Sociologist Arlene Stein spoke on the multiplicity of lesbian identities last night to more than 50 students, professors and area residents gathered in Carpenter Hall.
Stein is the editor of the anthology "Sisters, Sexperts and Queers," and author of an upcoming book focusing on the lesbian identity and generational change, which was the topic of her speech. She is also a lecturer in sociology at the University of Essex in England.
In her speech, called "The Decentering of Lesbian Feminism," Stein discussed the findings of her survey of four lesbian women about their experiences over the last five decades.
Stein traced the evolution of lesbian identity over the last 50 years and said that because of these varied images, the current generation of lesbians lacks a collective identity.
"The differences among lesbians are as great as the differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals," Stein said. "There are a series of changes now shaking the belief that lesbianism is a stable sexual identity. It is difficult to speak of lesbian sexuality in singular terms. This constitutes the decentering of lesbianism."
Stein said the idea of decentering lesbianism is not new. It is "a gradual accumulation of knowledge over the past century. But never before have social identities, including lesbianism, been so much in flux."
In the 1950s, it was difficult for women to break out of the traditional mold of femininity, Stein said, but added that there was an unprecedented number of resources for those who declared their lesbianism.
But Stein said lesbians did not begin to publicly challenge heterosexuality as the natural sexual orientation until the 1970's.
"They challenged the belief that lesbianism was a matter of birth or biology. For the first time it ceased to be a matter of erotic choice and became a matter of choice," Stein said.
"The lesbian feminists placed a high premium on the ability to choose one's sexual identity ... and believed desires could be reshaped and resocialized," Stein continued.
Despite the societal progress made by the redefinition of lesbianism in the 1970s, the shifting identity led to problems of separation among lesbians, Stein said.
"Boundary definitions - Who is a lesbian? - became a very important preoccupation with lesbian women, and this led to a disruption in boundaries that continues today," Stein said. "But the disputes were overshadowed by a growing willingness to problematize lesbianism and to see lesbianism as a social construction."
Stein said lesbian women coming of age in the 1990s are more likely to report their first exposure to lesbianism was a very positive one, although it is still not easy for women to claim a lesbian identity.
"They have much more in the way of cultural resources and are no longer limited to medical texts and lesbian feminist literature," Stein said. "They are more likely to be exposed to lesbianism through popular culture although this leaves them reliant upon the whims of popular media."
But the abundance lesbianism images leaves today's generation of lesbians without a collective identity, she said.
"They are much more skeptical of any one image encapsulating what it means to be lesbian," Stein said.
Stein said the decentering of lesbianism is a positive trend, obliterating the constructed identities that are simultaneously enabling and restraining.
"An increasingly public identity and the new social forms it creates results in new forms of identification," Stein said. "It is exciting to imagine a future that will bring with it even more forms of identification."
The lecture was sponsored by the Edwin Carpenter Foundation.
