A qualitative study of sexual identity among bisexual and lesbian women in a lesbian-feminist community
Date
1993
Authors
Hurley, Kelevelyn Wynavere
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Abstract
Social constructionist theories of gender convincingly refute the biological-determinist causal etiology of "sex becomes gender" by examining the ways in which one's identity as female or male, masculine or feminine, is shaped by the processes of early socialization, ongoing social interaction, formal regulation, and ideological interpellation within the discourses of sexism and heterosexism.
Just as gender is socially constructed as a dichotomy within North American non-indigenous society, sexual orientation is also normatively restricted to two modes of identity and expression, namely heterosexuality and homosexuality/lesbianism (Williams, 1987). Despite Kinsey's findings that ambisexual behavior was reported by a significant proportion of women and men surveyed, the persistence of the belief that one's inner sexual core is either heterosexual or homosexual has contributed to the continuing marginalization of bisexuals in scientific research, as well within the heterosexual, lesbian-feminist, and gay communities. Despite pressures to conform to either compulsory heterosexuality or to an exclusively lesbian identity, however, bisexual self-identification amongst women persists. From a post-structuralist perspective, bisexuality appears to constitute a social phenomenon which simultaneously joins together and deconstructs dichotomized categories of sexual orientation.
The purpose of my research is to explore the inter-relationships between women's personal beliefs about the nature of sexual orientation, their involvement in a lesbian-feminist community, and their choices of sexual identity. Given both the sensitivity of this topic area and my interest in challenging those conditions which perpetuate sexual and other oppressions of women (and of men), I have chosen to utilize experiential, collaborative and action-oriented research methods which ground the data in these women's experiences. More specifically, I have created a data base consisting of eight in-depth interviews and a set of QSort questions with women who identify as either lesbian feminists or as bisexual feminists, and who participate in the lesbian-feminist community of the greater Victoria area.
The participants indicated that their choice to identify themselves as bisexual or lesbian was influenced by their placing particular interpretations on their sexual histories. The choice of sexual identity label was also influenced by the pressures of biphobia and radical feminist lesbian separatism within the lesbian-feminist community, as well as by the systemic homophobia, misogyny and heterosexism which organizes women's sexuality within the larger dominant culture. The constitution of being bisexual or lesbian involved a process of these women negotiating between their sexual feelings and behaviors and the range of external labels existent in the discourses of science, medicine, law, religion and lesbian-feminism. The results of this research support the dialectical perspective within social constructionism regarding the interaction between agency and social structures in the creation of a sexual identity.