Lesbian Existence and the Challenge to Normative Constructions of the Academy *

Abstract

This chapter shows vividly what makes the logic behind the public/private dichotomy partial, distorting and perverse. Standpoint feminist epistemology provides the interpretive framework for counterposing a lesbian-centered reality to the normative - patriarchal and heterosexual - construction of the academy. The point of departure for feminist epistemology is the idea that knowledge is socially situated. A lesbian standpoint is valuable because it has the capacity to reveal how the vision of the dominant heterosexual class structures the public sphere in ways that can be oppressive for lesbian faculty. The public/private dichotomy is distorting because it reduces lesbianism to sexuality. The logic of the public/private is grounded on the belief that being lesbian is merely an issue of what one chooses to do in private and with whom. A lesbian standpoint makes us aware that an institutional context that is ruled by a discourse that renders lesbian faculty invisible is a denial of female agency and therefore disempowering to all women.