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.[1][2] Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored within feminist groups,[3] or the LGBTQ community.[1][2]
As with gay men, many historical lesbians or suspected lesbians are often straightwashed, particularly by past historians who considered lesbianism unseemly.
Accounts of the 1969 Stonewall riots have been said to paint a "false narrative of white gay men leading the charge" while diminishing the critical involvement by butch lesbians, people of color, drag queens, transgender people.[10][11][12][13] According to eyewitness accounts, the riot was initially sparked by police brutalizing a butch lesbian, sometimes believed to be Stormé DeLarverie.[14][15][16]
In 1974, Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay politician to win an election in the United States. This achievement is often incorrectly ascribed to Harvey Milk, the first gay man to do so in 1977.[17][18]
In 1976, French lesbian feministMonique Wittig left France for the US,[19] spurred on by fierce resistance she faced from other feminists while trying to create lesbian groups within the Mouvement de libération des femmes.[19] At the time, the word lesbian was deemed an "un-French" American import, and Wittig recalled other MLF members seeking to "paralyse and destroy lesbian groups."[19]
In South Africa, both during and after Apartheid, Black South African lesbians continue to face erasure, discrimination, and violence from other South Africans who consider lesbianism "un-African".[20][21]
In literature
Some contemporary historians believe that American poet Emily Dickinson had an intimate relationship with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, leading some academics to assert that she was a lesbian.[22] Dickinson experts Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith wrote that Gilbert was a muse to Dickinson, stating that "Emily's correspondence to Susan unequivocally acknowledges that their emotional, spiritual, and physical communion is vital to her creative insight and sensibilities."[23] However, the Emily Dickinson Museum is ambiguous when discussing Dickinson's sexuality.[24]
In music
Author and women's history scholar Bonnie J. Morris wrote that many lesbian singers and musicians are erased from music and its history. As an example, she notes that her college students are unaware of the thriving lesbian music scene that existed several decades ago.[25]
In television & media
United States
After the introduction of the Hays Code in the U.S. in 1930, most references to homosexuality in American films were censored. Censors removed lesbian scenes from films, and originally-lesbian works were adapted into heterosexual or nonsexual ones. Lesbian films from abroad were not permitted to be shown in the U.S. The Hays Code was relaxed beginning in the 1960s.[26]:102
Lesbian characters in 1990's American television were often depicted as side characters with little to no definitive information on whether they were lesbians or not. If an episode portrayed two women kissing or some form of homoromantic interactions between female characters, there would be a parental advisory for that specific episode. This was seen with the series Roseanne, where some advertising companies requested that their commercials be excluded from the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" episode. There was also the issue of Ellen DeGenerescoming out on her show Ellen through her character Morgan in "The Puppy Episode", which received considerable pushback and backlash because of heteronormative views and the heterocentric culture of television.[27]
The "bury your gays" trope (also called "dead lesbian syndrome") describes the tendency for lesbian and bisexual women in television to disproportionately die or meet tragic fates. In the 2015–2016 TV season, Vox writers noted that 22 of 242 permanent character deaths were queer women, or about 10%.[28]
Russia
In Russia, any content containing positive portrayals of lesbianism or promoting "nontraditional" sexual relationships is banned by the government. Books and movies were pulled from shelves, and people who break the law are subject to court cases and fines of up to 5 million rubles.[29]
In scholarship
While the traditional academic canon has recognized the contributions of gay men, those of lesbians have not received the same scrutiny.[30] Political theorist Anna Marie Smith stated that lesbianism has been erased from the "official discourse" in Britain because lesbians are viewed as "responsible homosexuals" in a dichotomy between that and "dangerous gayness". As a result, lesbian sexual practices were not criminalized in Britain in ways similar to the criminalization of gay male sexual activities. Smith also points to the exclusion of women from AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smith argues that these erasures result from sexism and suggests that these issues should be addressed directly by lesbian activism.[31]
Some lesbian feminists reject the use of the umbrella term queer, which they perceive as rendering lesbians less visible within the broader LGBTQ community.[32][33] In her book The Disappearing L, lesbian scholar Bonnie J. Morris despairs that dyke has been replaced by queer among younger LGBTQ activists, a term she says represents a "disidentification" from womanhood and lesbianism.[34] Writers have called lesbian a dirtier word than queer or gay, pointing to negative stereotypes of lesbians as well as the term's association with lesbian porn aimed at heterosexual men.[35][36] Other writers argue that decreasing use of the term "lesbian" is due to an increase in trans identification and desire for gender-neutral, inclusive terms.[37][38]
A minority of lesbians within the gender-critical movement believe that acceptance of lesbian trans women harms or erases lesbianism, and claim to be censored or excluded within the broader LGBTQ community for this belief.[44][45]
In 2019, UK anti-trans group Get the L Out clashed with several pride festivals, including Pride in London where they forced their way to the front of the parade with signs claiming "trans activism erases lesbians".[46][47] Organizers apologized for the incident and condemned the group.[48][49]
In 2021, the BBC published the article "We're being pressured into sex by some trans women" based on a self-selected social media survey of 80 lesbians conducted by Get The L Out, which drew widespread criticism from many LGBTQ people.[50][51][52] Carrie Lyell, editor of DIVA referred to claims of trans women "erasing lesbianism" or pressuring lesbians to accept them as sexual partners as "scaremongering, designed to divide us".[53][54] Likewise, in an article for Overland, Melbourne historian Liz Crash accuses trans-exclusionary lesbian advocacy groups of using claims of erasure as a "pseudo-progressive cover to anti-trans hate."[55]
↑ Not all trans men are attracted to or solely attracted to women. A 2023 US study found that 28% of trans men identified as straight (attracted to women), 24% identified as bisexual/pansexual, 16% as gay (attracted to men), 15% as queer, and the remaining 17% as other sexualities.[39]
↑ Hart, Ellen Louise; Smith, Martha Nell, eds. (1998). Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson (1sted.). Middletown, Connecticut: Paris Press. ISBN0963818376.
↑ Plummer, Ken, ed. (1992). "Resisting the Erasure of Lesbian Sexuality: A challenge for queer activism, by Anna Marie Smith". Modern Homosexualities: Fragments of Lesbian and Gay Experiences. London: Routledge. pp.200–215. ISBN978-0415064200.
↑ Tyler, Robin (June 5, 2018). "Don't call me 'queer'". Los Angeles Blade. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
Dobkin, Alix; Tatnall, Sally (January 29, 2015). "The Erasure of Lesbians"(PDF). Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC). Archived from the original(PDF) on May 7, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
OLOC Boston (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) (2016). "Erasing Lesbians". The Proud Trust. Archived from the original on June 22, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
Barrett, Ruth, ed. (2016). Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics' War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights (1sted.). California: Tidal Time Publishing. p.225. ISBN978-0997146707.
Millward, Liz; Dodd, Janice G.; Fubara-Manuel, Irene (2017). Killing Off the Lesbians: A Symbolic Annihilation on Film and Television. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN978-1476668161.
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