Lesbian Representation Research Articles

A Study on Lesbian Representation and the Reconfiguration of Normative Intimacy in Korean Contemporary Novels

A Study on Lesbian Representation and the Reconfiguration of Normative Intimacy in Korean Contemporary Novels

Narrative Plenitude in The Ultimatum: Queer Love

This essay explores the styles of lesbian representation on display in the Netflix reality series, The Ultimatum: Queer Love. From its inclusion of masculine, non-binary cast members, to its in-jokes about instantaneous lesbian intimacy and attachment, the series offers what Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick wished for twenty years ago: a narrative plentitude that succeeds in capturing the quotidian messiness of lesbian desire and commitment.

Differentiating from TV Representations: Shame and the Process of Gay/Lesbian Identification Among Chilean Television Viewers

ABSTRACT The representation of gays and lesbians on Chilean television has increased steadily over the last decades. This paper offers an analysis of the role these images had in the processes of sexual identification of a sample of 25 members of the audience who identify as gays or lesbians. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, it is shown that the respondents believed that the televisual representations of homosexuality have contributed to further marginalize gay and lesbian lives. This strengthened damaging feelings that fed into a sense of shame that was originating from multiple institutions and texts, thus complicating their processes of self-recognition and self-acceptance during their childhood and adolescence. Taking examples of how participants described their relationship with these representations and the ways in which they circulated socially, it is argued that they could only articulate their identification as gays or lesbians by disassociating themselves from these images and establishing a clear difference in regard to them. This was in a process in which several other informational and experiential opportunities came into play, which allowed them to resignify the categories gay/lesbian and lead less conflictive processes of identification.

Epistemologies of love and desire: Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About

This article provides a context for the publication of Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About (1991). As Chicana literature and feminism flourished, the visibility of Chicanas increased dramatically, and at the same it became noticeable that Chicana lesbian representations lacked considerably. During this time roughly from the 1980s through 2000, the focus on Chicana lesbian representation reached a new level of awareness which ultimately led to an increase in demand for publications by and about Chicana lesbians. However, this new visibility did not materialize so easily and there were still resistances in the academy and at national conferences that led to major, well-documented confrontations. This was a dramatic and momentous period for the establishment of a public discourse about Chicana lesbians within Chicana/o studies that still continues today. Arguably, contributions by Chicana lesbians provided many foundational theories critical to the development of Chicana feminist thought and Chicana Studies that merits recognition. Published by Third Woman Press in 1991 and edited by Carla Trujillo, this book collection signaled a turn in perceptions of Chicana/o gays and lesbians across communities and in academic circles. This article argues that the publication of Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mother Warned Us About was made possible by a confluence of social, cultural, and literary engagements with other publications that arose from a politics of love and desire. As a result, love and desire are epistemic expressions that shape the collective voices in Chicana Lesbians.

Assimilating the Queers Ten Plus Years Later: Advertising Confronts Gender Colloquium

Abstract: University of Miami strategic communications professor Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai gave a plenary address at the Advertising & Society Colloquium held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History on November 18, 2022. Tsai's talk provides updates to her 2010 Advertising & Society Review article "Assimilating the Queers: Representations of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual, and Transgender People in Mainstream Advertising." She discusses the changes in the representation of queer people in advertising over the past 10 years and how the political climate and demographic shifts have affected how advertisers depict LGBTQ+ individuals. Tsai also highlights the issues with the "total market" approach, the use of the buzzword "authenticity," and the lack of representation of non-binary and androgynous individuals in advertisements. The media landscape has changed in the past decade, with more representation of queer people in advertising, but Tsai points out that many representations are still often stereotypical and not reflective of the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people.

God vs. gay: Queer counter-storytelling and Christianity in films about conversion therapy

This article compares dramatizations of ex-gay conversion therapy in the films But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), Save Me (2007), The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) and Boy Erased (2018) to demonstrate how the films refute the harmful myths circulated by ex-gay ministries and thereby combat the anti-gay agendas that such ministries support. The films all emphasize the liberation of their queer protagonists, but they differ in their treatment of Christian antagonists, with depictions ranging from mocking to hostile to sympathetic. I argue that while all four films offer empowering representations of lesbians and gay men surviving conversion therapy, only Save Me employs a rhetorical strategy that seeks to reconcile the perceived conflict between queerness and Christianity.

“What unholy Chart is this?!”: Paratextual intertextuality in Gentleman Jack fan posts of scholarship on Anne Lister

While intersections of scholarship and fandom have previously been discussed in terms of the scholar-as-fan, rather less theorized is the converse situation, where nonacademic fans draw on scholarly research and remake it as fan-circulated content. Gentleman Jack (BBC/HBO, 2019-present), a television series based on a real person, Anne Lister, about whom there is an existing body of scholarship, provides examples of this phenomenon, with fans excerpting text from biographical sources and extracting and remaking a dissertation’s diagram of Lister’s relationships with various women. This essay analyzes these fan texts as paratexts associated with the primary Gentleman Jack text, situating them within research that recognizes the increased significance of paratextual commentary to the reception of contemporary media texts. The fan posts also demonstrate distinctive forms of intertextuality that interweave the content of the show, scholarly research on Lister, and references to other popular media representations of lesbians. At the level of LGBTQ representation, enthusiasm amongst many queer viewers for Gentleman Jack and Lister reflect the rarity of having a lesbian lead in a well-budgeted, prestige television series. Furthermore, given the dearth of lesbians in academic historical accounts, the fan-generated texts discussed in this essay demonstrate how hybrid forms of popular media-academic scholarship fan posts also counter lesbian underrepresentation with respect to scholarly discourse.

Cinderella in Spain: Variations of the Story as Socio-Ethical Texts by Maria Fernández-Lamaque

Reviewed by: Cinderella in Spain: Variations of the Story as Socio-Ethical Texts by Maria Fernández-Lamaque Shannon Murphy (bio) Cinderella in Spain: Variations of the Story as Socio-Ethical Texts. By Maria Fernández-Lamaque. Foreword by John Stephens. McFarland, 2019. Cinderella in Spain: Variations of the Story as Socio-Ethical Texts is a collection of eleven essays that dives into the unexplored territory of Spanish Cinderella stories. Maria Fernández-Lamaque pulls from various literary genres to examine how they are representatives and reflections of Spanish history and culture. She explains that no scholarly work exists regarding the socio-ethical implications and depictions of Spanish Cinderella tales, therefore filling a gap in fairy tale genre analysis. Fernández-Lamaque's first chapter discusses "Estrellita do oro," which follows protagonist María as she moves from mistreated outsider to blessed chosen one. This chapter focuses in particular on physical branding and branding as enemy. The three steps of creating the enemy character—"renaming, replacing and erasing" (21)—show how María is othered by her family. Fernández-Lamaque also focuses on the star branding received by the kindly stranger, which acts as an othering branding, both positively and negatively impacting her societal standing. Censorship is the focus of chapter 2 as Fernández-Lamaque discusses the censorship of Cinderella-esque tales during the Franco rule in Spain. The 1930s post-war period began a time of female empowerment in Spain. Antoniorrobles, a prolific children's stories writer, was banned for his depictions of politics, religion, gender, and race. Fernández-Lamaque writes how he strove to provide progressive, androgynous, agnostic, and diverse stories, and she further discusses how Antoniorrobles "[broke] and [opposed], on a textual level, the social foundations as defined by the new regime" (30) in his tales. A popular trope within Cinderella tales is the use of disguise. In chapter 3, the use of the metaphorical mask is analyzed in the 1964 musical La nueva Cenicienta. Marisol uses metaphorical [End Page 127] masks to perform different roles: as starving girl to trigger compassion from others, as "beautiful princess who fights the injustices of poverty" (43), and as pseudo-mother figure. Fernández-Lamaque uses performance theory to discuss Marisol's different roles and masks, which ultimately reflect on the political and socio-economic culture of 1960s Spain. Chapter 4 analyzes Ana María Matute's award-winning novel Sólo un pie descalzo. She notes how "children in [Matute's] novels are the voice of a society in a state of division and rupture due to the Spanish Civil War" and how protagonist Gabriela's lost shoe and the doll with a missing leg represent "the idea of otherness and incompleteness" (55, 64). Through prosopopoeia and synecdoche, Fernández-Lamaque analyzes how Gabriela is able to exist and express herself in her environment. Fernández-Lamaque's fifth chapter focuses on the representation of queer Cinderella in María Felícitas Jaime's Cenicienta en Chueca. This chapter notes the rise in queer representation after the death of Franco in 1975, and the emergence of critical LGBTQ studies in Spain within the last two decades (66, 68). Jaime's nameless protagonist moves from the heteroperformative restraints of Peru and finds liberation in the cultural hub of Madrid as she explores her sexuality in the public sphere. Using Judith Butler's scholarship as framework, Fernández-Lamaque examines the importance of lesbian representation, the confinement of performance, and emergence of the LGBTQ voice within Cenicienta en Chueca. Chapter 6 examines the chick lit genre and the role Noé Martínez's novel Cenicienta siempre quiso un Wonderbra plays within it. Fernández-Lamaque "speculates on the stages of women as virgins, mothers, and lovers in a given culture as they fear emotional independence from men" as depicted by characters Paulina, Olvido, and Coro (11). Each woman focuses on her role in society, whether it be her physical embodiment, financial stability, or intimate relationships with men. The fixation on the Wonderbra uncovers "the figurative and physical prosthetics used by women to make an illusionary and fictive image of their bodies and themselves to fit the created beauty...

Portrait of Same-Sex Desire: Lesbian (Mis)Representations in Nineteenth-Century French Art

In late nineteenth-century France, lesbianism became a heightened topic of interest due to scientific, social, and political discourse surrounding female sexuality. From this discourse stemmed a small but significant outpouring of lesbian artworks by male artists. Rendering the lesbian as a hypervisible, hypersexual figure for men to project their desires and fears onto, these artworks communicated concerns over sexuality, morality, feminism, class, and gender roles. Traditionally, historiography on this topic tends to focus on one mode of lesbian representation at a time or discusses lesbian art en masse. This scholarship has highlighted some different representations and the social circumstances that produced such art, but has limited analysis of the diverse methods of portraying lesbianism. This paper examines four distinct categories of lesbian representation – the hypersexual lesbian, the lesbian prostitute, the masculine lesbian, and the bourgeois lesbian ­– while also exploring how they all contributed to a larger cultural conversation on lesbians. Through the synthesis of different categories and elements of lesbian art in a social context, central facets of lesbian representation ­­­are illuminated, demonstrating how lesbianism specifically, and gender and sexuality in general, has been conceptualized, policed, and consumed in France and what this means for queer women, even today.

Media Representations of Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals on Dutch Television and People\u2019s Stereotypes and Attitudes About LGBs

This study investigates stereotypical portrayals of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LGBs) on Dutch television and whether these portrayals relate to people’s attitudes towards LGBs. Previous research shows that television programs in the U.S. contain many stereotypical portrayals of LGBs. These portrayals are both negatively and positively related to people’s attitude towards LGBs. Because the Dutch culture is relatively accepting of LGBs it is interesting to see if they are portrayed differently than in the U.S. A content analysis showed that there are stereotypical representations on Dutch television but there are also people who ‘just happen to be gay’. A survey among 272 participants showed that people who more frequently watch programs with stereotypical portrayals of LGBs do not have a more positive or negative attitude than people who do not. A mediation analysis showed that people who watch more television in general have a more stereotypical view of gay men, which is related to more negative attitudes towards LGBs.

Lesbian Representation In Bengkulu City (Studies In Paired Ra And Ad)

He created man in pairs, namely male and female to build a harmonious family. Humans, both male and female, carry out their duties according to the nature given by the creator. In terms of human social life, it is inseparable from the problems of life. One of the problems that usually exist in society is the problem of homosexuality. Society and lesbians separate their existence because society considers the irregularity of sexual desires and the lifestyle of lesbians. A person becomes a lesbian because of the wrong association by lesbians so that this deviation occurs. The purpose of this study was to determine the representation of lesbians in Bengkulu City. This representation is seen from the reality, representation, and ideology related to the background, behavior and views of the lesbians. This study uses a qualitative research method with a case study approach. The results of this study (1) relate to the reality of informants becoming lesbians due to environmental factors, lack of family supervision so that they fall into lesbians. (2) related to the representation that lesbians admit that there are no special symbols that they use. (3) and finally related to the ideology, the informants realized that lesbian is a social deviation, wrong association.

What Factors Shape the Substantive Representation of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals in Parliament? Testing the Impact of Minority Membership, Political Values and Awareness

AbstractThe importance of minority parliamentarians for substantive representation is widely acknowledged, but little research exists on further explanations. By studying the substantive representation of the interests of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LGBs), this study analyses why parliamentarians stand in for interests of minorities with an invisible characteristic. A quantitative content analysis of more than 950,000 British and Irish parliamentary questions provides the basis for the analysis (2002–2017). The study considers parliamentarians’ characteristics as explanatory factors. The results indicate that parliamentary presence is vital for LGBs. However, the most active parliamentarians are non-minority members: political values and awareness are also at play. Moreover, there are differences between the two parliaments.

Queer representation in Arab and Middle Eastern Films

Queer representations have been present since the 1930s in Arab and Middle Eastern cinema, albeit always in coded forms. However, the idea of homosexuality or queerness in the Middle East is still not tolerated due to religious, political, social and cultural reasons. Middle Eastern filmmakers who represent homosexual relations in their films could face consequences ranging from censorship to punishment by the State or religious extremists. This article explores the representation of lesbians in three transnational Middle Eastern women’s films: Caramel (Sukkar banat, 2007) by Nadine Labaki, set in Lebanon, Circumstance (2011) by Maryam Keshavarz, set in Iran, and In Between (Bar Bahar, 2016) by Maysaloun Hamoud, set in Israel/Palestine. It analyses the position the female lesbian protagonists occupy in the narrative structure and their treatment within the cinematic discourse. The article will examine mise-en-scène elements and compare each director’s stylistic and directorial approach in representing homosexuality within different social and cultural contexts. It will also prompt discussions related to queer identity, queer feminism, women’s cinema, audience reception and spectatorship within the Middle East.

Upgrading <em>The L Word: Generation Q</em>

Upgrading <em>The L Word: Generation Q</em>

Exclusion

Exclusion

O uso de figuras de linguagens do domínio da lesbiandade no acervo fotográfico do Lesbian Herstory Archives: uma proposta de taxonomia

Objetivo: Explorar os termos metafóricos empregados na representação temática (assunto) em uma amostra de fotografias do Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA), no intuito de organizá-los semanticamente para o ambiente web. Método: Utiliza o metafiltro proposto por Orrico (2001b), baseado na Classificação Facetada de Ranganathan, para categorizar as figuras de linguagem selecionadas por meio de sua Essência, Função e Modo, e, a partir disso, estabelecer as características que nortearão os renques e as cadeias da proposta taxonômica.Resultado: Demonstra que a comunidade lésbica utiliza as figuras de linguagem como meio de afirmação de identidade. Aponta a urgência de soluções práticas que corrijam os desvios na representação de assunto sobre lésbicas e propõe uma estrutura taxonômica baseada em figuras de linguagem que proporcione visibilidade em ambiente web.Conclusões: Destaca a necessidade e a urgência das discussões sobre gênero e sexualidade no contexto da representação temática, principalmente no que diz respeito a lesbiandade e a representação das lésbicas e das suas relações afetivo-sexuais, de forma que essa comunidade discursiva se veja eticamente representada nos instrumentos de controle de vocabulário.

Les réponses des fans aux représentations lesbiennes fictionnelles : le cas de The 100 et Wynonna Earp

Cet article se concentre sur l’analyse de la representation serielle des personnages lesbiens et de leur reception par les publics fans. Comment les fans se reapproprient les images et les representations pour donner a voir et se donner a voir ? Par une analyse des traces numeriques laissees par les fans sur les reseaux sociaux (en particulier Tumblr et Twitter) et par des questionnaires distribues en ligne aupres des fans, nous tenterons de saisir comment leurs discours tendent a mettre en visibilite et a contrer les discours hegemoniques et cherchent a produire des representations positives ou en en faire la promotion.

“Gay Now”: Bisexual Erasure in Supernatural Media from 1983 to 2003

Bisexual representation in media has historically lagged behind gay and lesbian representation. Given that bisexual people experience poorer mental health measures when compared to heterosexual and gay people, positive representation could have a significant impact on bettering bisexual people’s lives. Additionally, examining historical trends of bisexual representation may help us better contextualize the current state of bisexual representation. This paper conducts a thematic analysis of three bisexual women from two texts: Miriam and Sarah from The Hunger, a 1983 movie, and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a 1997–2003 television show. Although Miriam, Sarah, and Willow all exhibit attraction toward both men and women, they are commonly referred to as lesbians. The erasure of potential readings of their sexualities as bisexual occurs through three streams: downplaying attraction to men, describing erotic scenes as “lesbian,” and formulating bisexuality as an invisible identity. Further, the supernatural context of these texts creates a connection between bisexuality and monstrosity. However, these texts occasionally subvert traditional methods of erasure and are thus praised as progressive, rather than criticized, by reviewers. These texts imply that potential bisexual readings of characters in the 1980s and 1990s were erased by both the texts themselves and their reviewers, in favor of characterizing progression of lesbian representation.

Etykiety „pedał” i „lesba” w heteronormatywnej rzeczywistości społecznej. Próba analizy

Język jest zbiorem uwarunkowanych kulturowo znaków umożliwiających tworzenie prywatnych i społecznych znaczeń. Odgrywa kluczową rolę w wyobrażeniu i wyrażaniu nienormatywnych tożsamości seksualnych, które w mniejszym lub większym stopniu są podatne na proces stygmatyzacji [Kulick 2000]. Artykuł jest przyczynkiem do badania procesu stawania się seksualnym dewiantem. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie wyników badań jakościowych opartych na indywidualnych wywiadach przeprowadzonych w 2018 roku. Analiza wypowiedzi 15 homoseksualnych kobiet i mężczyzn w wieku od 20 do 30 lat, mieszkających w Warszawie, pozwoliła ukazać językową różnorodność etykiet odnoszących się do osób homoseksualnych. Z badań wynika, że językowe reprezentacje lesbijek i gejów w heteroseksualnych aktach mowy sytuują się pomiędzy eufemizmami i niewybrednymi kolokwializmami, które pełnią funkcję poniżających etykiet, znajdujących zastosowanie w różnych kontekstach. Celem prezentowanego badania nie było rozpoznanie odrębności języka wspólnoty osób homoseksualnych, a konceptualne ujęcie miejsca płciowej i seksualnej nieheteronormatywności w zmieniającej się rzeczywistości społecznej.

Is this what a lesbian looks like? Lesbian fashion and the fashionable lesbian in the United States press, 1960s to 2010s

We explored articulations of lesbian styles, fashions, and ways of dressing in mainstream fashion and media outlets within the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Based upon our findings, we propose that there was trending ambivalence and multiple assemblages across space and time where the mainstream media did not necessarily perpetuate a single stereotypical or essentialist way of conceptualizing fashionable lesbians or lesbian fashions. However, we also noted across time a divide between representations of celebrity lesbians and the contemporary lived experience of ordinary lesbians. Though the press acknowledged this divide on occasion, they also established, circulated, and reinforced this difference. According to the press, while lesbians have been ‘chic’ since the 1990s–whether they embraced a butch or femme esthetic–the best way to be lesbian was to be rich, white, and fashionably dressed.