by Gill Valentine
page 1-9
This paper provides an introduction to this volume by outlining the emergence of lesbian geographies and the contribution they have made to understanding the mutual constitution of sexuality and space. It begins by tracing the development of these geographies from initial studies which aimed to map lesbian neighbourhoods to later work which has drawn on theorists such as Judith Butler, to explore the production and regulation of heterosexual space. It then goes on to situate the papers included in this volume within this literature by outlining their contents and the themes which crosscut them.
by Sarah A. Elwood
elwo0005@maroon.tc.umn.edu
page 11-27
This paper is an exploration of lesbian living spaces, focusing on the diverse experiences and meanings of home and neighborhood in lesbian communities. These issues are developed from interviews conducted with lesbians in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Lesbian communities are heterogeneous, made up of individuals who might share a common sexual identity. The lesbian living spaces have multiple meanings for the individuals and communities who create and live in them. In so far as these spaces of sites of identity formation and spaces in which some lesbians contest dominant cultural norms, they are places of liberation. But because they are sometimes simultaneous places where lesbians encounter harassment and discrimination, they are places of oppression. I will argue that these contradictory meanings make it impossible to define these living spaces as absolutely 'public' or 'private' spaces.
by Jenny Lo and Theresa Healy
page 29-44
The city of Vancouver has two overtly identified gay and lesbian areas: West-end, primarily perceived to be associated with men, and East-end, mostly identified with lesbians; thus, where the genderization of space and the sexaulization of space and the sexualization of space coverage, the urban lesbian and gay landscape if often gendered by spatial association. In reality, however, lesbian and gay enclaves exist outside these more popular locations and beyond the city peripheries and these two specific locations are not as neatly ordered as their mythical simplicity might suggest. This research explores the construction of lesbian spaces in metro Vancouver through extensive research which began during summer 1996, and the perceptions and expectations of lesbians living in both the East-end and the West-end of Vancouver will be examined. This introductory paper provides a discussion on the opposing views of lesbians in Vancouver expressed in the survey which explode commonly held myths and stereotypes of lesbians in the East-end and the West-end. In essence, lesbian residents hold opinions of the lesbians residing in the "other" community which have political and ideological implications.
by Celeste Wincapaw
celeste.wincapaw@bccewh.bc.ca
page 45-59
The lesbian and bisexual women's electronic mailing list of the Internet have created electronic lesbian and bisexual spaces which simultaneously reflect and yet differ from real-time lesbian spaces. This paper summarizes data collected in a 1995-96 survey in which over 100 subscribers of the lesbian and bisexaul women's mailing lists answered both qualitative and quantitative questions about the interface between their on-line and real-time lives. As is reported in the paper, many of the survey respondents sought lesbian and bisexual on-line spaces where they could avoid men and heterosexuals but, in order to do so, had to negotiate the sometimes-difficult terrain of electronic co-existence with a diverse group of lesbians and/or bisexuals. This diversity caused difficulties for some survey respondents which mirrored many of the difficulties of their real-time lives. Yet, the impetus was also planted for the development of identity-specific electronic mailing lists where like-minded lesbians and/or bisexuals could enjoy affirming communication and interaction.
by Ali Grant
ali@lightspeed.bc.ca
page 61-80
The regulatory fictions of sex and gender have been implicated in the maintenance of a compulsory heterosexual order and gender hierarchy. Through a consideration of particular geographies of oppression and resistance - local white feminist anti-violence activism - this paper illustrates some of the concrete manifestations of the deployment of these fictions in the regulation of gendered performances. By presenting certain aspects of political activism as 'UnWomanly Acts,' it is suggested that the frequent marginalization and displacement of politicized lesbians and other transgressive females in specific locations reduces the potential of these sites of resistance, whilst simultaneously shoring up the regulatory power of the terms lesbian and woman. The paper hopes to add to projects of re-assessment and re-alignment current in anti-oppression struggles, by reaffirming the threat that multiple lesbian identities continue to pose to heterosexual hegemony across space.
by Gill Valentine
G.Valentine@sheffield.ac.uk
page 81-112
by Cyndra MacDowall
page 113-124
The following photo/text work is an extract from a much larger installation of photographs and text. The photographs have a modified generic quality: colour landscapes and self-portraits in tourist sites across America, the images similar to postcards or amateur tourist/family photographs. The stories, by contrast, are grounded in an individual specificity of response to the sites and events of the trip to function as allegorical anecdotes. The work conjoins a personal, lesbian and poetic narrative with familiar and potentially mundane images. The format of the tourist plaque is an appropriation of the trope of 'official' authority that uses such markers to direct and define what is currently and historically significant.
The work explores questions of: the ambiguity of identity through association, lesbian invisibility, cross gender play, homo/lesbo eroticism, women's access to and ownership of public space, the imaginary of the 'road trip,' landscape in photography, the documentary function of photography, photographic history, heterosexual assumption, etc. The work constructs a lesbian cognitive map of space, place, memory and history. The work (initially) appears simple in presenting familiar imagery with personal stories that explore theoretical ideas of lesbian subjecthood.
by Elizabeth Etthorre
page 127-143
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a series of feminist archetypes and expand this analysis to concentrate on lesbian interpretations of these archetypes. The related notions, spiritualities and myths are defined in order to contextualize feminist archetypes. It is contended that there is a difference between traditional, female archetypes and feminist ones. Four feminist archetypes which are relevant for lesbians are examined: Salamander, Dryad, Soothsayer and Virgin. All of these archetypes were originally envisaged by Mary Daly in her book Wickedary (with Jane Caputi).
by Karen M. Jordan and Robert H. Deluty
page 145-164
The present study investigated relations among lesbians' disclosure of their sexual orientation, positive and negative emotionality, and relationship satisfaction. The 305 respondents, who were currently in a committed relationship with one woman or seriously dating one woman, responded to a questionnaire assessing level of self-disclosure, sources of social support, self-esteem, positive affectivity, and anxiety. Women who more widely disclosed their sexual orientation expressed a greater degree of satisfaction with their relationships. Path analyses revealed that the discrepancy between partners' level of self-disclosure had a direct effect on relationship satisfaction, suggesting that the greater the discrepancy, the lower the relationship satisfaction. However, disclosure of sexual orientation had an indirect effect on relationship satisfaction, as it affected social support.
page 165-175