Abstract

To answer this special issue provocation, Is Lesbian Identity Obsolete? we analyzed interviews with people who had identified at some point in their lives as lesbians, or as women/femmes who were attracted to women – some of them part of the Baby Boomer generation and some part of the Millennial generation. Participants from both generations rejected the gender binary. Nevertheless, we found a shift away from understanding gender as an oppressive category to an understanding of gender as a proliferating identity in which one may play with gender in an intentional and creative manner. It appears that participants across generations articulated their sexual identities strategically to express not only a sexual orientation but more importantly political and community alliances. For Baby Boomer lesbians, lesbian identity connoted an alliance with feminism, and for Millennials their sexual identity indicated a political alliance with queer and trans* movements. In order to sustain solidarity between lesbians of different generations, we suggest that narratives about gender should include both intrinsic and extrinsic components. We further suggest that the political project of ending the oppression of all lesbians/women who love women is fraught, but essential in a world that hates women.

摘要

回答这个特刊的挑衅，女同性恋身份过时了吗？我们分析了采访对象，这些人在生活中的某个时刻被认定为女同性恋者，或者被女性吸引的女性/女性——其中一些属于婴儿潮一代，另一些属于千禧一代。两代人的参与者都拒绝性别二元化。尽管如此，我们发现了一种转变，即从将性别理解为一种压迫性的类别，转变为将性别理解为一种不断增长的身份，在这种身份中，人们可以有意识地和创造性地玩弄性别。似乎几代人的参与者有策略地表达了他们的性身份，不仅表达了性取向，更重要的是表达了政治和社区联盟。对于婴儿潮一代的女同性恋者来说，女同性恋身份意味着与女权主义的联盟，对于千禧一代来说，他们的性身份表明他们与酷儿和跨性别*运动结成政治联盟。为了维持不同代女同性恋者之间的团结，我们建议关于性别的叙述应该包括内在和外在的成分。我们进一步建议，结束对所有热爱女性的女同性恋者/女性的压迫的政治项目令人担忧，但在一个仇恨女性的世界中是必不可少的。