UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Lesbian Feminist Performances of the Culture Wars Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63f0f3jm Author Sloan, Lisa Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Lesbian Feminist Performances of the Culture Wars A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies by Lisa Sloan 2015 © Copyright by Lisa Sloan 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Lesbian Feminist Performances of the Culture Wars by Lisa Sloan Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Sue-Ellen Case, Chair This dissertation analyzes lesbian feminist performance in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s to critically interrogate how this period has been narrativized in histories of feminism. When considering the history of feminism in terms of decades, the 1970s are often idealized as feminism’s zenith, while the 1980s and 1990s are marred by feminist in-fighting, rising conservatism on the national stage, and the culture wars. Clare Hemmings refers to this version of the history of feminism as a “loss” narrative which unwittingly serves those who would mark feminism as over.1 This dissertation brings together performances that disrupt this loss narrative by advancing ideas that have been associated with 1970s lesbian feminism into the 1980s and 1990s, or by emphasizing common goals over divisive issues. These performances range from plays such as Shirlene Holmes’s A Lady and a Woman to museum installations such 1 . Hemmings, Why Stories Matter, 4–5, 11. ii as Kiss & Tell’s Drawing the Line. Together, these works unsettle the loss narrative of the history of feminism by perpetuating lesbian feminist ideas, even in the face of conservative backlash. This dissertation examines lesbian feminist performances that comment on feminist and LGBT issues of the 1980s and 1990s, with each chapter focusing on a different debate. Chapter 1 examines how the sex wars get taken up in lesbian feminist performances and museum installations while considering the perspectives of lesbians of color on questions of sexuality. Chapter 2 turns to issues of kinship and the figure of the lesbian child in performance, which lesbian feminists advanced in the face of conservative family values. Chapter 3 examines lesbian performances that reify the heteronormativity of national identity and considers how state heteronormativity manifests in state-funded arts contexts. Finally, Chapter 4 focuses on performances that extend a lesbian feminist anti-capitalist sensibility and commitment to community into the 1980s and 1990s. These performances address the issues of gentrification, homelessness and cuts to social services. By addressing these social issues and the lesbian feminist performances that respond to them, this dissertation looks back at 1980s and 1990s lesbian feminist ideas in order to inform contemporary feminist and LGBT movements. iii The dissertation of Lisa Sloan is approved. Sean Metzger Joseph Bristow Sue-Ellen Case, Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv For my mother, Patti Sloan, who always knew I would be an author, and for my father, Dennis Sloan, who is always on my team. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Staging the Sex Wars 22 Chapter 2: Lesbian Kinship and Lesbian Kids 80 Chapter 3: Censorship in the Not-So-Lesbian Nation 130 Chapter 4: Performing Community Over Capitalism 178 Bibliography 225 vi LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1. Protestors march in SlutWalkNY, 1 October 2011. Photo by David Shankbone. 26 Fig.1.2. Protestors march in SlutWalkNY, 1 October 2011. Photo by David Shankbone. 26 Fig.1.3. “Women Against Pornography Protest at the Gates of Barnard College.” Photo by Morgan Gwenwald, courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. 30 Fig.1.4. “Joan Nestle.” Joan Nestle at the Speakout on "Politically Incorrect Sex," 25 April 1982. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald, courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. 36 Fig. 2.1. Lesbian Avengers posters, 1992. "Baby Dykes" poster by Carrie Moyer. 98 Fig. 3.1. Lesbian Park Rangers Millan and Dempsey interface with Parks Canada Park Wardens in Banff National Park. Image from Dempsey and Millan’s Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature. 143 Fig. 3.2. Ranger Dempsey takes notes while a lesbian specimen demonstrates her skills at the pool table. Image from Dempsey and Millan’s Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature. 146 Fig. 3.3. From Lesbian Ranger Rescue to Lesbian Ranger Recruit. Images from Dempsey and Millan’s Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature. 148 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like a solo performance, a sole-authored work is never completed alone. I have had much help and support along the way to completing this dissertation. I owe much to Sue-Ellen Case, whose influential research on feminism and theater has made space for projects like mine. As my advisor and mentor at UCLA, she directed my academic performance from dissertation conception to completion. In addition, the members of my doctoral committee, Sean Metzger, Joe Bristow, and Michelle Liu Carriger, have been great academic dramaturgs, providing me with insightful feedback at various stages of this project. I am especially grateful for Sean’s critical eye, Joe’s tutelage, and Michelle’s willingness to come aboard. Thanks also goes to Katie Kent, Amy Holzapfel, and Rob Baker-White, professors at Williams College who helped me get to graduate school—they got me the audition. Many thanks to the staff of UCLA’s Theater Department, who made the performance run smoothly behind the scenes. My friends and colleagues in UCLA’s Theater Department have been instrumental to my intellectual development. Nikki Eschen, Chantal Rodriguez, Lindsay Brandon-Hunter, David Gorshein, Tony Fitzgerald, Ameet Parameswaran, and Michael Najjar have all shown me the routine, teaching me to get through the Theater and Performance Studies program. My classmates, including Yvette Martinez-Vu, Areum Jeong, Bill Hutson, Paulo Lima, Fan-Ting Cheng, Linzi Juliano, Courtney Ryan, Gwynn Shanks, Sheila Malone, and Anndretta Lyle Wilson, helped me to learn my lines well enough to participate in academic dialogue. There have also been many backers for this show. Financial support from UCLA’s Graduate Division, Theater Department, and Center for the Study of Women made it possible for me to write this dissertation. These funds paid for my graduate education as well as travel to various archives. I am grateful to the archivists, staff members, and volunteers at the Barnard viii Archives, the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and the New York Public Library’s Theatre on Film and Tape Archive and the Billy Rose Theatre Collection. I owe a special thanks to Morgan Gwenwald for use of her important photographs and to Saskia Scheffer of the Lesbian Herstory Archives for facilitating those permissions. I must finally thank my fans. My parents, Patti and Dennis, and twin sister, Christine, are my biggest fans, and they have cheered me on at every stage of this project. Terri Tsui has been devoted, providing affective balms and care labor through coursework, exams, and writing. The support of Terri and my family keeps me going. Once the curtain goes up, of course, all errors in this work are mine. ix VITA Education Spring 2015: PhD Candidate, Theater and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles Chair: Distinguished Professor Sue-Ellen Case Research Interests: women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; queer theory 2011: Participant in Northwestern University Summer Institute on Black Feminist Performance 2009: B.A., Theatre and English, Williams College, Williamstown, MA; cum laude 2008: Semester abroad, The Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin, Ireland Fellowships and Awards 2010-14: Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship, UCLA (full tuition and stipend) 2013: Penny Kanner Dissertation Research Fellowship, UCLA Center for the Study of Women 2013: Research Travel Grant, UCLA Graduate Division 2012: Graduate Student Research Mentorship Program, University of California, Los Angeles Conferences Panels Organized 2014: Session Coordinator, “Deviant Dreams, Normative Nightmares: Performing Feminist Revenge Fantasies” Panel, WTP Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Scottsdale, AZ, July 24-27 Papers Presented 2014: “Lesbian Femme-inist Fatale: Avenging Violence Against Women in Split Britches's Lesbians Who Kill,” “Deviant Dreams, Normative Nightmares: Performing Feminist Revenge Fantasies” Panel, WTP Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Scottsdale, AZ, July 24-27 2013: “Phranc: Perphorming Lesbian Pheminist Pholksinger,” “Feminist Fun” Panel, WTP Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Orlando, FL, August 1-4 2012: “Eager Beavers and Queer Nationalism in Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature,” Debut Panel, LGBTQ Focus Group, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Washington, D.C., August 2-5 2012: “‘A Woman Make a Better Man’: Butch Masculinity in Peggy Shaw’s You’re Just Like My Father,” Thinking Gender, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, February 3 x Publications Book Reviews 2013: Review of Lives in Play (Claycomb). Modern Drama 57.1, 122-124. 2012: Review of Theatre & Sexuality (Dolan) and Theatre & Feeling (Hurley).