perceptions on identity, visibility and community among young lesbians in Amsterdam
- Categories
- Book/Boek
- Creator
- Heugten, Mirjam van
- Publish Year
- 2010
- Shelfmark
- Digitaal
- Thesaurus
- lesbische vrouwen, leeftijdsgroepen, seksualiteit, identiteit, samenlevingen, taal, Nederland, 21e eeuw, proefschrift
- Description
- 'This thesis will contribute to the efforts of gaining an insider’s perspective on the manner young lesbian women experience their sexuality in public, a sexuality that is rendered invisible in society at large. Research regarding visibility of homosexuality in Amsterdam has traditionally been linked with safety and acceptance issues (Politie en Wetenschap, 2006: Buijs, 2008: Keuzenkamp, 2010). Research that focused specifically on lesbian women has been investigating lesbian sex in public (Alberts, 2009), lesbian visibility and leisure (Fobear, 2010) or the psychosocial problematic of lesbians (Stichting Ondersteboven, 2010). However, the strategic of how lesbian women experience and negotiate this visibility through social interaction and physical attributes has been given meager attention. .This leads me to my main research question: How do lesbian women negotiate their sexual orientation in public space? .This question can be divided in three subjects: lesbian identity, visibility and community. Therefore, I am going to answer the following sub-questions: How do young lesbian women use categories of sexuality in order to define themselves? What is the importance of these categories? And how does language influence their self-definition? How do they present this sexual identity? How visible do they think they are? How visible are other lesbians to them and how does this visibility or invisibility influence their everyday life? Finally, I will ask how my respondents feel about belonging to lesbian community.'