EXISTING IN/DIFFERENCE LESBIAN CO-FORMATIONS IN URBAN ENCOUNTERS 1 Existing in/difference. Lesbian identifications in urban encounters 2 Department of Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale di Milano Bicocca e Faculté des Sciences Sociales de l’Université de Liège URBEUR_QUASI XXX cycle EXISTING IN/DIFFERENCE: LESBIAN CO-FORMATIONS in URBAN ENCOUNTERS Cognome / Surname: NESSI Nome / Name: Cecilia Matricola / Registration number: 798596 Tutore / Tutor: Fabio QUASSOLI Cotutore / Co-tutor: Marco MARTINIELLO Supervisor: Sarah BRACKE Coordinatore / Coordinator: Lavinia BIFULCO ANNO ACCADEMICO / ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-2019 Existing in/difference. Lesbian identifications in urban encounters 3 Contents Table of Contents Contents ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ 13 Abstract - English ............................................................................................................................. 17 Abstract - Italiano ............................................................................................................................ 20 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 1: LESBIANS IN TOWN ............................................................................................ 30 I- LGBTQIA+ and the city ........................................................................................................................ 30 Quasi-ethnic gay and lesbian identity ........................................................................................................ 34 Heternormativity, homonormativities and homonationalism .................................................................... 39 II- Where are the lesbians? ........................................................................................................................ 51 The disappearing of lesbian bars ............................................................................................................... 54 New lesbians in town ................................................................................................................................. 57 CHAPTER 2: DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPTS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT .... 59 I- Defining some concepts ......................................................................................................................... 59 Intersectionality and co-formations ........................................................................................................... 59 Encounters with difference ........................................................................................................................ 66 Dis/identifications ...................................................................................................................................... 70 Visibility and intellegibility ....................................................................................................................... 77 II- Problem Statement ................................................................................................................................ 84 Research Questions.................................................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGIES AND POSITIONALITIES ........................................... 89 I- Methods of data collection .................................................................................................................... 90 Participant observation .............................................................................................................................. 91 Interviews .................................................................................................................................................. 92 Existing in/difference. Lesbian identifications in urban encounters 4 Texts, images and on-line observation ...................................................................................................... 95 Secondary sources: a methodological note ................................................................................................ 96 II- Methods of analysis ............................................................................................................................. 101 Iterative Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 101 Comparative approach ............................................................................................................................. 103 Coding, mapping and memoing............................................................................................................... 105 Use of software for the analysis: Nvivo .................................................................................................. 109 III- Validity and ethical issues ............................................................................................................... 110 How I became white and where I had to stop.......................................................................................... 113 CHAPTER 4: SETTING THE CONTEXTS ................................................................................ 118 I- Milano da bere .................................................................................................................................... 118 The biggest gay scene of Northern Italy .................................................................................................. 123 Two Souths of immigration ..................................................................................................................... 127 II- Zinneke Brussels .................................................................................................................................. 137 A dual city? .............................................................................................................................................. 145 LGBT rights and touristification ............................................................................................................. 153 CHAPTER 5: AM I THE ONLY LESBIAN IN THE WORLD? THE EMERGENCE OF A LESBIAN SUBJECTIVITY ............................................................................................................. 157 I- Emerging subjectivities against a politics of silence........................................................................... 161 Politics of silence ..................................................................................................................................... 161 Double activism and separatism .............................................................................................................. 167 Vanishing lesbians (again): between institutionalization and virtual encounters .................................... 177 II- Lesbian spaces–identities in Milan and Brussels ................................................................................ 183 Brussels Lesbian Scene ........................................................................................................................... 184 Milan Lesbian Scene ............................................................................................................................... 193 CHAPTER 6: LESBIAN IMAGINARIES AND SOCIAL EXISTENCES ....................... 201 I- Imaginaries of non/existence ............................................................................................................... 201 A schizophrenic survival attitude ............................................................................................................ 204 Living double lives .................................................................................................................................. 213 II- Looking like a lesbian: buzzcut and gaydar ........................................................................................ 216 Appearing on the lesbian radar: I finally cut my hair short ..................................................................... 217 Looking like a lesbian: negotiating credibility ........................................................................................ 223 III- Living, loving, fucking, dreaming: identification and desire .......................................................... 226 Existing in/difference. Lesbian identifications in urban encounters 5 The in/stability of the couple ................................................................................................................... 236 On- and off-line: Looking for sex, finding new friends .......................................................................... 244 CHAPTER 7: SHRINKING GEOGRAPHIES .......................................................................... 257 I- Dis/identifying with the victim ............................................................................................................ 259 Minimizing gender violence .................................................................................................................... 260 Being