Discrimination against lesbians

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Soweto Pride 2012 participants remember lesbians raped and murdered in 2007. Justice For Sizakhele & Salome (8036300204).jpg
Soweto Pride 2012 participants remember lesbians raped and murdered in 2007.

Discrimination against lesbians, sometimes called lesbophobia , comprises various forms of prejudice and negativity towards lesbians as individuals, as couples, as a social group, or lesbianism in general. Based on the categories of sex, sexual orientation, identity, and gender expression, this negativity encompasses prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and abuse; with attitudes and feelings ranging from disdain to hostility. Lesbophobia is misogyny that intersects with homophobia, and vice versa. It is analogous to gayphobia.

Contents

Terminology

The first usage of the term lesbophobia listed in the Oxford English Dictionary is in The Erotic Life of the American Wife (1972), a book by Harper's Bazaar editor Natalie Gittelson. [1] [2] While some people use only the more general term homophobia to describe this sort of prejudice or behavior, others believe that the terms homosexual and homophobia do not adequately reflect the specific concerns of lesbians, because they experience the double discrimination of both homophobia and sexism. [3] [4]

Extent

The idea that lesbians are dangerous—while heterosexual interactions are natural, normal, and spontaneous—is a common example of beliefs which are lesbophobic. Like homophobia, this belief is classed as heteronormative, as it assumes that heterosexuality is dominant, presumed, and normal, and that other sexual or relationship arrangements are abnormal and unnatural. [5] A stereotype that has been identified as lesbophobic is that female athletes are always or predominantly lesbians. [6] [7] Lesbians encounter lesbophobic attitudes not only in straight men and women, but also gay men. [8] Lesbophobia in gay men is regarded as manifest in the perceived subordination of lesbian issues in the campaign for gay rights. [9]

Lesbians have been stereotyped in often contradictory ways. Kim Emery, in discussing lesbians in the United States during the late-19th century, says:

It is a truism […] that lesbian existence is inflected and afflicted by apparently incompatible social stereotypes. Lesbians are assumed to be both men in women's bodies and women marked as masculine by physical anomaly. Lesbians are accused of hating men and of wanting to be men, of being both sexually predatory and essentially asexual [ sic ], of committing unspeakable sexual acts and of lacking the endowments necessary to perform any [sexual acts]. [10]

Anti-lesbian violence

Lesbophobia is sometimes demonstrated through crimes of violence, including corrective rape and even murder. In the late 2000s, several rape/murders of lesbians occurred in South Africa. [11] [12] The victims included Sizakele Sigasa (a lesbian activist living in Soweto) and her partner Salome Masooa, who were raped, tortured, and murdered in an attack that South African lesbian-gay rights organizations, including the umbrella-group Joint Working Group, said were driven by lesbophobia. [13] [14] In the Gauteng township of KwaThema, soccer player Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death, and LGBT activist Noxolo Nogwaza was raped and stoned before being stabbed to death. [15] [16]

Zanele Muholi, community relations director of a lesbian rights group, reports having recorded 50 rape cases over the past decade involving black lesbians in townships, stating: "The problem is largely that of patriarchy. The men who perpetrate such crimes see rape as curative and as an attempt to show women their place in society." [14] [17] [18]

In its 2019 annual report, SOS Homophobie found that anti-lesbian violence increased 42 percent in France in 2018, with 365 attacks reported. [19] [20] [21]

Lesbian erasure

Lesbian erasure references the process of ignoring or discarding the history and problems of lesbians. [22] The term demonstrates the ways in which the contributions of notable lesbian women are diminished by making their lesbianism no longer a part of their story; some examples being Stormé DeLarverie, Audre Lorde, or Angela Davis. [23]

Erotic plasticity and lesbianism

Some suggest that the notion of female erotic plasticity is wishful thinking on the part of men who want to have sex with lesbians, and should be criticized for not being objective; [24] [ better source needed ] [25] while some hypothesize that lesbian relationships exist because of male sexual desires, [26] and that females are more sexually fluid. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people frequently experience violence directed toward their sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws prescribing punishment for homosexual acts, or by individuals. It may be psychological or physical and motivated by biphobia, gayphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, aphobia, and transphobia. Influencing factors may be cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.

Gay bashing is an attack, abuse, or assault committed against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+). It includes both violence against LGBTQ people and LGBTQ bullying. The term covers violence against and bullying of people who are LGBTQ, as well as non-LGBTQ people whom the attacker perceives to be LGBTQ.

Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexual relationships are the only norm and therefore superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in South Africa</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in South Africa have the same legal rights as non-LGBTQ people. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBTQ people. The legal and social status of between 400,000 to over 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex South Africans has been influenced by a combination of traditional South African morals, colonialism, and the lingering effects of apartheid and the human rights movement that contributed to its abolition.

A sexual minority is a demographic whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Primarily used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or non-heterosexual individuals, it can also refer to transgender, non-binary or intersex individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ stereotypes</span> Stereotypes around LGBTQ people and communities

LGBTQ stereotypes are stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers and mass media, or, more generally, through a lack of firsthand familiarity, resulting in an increased reliance on generalizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homophobia</span> Negative attitudes and discrimination toward homosexuality and LGBT people

Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and may sometimes be attributed to religious beliefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Haiti</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Haiti face social and legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Adult, noncommercial and consensual same-sex sexuality is not a criminal offense, but transgender people can be fined for violating a broadly written vagrancy law. Public opinion tends to be opposed to LGBT rights, which is why LGBT people are not protected from discrimination, are not included in hate crime laws, and households headed by same-sex couples do not have any of the legal rights given to married couples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in El Salvador</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, non-binary and otherwise queer, non-cisgender, non-heterosexual citizens of El Salvador face considerable legal and social challenges not experienced by fellow heterosexual, cisgender Salvadorans. While same-sex sexual activity between all genders is legal in the country, same-sex marriage is not recognized; thus, same-sex couples—and households headed by same-sex couples—are not eligible for the same legal benefits provided to heterosexual married couples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Sierra Leone</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Sierra Leone face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Sierra Leone and carries a possible penalty of life imprisonment, although this law is seldom enforced.

Corrective rape, also called curative rape or homophobic rape, is a hate crime in which somebody is raped because of their perceived sexual orientation. The common intended consequence of the rape, as claimed by the perpetrator, is to turn the person heterosexual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination against gay men</span> Prejudice, hatred, or bias toward gay men, male homosexuality, or men perceived to be gay

Discrimination against gay men, sometimes called gayphobia, is a form of homophobic prejudice, hatred, or bias specifically directed toward gay men, male homosexuality, or men who are perceived to be gay. This discrimination is closely related to femmephobia, which is the dislike of, or hostility toward, individuals who present as feminine, including gay and effeminate men.

LGBT migration is the movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the world or within one country. LGBT individuals choose to migrate so as to escape discrimination, bad treatment and negative attitudes due to their sexuality, including homophobia and transphobia. These people are inclined to be marginalized and face socio-economic challenges in their home countries. Globally and domestically, many LGBT people attempt to leave discriminatory regions in search of more tolerant ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of LGBTQ topics</span>

The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBTQ topics:

Homophobia in ethnic minority communities is any negative prejudice or form of discrimination in ethnic minority communities worldwide towards people who identify as–or are perceived as being–lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), known as homophobia. This may be expressed as antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, irrational fear, and is sometimes related to religious beliefs. A 2006 study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the UK found that while religion can have a positive function in many LGB Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, it can also play a role in supporting homophobia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence in same-sex relationships</span>

Domestic violence in same-sex relationships or intragender violence is a pattern of violence or abuse that occurs within same-sex relationships. Domestic violence is an issue that affects people of any sexuality, but there are issues that affect victims of same-sex domestic violence specifically. These issues include homophobia, internalized homophobia, HIV and AIDS stigma, STD risk and other health issues, lack of legal support, and the violence they face being considered less serious than heterosexual domestic violence. Moreover, the issue of domestic violence in same-sex relationships has not been studied as comprehensively as domestic violence in heterosexual relationships. However, there are legal changes being made to help victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships, as well as organizations that cater specifically to victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual assault of LGBT persons</span>

Sexual assault of LGBT people, also known as sexual and gender minorities (SGM), is a form of violence that occurs within the LGBT community. While sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence can occur in all forms of relationships, it is found that sexual minorities experience it at rates that are equal to or higher than their heterosexual counterparts. There is a lack of research on this specific problem for the LGBT population as a whole, but there does exist a substantial amount of research on college LGBT students who have experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Queer erasure refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally remove LGBT groups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.

Lesbian erasure is a form of lesbophobia that involves the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored within feminist groups or the LGBT community.

References

  1. ↑ "lesbophobia" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ↑ Ogden, Annegret S. (1986). The Great American Housewife: From Helpmate to Wage Earner, 1776–1986. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 206. ISBN   0-313-24752-8.
  3. ↑ "What is "Lesbophobia"?". ILGA. 18 December 2006. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
  4. ↑ Czyzselska, Jane (9 July 2013). "Lesbophobia is homophobia with a side-order of sexism". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Jillian Todd Weiss, "The Gender Caste System – Identity, Privacy, and Heteronormativity" Archived 13 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine 10 Law & Sexuality 123 (Tulane Law School, 2001)
  6. ↑ Peper, Karen, "Female athlete=Lesbian: a complex myth constructed from gender role expectations and lesbiphobia", Queer words, queer images: communications and the construction of homosexuality, pages 193–208 (New York University Press, 1994)
  7. ↑ Darcy Plymire and Pamela Forman, "Breaking the Silence: Lesbian Fans, the Internet, and the Sexual Politics of Women's Sport", International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, pages 1566–1768 (Springer Netherlands, April 2000)
  8. ↑ Megan Radclyffe, Lesbophobia!: Gay Men and Misogyny (Continuum, October 2005)
  9. ↑ Raizada, Kristen (2007). "An Interview with the Guerrilla Girls, Dyke Action Machine (DAM!), and the Toxic Titties". NWSA Journal . 19 (1): 39–58. doi:10.2979/NWS.2007.19.1.39 (inactive 14 May 2024). ISSN   1040-0656. JSTOR   4317230.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2024 (link)
  10. ↑ Emery, Kim (1994). "Steers, Queers, and Manifest Destiny: Representing the Lesbian Subject in Turn-of-the-Century Texas". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 5 (1): 26–57. ISSN   1043-4070. JSTOR   3704079.
  11. ↑ "Lesbian killers in South Africa get 18-year jail terms". BBC News . 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Pithouse, Richard (29 March 2011). "Only Protected on Paper". The South African Civil Society Information Service. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  13. ↑ Ndaba, Baldwin (13 July 2007). "'Hate crime' against lesbians slated". IOL News. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  14. 1 2 Bridgland, Fred (14 July 2007). "Lesbian couple killed in execution-style murder: Hate crimes increase despite equal rights law". Sunday Herald . Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
  15. ↑ Kelly, Annie. "Raped and killed for being a lesbian: South Africa ignores 'corrective' attacks". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  16. ↑ "South Africa killing of lesbian Nogwaza 'a hate crime'". BBC News. 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  17. ↑ Cogswell, Kelly Jean (26 July 2007). "Cut It Off – And Stop AIDS". Gay City News. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
  18. ↑ "S. Africa gangs using rape to 'cure' lesbians". MSN . 13 March 2009. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009.
  19. ↑ "Rapport sur l'homophobie 2019 : 2018, une année noire pour les personnes LGBT" [Report on Homophobia 2019: 2018, a dark year for LGBT people]. SOS Homophobie (in French). 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  20. ↑ "Insultes, coups de poing, interdiction d'entrer : des lesbiennes racontent les agressions qu'elles ont subies" [Insults, punches, prohibition to enter: lesbians tell the assaults they have suffered]. France Inter (in French). 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  21. ↑ Wilkins, Anna (13 August 2019). "Anti-Lesbian Hate Crimes Are On The Rise". Gentside. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  22. ↑ Morris, Bonnie J. (22 December 2016). "Dyke Culture and the Disappearing L". Slate . Archived from the original on 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  23. ↑ Fleming, Pippa (3 July 2018). "The gender-identity movement undermines lesbians". The Economist . Archived from the original on 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  24. ↑ Clarke, Victoria; Peel, Elizabeth (2007). Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives (1st ed.). Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-0470012871.
  25. ↑ Radclyffe, Megan (1995). Lesbophobia: Gay Men and Misogyny. Cassell. ISBN   978-0304333264. OCLC   231667896.
  26. ↑ Apostolou, Menelaos; Shialos, Marios; Khalil, Michalis; Paschali, Vana (2017). "The evolution of female same-sex attraction: The male choice hypothesis". Personality and Individual Differences . 116: 372–378. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.020. ISSN   0191-8869.
  27. ↑ Baumeister, Roy F. (2000). "Gender Differences in Erotic Plasticity: The Female Sex Drive as Socially Flexible and Responsive". Psychological Bulletin . 126 (3): 347–374. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.347. ISSN   0033-2909. LCCN   05019164. PMID   10825779.

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