sexual definition. In place of a single-dimensional and a priori sexual category, the author proposes sociosexual specialization as the appropriate focus of gay and lesbian studies and outlines a heuristic, multidimensional model for describing not only contemporary, but historical and cross-cultural evidence. Six dimensions of social and sexual variation are reviewed: sexuality, subjectivity and identity, gender, social roles, economic roles, and spirituality.     

Moffies, artists, and queens: race and the production of South African gay male drag

This article draws on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa to explore the experiences of urban and township drag performers. I show that two distinct sex-gender-sexuality systems have emerged based in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, and I argue that urban drag produces race oppositionally and examine how township femininity creates raced forms of gender, sex, and sexuality. Contemporary South African drag foregrounds the performativity and constitution of race and gender. My analysis attempts to challenge definitions of "drag" and "audience," suggesting the necessity for an integrated reconceptualization of drag studies.     

The pattern of sexual politics: feminism, homosexuality and pedophilia

Until recently sex and gender issues were thought to be biological or natural rather than political. The feminist movement largely changed perceptions of gender, and the gay and lesbian movements significantly altered conceptions of sex, so that what were once seen as permanent moral standards are now viewed as historical and political constructions. As views of these groups have moved towards social constructionism, perceptions of child sexuality have become more absolutist. Current attitudes towards child sexuality and representations of it resemble historical attitudes towards women and homosexuals. This article argues that there is a two-phase pattern of sexual politics. The first is a battle to prevent the battle, to keep the issue from being seen as political and negotiable. Psychological and moral categories are used to justify ridicule and preclude any discussions of the issue, and standard Constitutional guarantees are seen as irrelevant. The second phase more closely resembles traditional politics as different groups argue over rights and privileges. Feminist and gay/lesbian politics have recently entered the second phase, while pedophilia is in the first.     

Developing Lesbian Identity: A Sociohistorical Approach

The process of construction of lesbian identity in a group of eight Spanish women is analyzed from a historical–cultural perspective. For that purpose, we provide a characterization of discourses about homosexuality in Spain and the way in which these discourses are intertwined with autobiographical narratives of the participants. The participants' life stories were analyzed using a qualitative methodology. We focused on the relationship between self and lesbianism and emphasized the themes related to identity issues (development of lesbian identity and reflections about identity). As a conclusion, we stress the need to deconstruct stigmatizing discourses about homosexuality for the development of a positive personal identity.     

Diary entries from the "teachers' professional development playground": multiculturalism meets multisexualities in Australian education

Educational institutions are major cultural and social systems that police and regulate the living out of multicultural and multisexual queer identities, yet which also provide sites for anti-discriminatory responses to the marginalization of these multiple, hybrid identities. Censorship and disapproval (both real and imagined) together with informal codes and regulations for inclusion and representation within school and college communities reflect and reproduce formal debates within the wider society, and within ethnic, feminist, and gay/lesbian communities. Through a series of "Diary Entries," I document my work and experiences with educational groups in both secondary and tertiary education in Australia in recent years-in what a bicultural, bisexual teacher-friend calls "teachers' professional development playgrounds." I explore dilemmas, concerns and strategies for placing "multiculturalism" on the "multisexual" agenda and, conversely, for placing "multisexuality" on the "multicultural" agenda.     

Clubbing masculinities: gender shifts in gay men's dance floor choreographies

This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the intersections of gender, sexuality, and dance. It examines the expressions of sexuality among gay males through culturally popular forms of club dancing. Drawing on political and musical history, I outline an account of how gay men's gendered choreographies changed throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Through a notion of "technologies of the body," I situate these developments in relation to cultural levels of homophobia, exploring how masculine expressions are entangled with and regulated by musical structures. My driving hypothesis is that as perceptions of cultural homophobia decrease, popular choreographies of gay men's dance have become more feminine in expression. Exploring this idea in the context of the first decade of the new millennium, I present a case study of TigerHeat, one of the largest weekly gay dance club events in the United States.     

Sexual Orientation and Quality of Life Among University Students from Cuba,Norway, India,and South Africa

This article explores quality-of-life aspects among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight male and female students in Havana (Cuba), Troms? (Norway), Hisar (India), and Cape Town (South Africa). In the period 2004–2005, a questionnaire survey on sexuality, happiness, and life satisfaction was undertaken among 339 students from the University of Havana, 144 students from the University of Troms?, 200 students from Guru Jambheswar University, and 189 students from the University of the Western Cape. The majority of the participants were straight and, in Hisar and Cape Town, few of those who regarded themselves as gay/lesbian/bisexual had engaged in sex with a person of the same gender. In all cities, straight men and women scored higher than gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons on the quality-of-life measures. Quality of life among gay/bisexual men and lesbian/bisexual women was higher in cultures with accepting attitudes toward homosexuality than in cultures with restrictive attitudes.     

Sexuality and human rights: an Asian perspective

In Asia, the lesbian and gay rights movements are clearly dominated by activists, who tend to think in terms of a binary opposition (homo- vs hetero-) and clear-cut categories. Based on "Western patterns," the approach is practical, the arguments based on minority rights. "Coming out" is often perceived as a "white model" bringing more problems than real freedom. On the contrary, "Asian values" put the emphasis on family and social harmony, often in contradiction to what is pictured as "lesbian and gay rights." Homophobia follows very subtle ways in Asian countries. Asian gays have to negotiate their freedom, lifestyle and identities in an atmosphere of heterosexism, and not the endemic violent homophobia prevalent in many western countries. In Asia, one's identity relates to one's position in the group and sexuality plays a relatively insignificant role in its cultural construction. That Asian gays often marry and have children shows the elasticity their sexual identity encompasses. Fluidity of sexuality does not really match the Western approach in terms of essentialist categories that have a right to exist. Most Asian societies can be thought of as "tolerant" as long as homosexuality remains invisible. Procreative sexuality can be seen as a social duty, and heterosexual marriage is often not considered incompatible with a "homosexual life." The development of the Internet has even facilitated the encounters while allowing secrecy. Unfortunately, the traditional figures of transgender and transvestites have often been separated from the gay liberation movement.     

Internalized homophobia and lesbian identity

This paper presents suggestions for therapists working with women who are having difficulty accepting their attractions to other women, lesbian behavior and identity, or both, with the goal of promoting self-acceptance and reducing internalized homophobia. After a discussion of the therapeutic relationship, several coping strategies which have been used successfully by many women are described and therapeutic applications are offered. These strategies include cognitive restructuring, avoiding a negative identity, adopting an identity label, self-disclosure, meeting other lesbians, and habituation to lesbianism. Finally, behavioral indications of success or failure to achieve the goal of self-acceptance are presented.     

Significant Relationships Among Older Women: Cultural and Personal Constructions of Lesbianism

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on the interactive nature of the relationship between personal and public constructions of lesbianism in the lives of older women. The cultural construction of lesbianism involves the historical and environmental context of the meaning of lesbianism framed within a societal level. Our discussion evolves around a case study of a lesbian in her eighties, living with a partner in rural Minnesota, We show that when public definitions are unavailable, older lesbians may not define certain aspects of their experience.     

Staying in the Hood: Black Lesbian and Transgender Women and Identity Management in North Philadelphia

ABSTRACT

The concept Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell regarding Black LGBT sexuality in Black communities has been an acceptable form of identity management for Black LGBT people. In other words, Black LGBT people are accepted as long as they are not vocal about their sexuality. However, this is changing with the issue of gay marriage, which is creating a space where Black LGBT people are more open about their gender identity and sexuality in heterosexual Black spaces. This new form of openness allows Black LGBT people to “stay in” their communities, as opposed to coming out. In this article I examine how Black LGBT women in North Philadelphia stay in their communities: being politically active regarding LGBT issues, disengaging from LGBT issues, passing, and educating straight Black people about issues affecting the Black LGBT community. I conclude with implications of staying in and intersectionality among Black heterosexual and LGBT women fighting for social change.     

Judgments toward male and transgendered victims in a depicted stranger rape

There has been an increasing amount of research interest into perceptions of male rape in recent years. However, no research has assessed how people react when a transgendered person is raped. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of transgendered status and sexuality on victim blame and perceived severity in a depicted rape scenario. The sexuality of the victim was manipulated to include a heterosexual, homosexual, cross-dresser, female-to-male transsexual, and male-to-female transsexual. It was predicted that the heterosexual victims would be judged the most positively and that heterosexual male participants would make the most anti-victim judgments. One hundred thirty-three lesbian, gay male, and heterosexual members of the general population read a scenario depicting a rape and then completed a questionnaire measuring victim blame and perceived severity of the assault. Results conformed to the predictions. Results are discussed in relation to traditional gender roles and homophobia.