DOCSLIB.ORG

Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities Between Femme and Third Wave Feminists

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Femme Feelings: Mapping Affective Affinities Between Femme and Third Wave Feminists FEMME FEELINGS: MAPPING AFFECTIVE AFFINITIES BETWEEN FEMME AND THIRD WAVE FEMINISTS Clare Lemke A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2011 Committee: Bill Albertini, Advisor Ellen Berry ii ABSTRACT Bill Albertini, Advisor This latest moment of feminism has been marked by a surge of energy around femininity and the potentially radical and queer pleasures feminists might find in feminized gender expressions. In both academic and popular contexts, contemporary feminist fascination with femininity is discussed as two separate phenomena: as evidence of a third wave feminist “reclamation” of femininity amongst young and largely heterosexual-identified women on the one hand, and as evidence of a “revival” of femme identity practices in queer communities on the other. These kinds of clear delineations between feminists based on sexual identity and age persist despite efforts in queer and feminist theory to disrupt notions of stable and coherent identity. However, viewing femme and non-queer-identified third wave feminists in isolation to each other ignores how both of these groups are innovating expressions of femininity which reject heteronormative expectations. By thinking differently about how individuals relate to each other, we can see tenuous but telling affinities between femme and third wave feminists, and imagine models for feminist organizing around such affective crossings. In this literary study, I argue that femme and non-queer-identified third wave feminists have similar understandings of their femininities and their erotic desires, if not necessarily similar sexual experiences or partners. Specifically, I trace how the affects of irony and hunger travel within and between femme theory and third wave theory as partially shared sensibilities. Ironic femininities are constituted in femme and third wave discourse as self-reflexive, deliberately cultivated and chosen feminized gender expressions which resist repressive iii patriarchal ideals. Furthermore, both queer femmes and heterosexual-identified third wave feminists employ a sensibility of hunger to recode feminized sexual modalities like openness, vulnerability and submission, and to pursue ways of fucking and loving outside of heteronormative models. In order to examine this largely unacknowledged and implicit relationship, I use José Esteban Muñoz’s theory of queer relationality and Ann Cvetkovich’s concept of “literary publics” as the framework of this study. I argue that feminist coalition building around affect would offer us the chance to explore connections between feminists of various ages and sexual identifications that we currently ignore. iv For my fifth of the office in 240 Shatzel Hall. Thank you for being a room of my own (sort of). v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am enormously grateful and indebted to my wonderful committee, Bill Albertini and Ellen Berry for their support of this project. Dr. Albertini provided crucial guidance and highly attentive feedback throughout the writing process, beginning when this study was just a seminar paper in his Spring 2010 Queer Theory course. Dr. Berry infused this project with new energy many times by talking through ideas, problems, and potential sources with me (and by being gracious enough to fix my life every time I showed up at her office hours). I also owe thanks to Dr. Radhika Gajjala for helping me develop my ideas for this thesis in her Feminist Research Methods course, and for being a committed graduate student advocate. Furthermore, several sections of this thesis benefited from the productive feedback from members of the Feminist Writing Group and participants of the BGSU Women’s Studies Research Symposium. Thank you to friends and family for putting up with my moods and boringness over the past year (and the other years, too). Thank you, thank you Jamie Stuart and Marla Wick for lending me your awesome copyediting skills. Special thanks to Manda Hicks for making me feel capable and for encouraging me to write in my own voice. Lastly, thank you to all the amazing femme and feminist writers who have given me inspiration, energy, and the resources to imagine myself otherwise. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Interrupting Narratives …………………………………………………………….. 5 Imagining New Models of Feminist Organizing …………………………………… 12 Finding the Right Frequency: Tuning into Irony and Hunger in Femme And Third Wave Theory …………………………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER 1. LADIES, FEMMES, AND “FEMINIST FATALES”: EXCHANGES OF IRONIC FEMININITY BETWEEN QUEER AND HETEROSEXUAL FEMINISTS ………….......................................................................................................... 20 Will the Real Femmes Please Stand Up?: Slippages ……………………………... 24 “Girl[s]-by-Choice”: Irony as a Method for Constructing Feminist and Femme Femininities …………………………………………………………….... 29 “Real but not natural”: Irony and Desire ……………………………………….. .. 37 “Fem Culture”: Ironic Femininity as a Galvanizing Force ………………………. 45 CHAPTER 2. IMAGINING DESIRE, FINDING AFFINITY: HUNGER AS FEMME-THIRD WAVE ALLIANCE IN THE WORK OF MERRI LISA JOHNSON …………. ........................................................................................................... 49 “Fem Quests”: Countering Heteronormative Scripts................................................. 54 Dangerous Desires: Sexual Risk and Hunger ............................................................ 62 Reading in between the Lines: Literary Publics as Sites for Affinity ……………... 69 Seeing the “fem place”: Coalitions Rooted in Shared Understandings of Desire … 76 CONCLUSIONS …….. ........................................................................................................ 82 vii REFERENCES ..........…........................................................................................................ 97 1 INTRODUCTION This latest moment of feminism has been marked by a surge of energy around femininity and the potentially radical and queer pleasures feminists might find in feminized gender expressions. Contemporary feminist efforts to queer and transform femininity are manifested in two crucial bodies of literature: third wave theory and femme theory.1 The feminist sex wars of the 1980s prompted a subsequent reclamation of butch-femme subjectivities within academic works and sexual subcultures. More recently, queer activists and scholars have theorized femme as a gender identity independent from the butch-femme dyad and as embodied by more individuals than just biological females.2 In other venues, emerging discussions about third wave feminism stress how third wavers reimage and reclaim femininity as part of their feminist politics. Both academic and popular sources discuss these two phenomena separately—referring to femme subjectivity largely in the context of LGBT communities and considering third wave consciousness largely in terms of more heterosexual-identified (if flexibly or cynically so) young women’s experience. These kinds of clear delineations between feminists based on sexual identity and age persist despite efforts in queer and feminist theory to disrupt notions of stable and coherent identity. However, viewing femme and non-queer-identified3 third wave feminists in isolation to each other ignores how both of these groups are innovating expressions of femininity which reject heteronormative expectations. If we read these efforts not only through a lens of age and sexual identification but also through a lens of affect, we can see how femmes and third wave feminists share certain feelings about and understandings of their femininities. I focus on the slippages between femme and non-queer-identified 2 third wave femininities because these affective overlaps are potential sources of connection and alliance for a diversity of feminists. By thinking differently about how individuals relate to each other, we can see tenuous but telling affinities between femme and third wave feminists, and imagine models for feminist organizing around such affective crossings. Affect is a powerful tool for reimagining feminist coalition building because affect signals more than mere feeling and instead should be understood as a force which creates community and alliance.4 Therefore, I use affect to mean feelings or sensibilities which inform individuals’ sense of self and makes them feel affiliation and collectivity with like-feeling others. While we generally assume that those who feel like us are those who share the same identifications and life experiences as us, I posit that affective connections also transgress boundaries of identity like age and sexual identification. Hence, I want to consider how affect could create community between like-feeling individuals who have different experiences, but who make sense of their experiences and identities in resonating ways. Recognizing the affective affinities between femme and non-queer-identified third wave feminists provides us with an opportunity to disrupt tired stories we tell ourselves about what feminists are like and how they relate to each other. Anyone who is interested in this latest moment of feminism (the last 20 years or so) will be familiar with two oft-repeated narratives circulating in both academic and popular accounts of this particular feminist era: First, that third wave feminists differ
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Flirting: a Designedly Ambiguous Action?
    The University of Manchester Research Flirting: A designedly ambiguous action? DOI: 10.1080/08351813.2017.1301297 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Speer, S. (2017). Flirting: A designedly ambiguous action? Research on Language and Social Interaction, 50(2), 128-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2017.1301297 Published in: Research on Language and Social Interaction Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:24. Sep. 2021 Flirting: A designedly ambiguous action? This is the author’s final, pre-publication version of the paper to be published in the journal, Research on Language and Social Interaction. Some small changes may have occurred after this version was sent to publication. The final published version should be consulted before quoting or discussing in detail.
    [Show full text]
  • Incestuous Abuse: Its Long-Term Effects
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 390 010 CG 026 765 AUTHOR Russell, Diana E. H. TITLE Incestuous Abuse: Its Long-Term Effects. SPONS AGENCY Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria (South Africa). REPORT NO ISBN-0-7969-1651-9 PUB DATE 95 NOTE 111p. PUB TYPE Books (010) Reports Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Children; *Child Abuse; *Family Violence; Females; Foreign Countries; *Incidence; Interviews; Parent Child Relationship; Qualitative Research; *Sexual Abuse; *Victims of Crime; Violence IDENTIFIERS South Africa ABSTRACT Despite the growing recognition of the prevalence of incest which is challenging-traditional views about the family as a safe haven for children, there is a serious paucity of scientific research on incest in South Africa in the new field of family violence. Almost a century after Sigmund Freud dismissed most women's reports of incest victimization as wishful fantasy, the extent of the damage done by this form of abuse remains controversial in South Africa, with some researchers maintaining that incest victims often suffer no severe effects. This report presents the findings of a qualitative study designed to explore the short- and long-term effects of incestuous abuse experienced by 20 adult women ince:-.t survivors. Although all but one of the in-depth interviews were conducted with women who at the time were residing in Cape Town, the places in which the incestuous abuse had occurred are dispersed throughout South Africa. The purpose of this study is to inform policy discussions on incestuous abuse, violence in South Africa, and violence against women in general. Includes information on prevalence of incestuous abuse, study methodology, characteristics of incestuous abuse, initial effects abuse; and long-terms effects.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultivating the Daughters of Bilitis Lesbian Identity, 1955-1975
    “WHAT A GORGEOUS DYKE!”: CULTIVATING THE DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS LESBIAN IDENTITY, 1955-1975 By Mary S. DePeder A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History Middle Tennessee State University December 2018 Thesis Committee: Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk, Chair Dr. Kelly A. Kolar ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I began my master’s program rigidly opposed to writing a thesis. Who in their right mind would put themselves through such insanity, I often wondered when speaking with fellow graduate students pursuing such a goal. I realize now, that to commit to such a task, is to succumb to a wild obsession. After completing the paper assignment for my Historical Research and Writing class, I was in far too deep to ever turn back. In this section, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the following individuals who followed me through this obsession and made sure I came out on the other side. First, I need to thank fellow history graduate student, Ricky Pugh, for his remarkable sleuthing skills in tracking down invaluable issues of The Ladder and Sisters. His assistance saved this project in more ways than I can list. Thank-you to my second reader, Dr. Kelly Kolar, whose sharp humor and unyielding encouragement assisted me not only through this thesis process, but throughout my entire graduate school experience. To Dr. Susan Myers- Shirk, who painstakingly wielded this project from its earliest stage as a paper for her Historical Research and Writing class to the final product it is now, I am eternally grateful.
    [Show full text]
  • A Feminist Conversation
    #1 Feminist Reflections NOV. 2018 his essay is the outcome of a conversation between two radical African feminists, TPatricia McFadden and Patricia Twasiima, who unapologetically and with sheer pleasure, think, live and share feminist ideas and imaginaries. Both are part of the African Feminist Refection and Action Group.They live in eastern and southern Africa, respectively, and whilst A FEMINIST CONVERSATION: they are ‘separated’ by distance and age in very conventional ways, their ideas and passions for freedom and being able to live lives of dignity Situating our radical ideas and through their own truths as Black women on their continent, and beyond, are the ties that bind them inseparably as Contemporary African energies in the contemporary Feminists in the 21st century. The conversation they are engaged with and African context in ranges over several core challenges and tasks that have faced feminists ever since the emergence of a public radical women’s politics of resistance against patriarchy. But it also refects Patricia McFadden on new faces of patriarchy and oppression we are confronted with today and on how women`s Patricia Twasiima struggles to counter them can be strengthened. A FEMINIST CONVERSATION: Situating our radical ideas and energies in the contemporary African context women generated a nationalist discourse that Contextualizing the Conversation legitimized their case. Nationalists and fem- omen have resisted oppression and ex- inists collaborated to pursue their common clusion for as long as humans have lived goal
    [Show full text]
  • Womyn of Color Leadership: Utilizing Differential Consciousness to Navigate Workspaces Heather C
    The Vermont Connection Volume 33 Liberating the Learner: Unpacking Access Article 11 and Privilege in Higher Education January 2012 Womyn of Color Leadership: Utilizing Differential Consciousness to Navigate Workspaces Heather C. Lou Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons Recommended Citation Lou, Heather C. (2012) "Womyn of Color Leadership: Utilizing Differential Consciousness to Navigate Workspaces," The Vermont Connection: Vol. 33 , Article 11. Available at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc/vol33/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Education and Social Services at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in The eV rmont Connection by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 86 • The Vermont Connection • 2012 • Volume 33 Womyn of Color Leadership: Utilizing Differential Consciousness to Navigate Workspaces Heather C. Lou Womyn1 of Color leaders working in student affairs face challenges navigating institutional roles while remaining authentic to non- dominant forms of leadership. In this work, I explore the concept of differential consciousness as a tactic for womyn of Color leaders to navigate workspaces. Differential consciousness is a concept within U.S. third world feminism and refers to a social movement that provides spaces for womyn from historically underrepresented, underserved, and “minoritized” identities to address dominance (Sandoval, 1991). I propose Sandoval’s (1991) theory of opposi- tional consciousness as a way for womyn of Color to navigate political workspaces in order to embrace authentic, non-dominant leadership styles. Additionally, I provide recommendations to apply Sandoval’s framework to student affairs practice as it relates to social justice and inclusion in postsecondary education.
    [Show full text]
  • Trans* Politics and the Feminist Project: Revisiting the Politics of Recognition to Resolve Impasses
    Politics and Governance (ISSN: 2183–2463) 2020, Volume 8, Issue 3, Pages 312–320 DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i3.2825 Article Trans* Politics and the Feminist Project: Revisiting the Politics of Recognition to Resolve Impasses Zara Saeidzadeh * and Sofia Strid Department of Gender Studies, Örebro University, 702 81 Örebro, Sweden; E-Mails: [email protected] (Z.S.), [email protected] (S.S.) * Corresponding author Submitted: 24 January 2020 | Accepted: 7 August 2020 | Published: 18 September 2020 Abstract The debates on, in, and between feminist and trans* movements have been politically intense at best and aggressively hostile at worst. The key contestations have revolved around three issues: First, the question of who constitutes a woman; second, what constitute feminist interests; and third, how trans* politics intersects with feminist politics. Despite decades of debates and scholarship, these impasses remain unbroken. In this article, our aim is to work out a way through these impasses. We argue that all three types of contestations are deeply invested in notions of identity, and therefore dealt with in an identitarian way. This has not been constructive in resolving the antagonistic relationship between the trans* movement and feminism. We aim to disentangle the antagonism within anti-trans* feminist politics on the one hand, and trans* politics’ responses to that antagonism on the other. In so doing, we argue for a politics of status-based recognition (drawing on Fraser, 2000a, 2000b) instead of identity-based recognition, highlighting individuals’ specific needs in soci- ety rather than women’s common interests (drawing on Jónasdóttir, 1991), and conceptualising the intersections of the trans* movement and feminism as mutually shaping rather than as trans* as additive to the feminist project (drawing on Walby, 2007, and Walby, Armstrong, and Strid, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Hillard/Sizemore Special Issue Black Girls and Womyn Matter
    Hillard/Sizemore Special Issue Black Girls and Womyn Matter: Using Black Feminist Thought to Examine Violence and Erasure in Education Ayana Tyler Hardaway, Ph.D. Temple University LaWanda W.M. Ward, J.D., Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University Diamond Howell University of Wisconsin-Madison As students, Black girls and womyn share a collective history of marginalization and discrimination within the P-20 education system. They disproportionately experience violence in educational settings; however, they continue to be understudied. This theoretical essay presents support for using Black Feminist Thought as an analytical framework for examining legal and policy discourses that shape and inform institutional responses to campus violence towards Black undergraduate womyn at Historically White Institutions and disproportionality in disciplinary measures for Black girls. We use this framework to explore how disciplinary and legal practices disregard intersectional identities, which results in the privileging of whiteness while rendering Black girls and womyn invisible. Implications are shared based on theoretical strategies, which promote the advancement and success of girls and collegiate Black womyn. Keywords: urban education, African American Womyn, Black Womyn, higher education, violence, intersectionality “We pledge ourselves to continue to speak out in defense of one another, in defense of the African American community and against those who are hostile to social justice no matter what color they are. No one will speak for us but ourselves.”- African American Women In Defense of Ourselves (Brown, Ransby, & King, 1999) Black girls and womyn as students share a collective history of discrimination and marginalization within the P-20 educational pipeline (Hines-Datiri & Andrews, 2017; Turner, 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • 17. Dyke, Dyke, Dyke!
    JENNIFER TURLEY 17. DYKE, DYKE, DYKE! How does it feel to have a child who is gay? I’ve been asked that several times. Believe me, I’d rather face that question than have that ugly, accusing glare from some small-minded person who is allowing themselves to believe that I “allowed my child to choose to be gay.” How can a person best describe the cross between trying to be a responsible and well-behaved adult, and wanting to choke the very last breath out of some ignoramus who stands within earshot saying despicable and hateful things about the child who you love more than your own life? By now, many people have either read or heard about the poem by Emily Perl Kingsley entitled, “Welcome to Holland.” The poem depicts the way a mother feels upon learning that her newborn child is disabled, after preparing herself for a “typical” child during her pregnancy. I believe that all mothers have certain expectations during pregnancy, and then we solidify certain expectations upon learning the sex of the baby. I suppose that could be my segue into what it’s like to have a daughter who is lesbian, yes? You hear the doctor pronounce to all in the room, “It’s a girl!” and you begin imagining her school dances and formals, and even a brief thought of her wedding, though it’s way down the road. You have certain expectations just because the child is born with a particular set of genitalia. It’s unfortunate that it all begins that way, but I know that it’s common, no matter how erroneous.
    [Show full text]
  • Therapy with a Consensually Nonmonogamous Couple
    Therapy With a Consensually Nonmonogamous Couple Keely Kolmes1 and Ryan G. Witherspoon2 1Private Practice, Oakland, CA 2Alliant International University While a significant minority of people practice some form of consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) in their relationships, there is very little published research on how to work competently and effectively with those who identify as polyamorous or who have open relationships. It is easy to let one’s cultural assumptions override one’s work in practice. However, cultural competence is an ethical cornerstone of psychotherapeutic work, as is using evidence-based treatment in the services we provide to our clients. This case presents the work of a clinician using both evidence-based practice and practice- based evidence in helping a nonmonogamous couple repair a breach in their relationship. We present a composite case representing a common presenting issue in the first author’s psychotherapy practice, which is oriented toward those engaging in or identifying with alternative sexual practices. Resources for learning more about working with poly, open, and other consensually nonmonogamous relationship partners are provided. C 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol. 00:1–11, 2017. Keywords: nonmonogamy; open relationships; polyamory; relationships; relationship counseling Introduction This case makes use of two evidence-based approaches to working with couples: the work of John Gottman, and emotionally focused therapy (EFT) as taught by Sue Johnson. Other practitioners may use different models for working with couples, but the integration of Gottman’s work and Sue Johnson’s EFT have had great value in the practice of the senior author of this article. Gottman’s research focused on patterns of behavior and sequences of interaction that predict marital satisfaction in newlywed couples (see https://www.gottman.com/).
    [Show full text]
  • How to Flirt Best: the Perceived Effectiveness of Flirtation Techniques
    Interpersona | An International Journal on Personal Relationships interpersona.psychopen.eu | 1981-6472 Articles How to Flirt Best: The Perceived Effectiveness of Flirtation Techniques T. Joel Wade* a, Jennifer Slemp a [a] Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA. Abstract Four studies were implemented in order to ascertain how men and women flirt with potential partners and which flirtatious actions are considered most effective. Study 1 (n = 40) and Study 2 (n = 60) sought to discover the actions that men and women, respectively, engage in to indicate romantic interest to a partner. Study 3 (n = 110) sought to determine which flirtatious acts from women are perceived as most effective by men. Women’s flirtations that suggest sexual access were expected to be rated as most effective. Study 4 (n = 222) sought to determine which flirtatious acts from men are perceived as most effective by women. Men’s flirtations that suggest emotional commitment and exclusivity were expected to be rated as most effective by women. The results were consistent with the hypotheses and are discussed in terms of prior research. Keywords: flirting, sexual access, commitment, exclusivity Interpersona, 2015, Vol. 9(1), 32–43, doi:10.5964/ijpr.v9i1.178 Received: 2014-11-03. Accepted: 2015-03-18. Published (VoR): 2015-06-30. *Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, USA. E-mail: [email protected] This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Tastes: an Exploration of Food and Sexuality in Southern Lesbian Literature Jacqueline Kristine Lawrence University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2014 Queer Tastes: An Exploration of Food and Sexuality in Southern Lesbian Literature Jacqueline Kristine Lawrence University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, and the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation Lawrence, Jacqueline Kristine, "Queer Tastes: An Exploration of Food and Sexuality in Southern Lesbian Literature" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 1021. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1021 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Queer Tastes: An Exploration of Food and Sexuality in Southern Lesbian Literature Queer Tastes: An Exploration of Food and Sexuality in Southern Lesbian Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in English By Jacqueline Kristine Lawrence University of Arkansas Bachelor of Arts in English, 2010 May 2014 University of Arkansas This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. _________________________ Dr. Lisa Hinrichsen Thesis Director _________________________ _________________________ Dr. Susan Marren Dr. Robert Cochran Committee Member Committee Member ABSTRACT Southern identities are undoubtedly influenced by the region’s foodways. However, the South tends to neglect and even to negate certain peoples and their identities. Women, especially lesbians, are often silenced within southern literature. Where Tennessee Williams and James Baldwin used literature to bridge gaps between gay men and the South, southern lesbian literature severely lacks a traceable history of such connections.
    [Show full text]
  • Ally – (Noun) a (Typically Straight- Or Cis-Identified) Person Who Supports, and Respects for Members of the LGBTQ Community
    Ally – (noun) a (typically straight- or cis-identified) person who supports, and respects for members of the LGBTQ community. While the word doesn’t necessitate action, we consider people to be active allies who take action upon this support and respect, this also indicates to others that you are an ally. Androgyny/ous – (adj; pronounced “an-jrah-jun-ee”) (1) a gender expression that has elements of both masculinity and femininity; (2) occasionally used in place of “intersex” to describe a person with both female and male anatomy Aromantic - (adj) is a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to others and/or a lack of interest in forming romantic relationships Asexual – (adj) having a lack of (or low level of) sexual attraction to others and/or a lack of interest or desire for sex or sexual partners. Asexuality exists on a spectrum from people who experience no sexual attraction or have any desire for sex to those who experience low levels and only after significant amounts of time, many of these different places on the spectrum have their own identity labels. Another term used within the asexual community is “ace,” meaning someone who is asexual. Bigender – (adj) a person who fluctuates between traditionally “woman” and “man” gender-based behavior and identities, identifying with both genders (and sometimes a third gender) Biological Sex – (noun) a medical term used to refer to the chromosomal, hormonal and anatomical characteristics that are used to classify an individual as female or male or intersex. Often referred to as simply “sex,” “physical sex,” “anatomical sex,” or specifically as “sex assigned [or designated] at birth.” Biphobia – (noun) a range of negative attitudes (e.g., fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, erasure, or discomfort) that one may have/express towards bisexual individuals.
    [Show full text]