Discrimination against lesbians, sometimes called
lesbophobia, comprises various forms of prejudice and negativity towards
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
s as individuals, as couples, as a
social group
In the social sciences, a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. F ...
, or lesbianism in general. Based on the categories of
sex,
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...
,
identity, and
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
expression, this negativity encompasses prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and abuse; with
attitudes and feelings ranging from disdain to
hostility
Hostility is seen as a form of emotionally charged aggressive behavior. In everyday speech, it is more commonly used as a synonym for anger and aggression.
It appears in several psychological theories. For instance it is a Facet (psychology), f ...
. It is analogous to
gayphobia.
Terminology
The first usage of the term ''lesbophobia'' listed in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' is in ''The Erotic Life of the American Wife'' (1972), a book by ''
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...
'' editor Natalie Gittelson.
While some people use only the more general term ''
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
'' to describe this sort of prejudice or behavior, others believe that the terms ''homosexual'' and ''homophobia'' do not adequately reflect the specific concerns of lesbians, because they experience the double discrimination of both homophobia and sexism.
Extent
The idea that lesbians are dangerous—while
heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions ...
interactions are natural, normal, and spontaneous—is a common example of beliefs which are lesbophobic. Like homophobia, this belief is classed as
heteronormative
Heteronormativity is the definition of heterosexuality as the normative human sexuality. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between peo ...
, as it assumes that heterosexuality is dominant, presumed, and normal, and that other sexual or relationship arrangements are abnormal and unnatural. A stereotype that has been identified as lesbophobic is that female athletes are always or predominantly lesbians. Lesbians encounter lesbophobic attitudes not only in straight men and women, but also gay men. Lesbophobia in gay men is regarded as manifest in the perceived subordination of lesbian issues in the campaign for
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Not ...
.
Lesbians have been stereotyped in often contradictory ways. Kim Emery, in discussing lesbians in the United States during the late-19th century, says:
Anti-lesbian violence
Lesbophobia is sometimes demonstrated through crimes of violence, including
corrective rape and even murder. In the late 2000s, several rape/murders of lesbians occurred in South Africa. The victims included Sizakele Sigasa (a lesbian activist living in
Soweto
Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...
) and her partner Salome Masooa, who were raped, tortured, and murdered in an attack that South African lesbian-
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Not ...
organizations, including the umbrella-group Joint Working Group, said were driven by lesbophobia.
In the
Gauteng
Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...
township of
KwaThema, soccer player
Eudy Simelane was gang-raped, beaten and stabbed to death, and LGBT activist
Noxolo Nogwaza was raped and stoned before being stabbed to death.
Zanele Muholi, community relations director of a lesbian rights group, reports having recorded 50 rape cases over the past decade involving black lesbians in townships, stating: "The problem is largely that of
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...
. The men who perpetrate such crimes
see rape as curative and as an attempt to show women their place in society."
In its 2019 annual report,
SOS Homophobie found that anti-lesbian violence increased 42 percent in France in 2018, with 365 attacks reported.
Lesbian erasure
Lesbian erasure references the process of ignoring or discarding the history and problems of lesbians. The term demonstrates the ways in which the contributions of notable lesbian women are diminished by making their lesbianism no longer a part of their story; some examples being
Stormé DeLarverie,
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...
, or
Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...
.
Erotic plasticity and lesbianism
Some suggest that the notion of female
erotic plasticity is wishful thinking on the part of men who want to have sex with lesbians, and should be criticized for not being objective; while some hypothesize that lesbian relationships exist because of male sexual desires, and that females are more
sexually fluid.
See also
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Corrective rape
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Compulsory heterosexuality
Compulsory heterosexuality, often shortened to comphet, is the theory that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced upon people by a patriarchal, allonormative, and heteronormative society. The term was popularized by Adrienne Rich in her 1980 ...
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Heterosexism
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History of lesbianism
Lesbianism is the sexual and romantic desire between women. There are historically fewer mentions of lesbianism than male homosexuality, due to many historical writings and records focusing primarily on men.
Antiquity
Ancient Mesopotamia
...
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Lesbianism in erotica
Lesbian erotica deals with depictions in the visual arts of lesbianism, which is the expression of female-on-female sexuality. Lesbianism has been a theme in erotic art since at least the time of ancient Rome, and many regard depictions of les ...
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Sapphobia
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Societal attitudes toward homosexuality
Societal attitudes toward homosexuality vary greatly across different cultures and historical periods, as do attitudes toward sexual desire, activity and relationships in general. All cultures have their own values regarding appropriate and i ...
*
Violence against LGBT people
LGBTQ people frequently experience violence directed toward their human sexuality, sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws LGBTQ rights by country or territory, prescribing punishm ...
References
Further reading
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External links
Lesbophobiadefinition by the
European Institute for Gender Equality
''Violence against lesbians: education, research, public campaigns'' (Project Number: 2000-021-W) DAPHNE project.
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
, 2000.
''Violence Against Lesbians: Education – Research – Public Relation'' (Final Report) DAPHNE Programme.
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
, 31 December 2001.
''Lesbians visibility and lesbophobia in France''.
SOS Homophobie, 2014.
''Breaking the Silence: Criminalisation of Lesbians and Bisexual Women and its Impacts'' Human Dignity Trust, May 2016.
''In Some Countries, Being Gay Or Lesbian Can Land You In Prison...Or Worse'' Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
, 2020.
{{Authority control
Feminist terminology
Homophobia
Lesbian history
Lesbianism
Misogyny
Prejudice and discrimination by type
Sexism
Violence against women
LGBTQ and society
Anti-LGBTQ sentiment
Discrimination against LGBTQ people