Utilisateur:Léna/Saphisme

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In ancient times the metal copper was associated with the Roman goddess Venus because of its visual appeal. Copper's ancient alchemy symbol became a sign for both the goddess and the planet. It was later also used to represent the female in biology and popular culture. Here, it is doubled and twined in symbolic hues of lilac as a sign for lesbian.
In ancient times the metal copper was associated with the Roman goddess Venus because of its visual appeal. Copper's ancient alchemy symbol became a sign for both the goddess and the planet. It was later also used to represent the female in biology and popular culture. Here, it is doubled and twined in symbolic hues of lilac as a sign for lesbian.

A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women.[1][2] Women who are attracted to both women and men are more often referred to as bisexual. An individual's self-identification might not correspond with her behavior, and may be expressed with either, both, or neither of these words.

Sommaire

[modifier] Etymologie

[modifier] Lesbianisme comme orientation sexuelle

The word lesbian dates back at least to 1732 and lesbianism appears in the 1870 Oxford English Dictionary meaning sexual orientation rather than a reference to Sappho and inhabitants of Lesbos. Lesbian as an adjective is in the 1890 Oxford English Dictionary and as a noun by 1925. Until the early twentieth century lesbian was interchangeable with Sapphist.[3]

[modifier] Lesbianisme comme politique

Calling an historical figure a lesbian can be misleading. Women who have written about their affection for each other, along with spinsters who lived together for years, have often been viewed without much hint they had intimate relationships. With the coming of second wave feminism in the later 20th century a tendency to view all women in more or less heterosexual terms stirred a rebellion in which the definition of lesbian was challenged. Some groups widened the definition to mean any woman who didn't live a traditional heterosexual life.[4] In 1970 the Radicalesbians stated, "A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion."[5] In 1980 feminist writer and poet Adrienne Rich proposed a continuum of lesbian relationships ranging from sexual to platonic. Rich wrote that instead of genital or sexual relationships between women, lesbian can mean any woman who skirts a conventional married life and resists male tyranny. Rich suggested lesbian relationships can happen between women who live or work together, even within the same family.[6]

[modifier] Histoire

Sappho as depicted through a 2nd century CE Roman copy of an ancient Greek bust.
Sappho as depicted through a 2nd century CE Roman copy of an ancient Greek bust.

The earliest known written references to same-sex love between women are attributed to Sappho (the eponym of sapphism), who lived on the island of Lesbos in ancient Greece from about 625 to 570 BCE and wrote poems which apparently expressed her sexual attraction to other females. Modern scholarship has suggested a parallel between ancient Greek pederasty and the friendships Sappho formed with her students.[7][8] Lesbian relationships were also common among the Lacedaemonians of ancient Sparta. Plutarch wrote "love was so esteemed among them that girls also became the erotic objects of noble women."[9]

Accounts of lesbian relationships are found in poetry and stories from ancient China. Research by anthropologist Liza Dalby, based mostly on erotic poems exchanged between women, has suggested lesbian relationships were commonplace and socially accepted in Japan during the Heian Period. In medieval Arabia there were reports of relations between harem residents, although these were sometimes suppressed. For example Caliph Musa al-Hadi ordered the beheading of two girls who were surprised during lovemaking.[10] During the twelfth-century Etienne de Fougères derided lesbians in his Livre des manières (about CE 1170), likening them to hens behaving as roosters and reflecting a general tendency among religious and secular authorities in Europe to reject any notion women could be properly sexual without men.[11]

[modifier] Sexualité

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's 1893 painting In Bed
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's 1893 painting In Bed

Sexual activity between women is as diverse as sex between heterosexuals or gay men. Some women in same-sex relationships do not identify as lesbian, but as bisexual, queer, or another label. As with any interpersonal activity, sexual expression depends on the context of the relationship.

Recent cultural changes in Western and a few other societies have enabled lesbians to express their sexuality more freely, which has resulted in new studies on the nature of female sexuality. Research undertaken by the U.S. Government's National Center for Health Research in 2002 was released in a 2005 report called Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures: Men and Women 15-44 Years of Age, United States, 2002. The results indicated that among women aged 15-44, 4.4 percent reported having had a sexual experience with another woman during the previous 12 months. When women aged 15–44 were asked, "Have you ever had any sexual experience of any kind with another female?", 11 percent answered "yes".

There is a growing body of research and writing on lesbian sexuality, which has brought some debate about the control women have over their sexual lives, the fluidity of woman-to-woman sexuality, the redefinition of female sexual pleasure and the debunking of negative sexual stereotypes. One example of the latter is lesbian bed death, a term invented by sex researcher Pepper Schwartz to describe the supposedly inevitable diminution of sexual passion in long term lesbian relationships; this notion is rejected by many lesbians, who point out that passion tends to diminish in almost any relationship and many lesbian couples report happy and satisfying sex lives.

[modifier] Genres lesbiens

[modifier] Politique

See also National Center for Lesbian Rights, Category:Lesbian politicians and National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Image:Lesbian married couple.jpg
Same-sex married couple at San Francisco Pride 2004.

In Western societies, explicit prohibitions on women's homosexual behavior have been markedly weaker than those on men's homosexual behavior. During the 1990s, dozens of chapters of Lesbian Avengers were formed to press for lesbian visibility and rights. Same-sex marriage has now been legalized in Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and South Africa but it is still not permitted by many countries. In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state in the US to legalize same-sex marriages.[12]

In the United Kingdom, lesbianism has never been illegal. In contrast, sexual activity between males was not made legal in England and Wales until 1967. Lesbianism was left out of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885; a common anecdote stating that Queen Victoria did not believe sex between women was possible is likely apocryphal.[13] A 1921 proposal, put forward by Frederick Macquisten MP to criminalize lesbianism was rejected by the House of Lords; during the debate, Lord Birkenhead, the then Lord Chancellor argued that 999 women out of a thousand had "never even heard a whisper of these practices."[14] In 1928, the lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity in a highly publicized trial, not for any explicit sexual content but because it made an argument for acceptance.[15] Meanwhile other, less political novels with lesbian themes continued to circulate freely.[16]

Jewish religious teachings condemn male homosexual behavior but say little about lesbian behavior. However, the approach in the modern State of Israel, with its largely secular Jewish majority, does not outlaw or persecute gay sexual orientation; marriage between gay couples is not sanctioned but common law status and official adoption of a gay person's child by his or her partner have been approved in precedent court rulings (after numerous high court appeals). There is also an annual Gay parade, usually held in Tel-Aviv; in 2006, the "World Pride" parade was scheduled to be held in Jerusalem.

Western-style homosexuality is rarely tolerated elsewhere in the Muslim world, with the exception of Turkey where there are no laws or discriminative policies against lesbianism. It is punishable by imprisonment, lashings, or death in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Though the law against lesbianism in Iran has reportedly been revoked or eased, prohibition of male homosexuality remains.

[modifier] Homoparentalité

Many lesbian couples seek to have children through adoption, but this is not legal in every country.

In some countries access to assisted birth technologies by lesbians has been the subject of debate. In Australia the High Court rejected a ban on access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for lesbian and single women.[17][18] Immediately after this High Court decision, Prime Minister John Howard amended legislation in order to prevent access to IVF for these groups, effectively overruling the High Court decision and enforcing the Roman Catholic position, which raised indignation from the gay and lesbian community as well as groups representing the rights of single women.

[modifier] Parthenogenesis

Modèle:See also Parthenogenesis occurs naturally in some plant and insect species but not in mammals. However, scientists have created mice pups from two female mice. There is a possibility that with further research the same or similar procedure could allow two human females to be the genetic parents of the same child.[19] Additionally, parthenogenesis and cloning opens the prospect for any single individual, male or female to eventually be able to reproduce themselves.

[modifier] Féminisme lesbien

Many lesbians have been involved in women's rights. Late in the 19th century, the term Boston marriage was used to describe romantic unions between women living together, often while contributing to the suffrage movement. Lesbian feminism gained renewed popularity in North America and Western Europe during the "second wave" of the 1970s and early 1980s. By the end of the 1970s lesbian feminism was accepted as a field of study within academic institutions, although mostly as a branch of feminist disciplines. More recently, lesbian feminism has emerged as an expression of dissatisfaction with the 1970s era second wave feminist and gay liberation movements.[20]

Lesbian feminist texts have examined the influence of institutions such as patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism on gender and sexuality with mixed success, sometimes describing lesbianism as a rational result of alienation and dissatisfaction with these institutions. In her 1980 essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, Adrienne Rich characterized heterosexuality as a violent political institution making way for the "male right of physical, economical, and emotional access" to women. Other key thinkers and activists have included Rita Mae Brown, Audre Lorde, Marilyn Frye, Mary Daly and Sheila Jeffreys.

[modifier] Organisations lesbiennes

[modifier] Médias lesbiens

[modifier] Culture

Lesbians at a Paris gay pride parade.
Lesbians at a Paris gay pride parade.

Throughout history hundreds of lesbians have been well-known figures in the arts and culture.

Before the influence of European sexology emerged at the turn of the Twentieth Century, in cultural terms female homosexuality remained almost invisible as compared to male homosexuality, which was subject to the law and thus more regulated and reported by the press. However with the publication of works by sexologists like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Edward Carpenter, and Magnus Hirschfeld, the concept of active female homosexuality became better known.

As female homosexuality became more visible it was described as a medical condition. In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Sigmund Freud referred to female homosexuality as inversion or inverts and characterized female inverts as possessing male characteristics. Freud drew on the "third sex" ideas popularized by Magnus Hirschfeld and others. While Freud admitted he had not personally studied any such "aberrant" patients he placed a strong emphasis on psychological rather than biological causes. Freud's writings did not become well-known in English-speaking countries until the late 1920s.

This combination of sexology and psychoanalysis eventually had a lasting impact on the general tone of most lesbian cultural productions. A notable example is the 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, in which these sexologists are mentioned along with the term invert, which later fell out of favour in common usage. Freud's interpretation of lesbian behavior has since been rejected by most psychiatrists and scholars, although recent biological research has provided findings that may bolster a Hirschfeld-ian "third sex" interpretation of same-sex attraction.

Since the 1980s lesbians have been increasingly visible in mainstream cultural fields such as music (Melissa Etheridge, K.D. Lang and the Indigo Girls), television (Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, and Portia de Rossi), sports (Martina Navrátilová, Amélie Mauresmo, Lisa Raymond and Billie Jean King) and in comic books (Alison Bechdel and Diane DiMassa). More recently lesbian eroticism has flowered in fine art photography and the writing of authors such as Pat Califia, Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters and Stella Duffy. There is an increasing body of lesbian films such as Desert Hearts, Go Fish, Loving Annabelle, Watermelon Woman, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Everything Relative, and Better than Chocolate (see List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films). Classic novels such as those by Jane Rule, Vin Packer, Ann Aldrich, and Ann Bannon have been reprinted. Moreover, prominent and controversial academic writers such as Camille Paglia and Germaine Greer also identify with lesbianism.

[modifier] Femmes homosexuelles ou bisexuelles célèbres

Parmi les plus connues on peut citer :

[modifier] Bibliographie

  • Nicole Albert, Saphisme et décadence dans Paris fin-de-siècle, La Martinière, 2005.
  • Dorothy Allison, Peau : sexe, classe et littérature (1994), Balland « rayon gay », 1999.
  • Ti-Grace Atkinson, Odyssée d’une amazone, (Amazon Odyssey, Londres, 1974), Paris, des femmes, 1975.
  • Evelyn Blackwood et Saskia Wieringa (dir.), Female Desires : Same-Sex Relations and Transgender Practices Across Cultures, New York, Columbia University Press, 1999.
  • Marie-Jo Bonnet, Les Relations amoureuses entre les femmes du XVIe au XXe siècle, Paris, Odile Jacob, 1995.
  • Marie-Hélène Bourcier, Queer Zones, Politique des identités sexuelles, des représentations et des savoirs, Paris, Balland, 2001.
  • Judith Butler, Trouble dans le genre (Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Londres, Routledge, 1990), La Découverte, 2005.
  • Terry Castle, The Apparitional Lesbian. Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture, New York, Columbia University Press, 1993.
  • Line Chamberland, Mémoires lesbiennes, 1950-1972, Montréal, Remue-Ménage, 1996.
  • Natacha Chetcuti et Claire Michard (dir.), Lesbianisme et féminisme, histoires politiques, Paris, L’Harmattan « Bibliothèque du féminisme », 2003.
  • Teresa de Lauretis, The Practice of Love, Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire, Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1994.
  • Irène Demczuk (dir.), Des Droits à reconnaître, les lesbiennes face à la discrimination, Montréal, Remue-ménage, 1998.
  • Laura Doan (dir.), The Lesbian Postmodern, New York, Columbia University Press, 1994.
  • Didier Eribon (dir.), Dictionnaire des cultures gays et lesbiennes, Paris, Larousse, 2003.
  • Lillian Faderman, Surpassing the Love of Men. Romantic Friendship and Love between Women from the Renaissance to the Present, Londres, Junction Book, 1981, New York, William Morrow, 1991.
  • Eli Flory, Ces femmes qui aiment les femmes, enquête, L'Archipel, 2007.
  • Linda Garber, Identity Poetics, Race, Class, and the Lesbian-Feminist Roots of Queer Theory, New York, Columbia University Press, 2001
  • Colette Guillaumin, Sexe, race et pratique du pouvoir : l’idée de nature, Paris, Côté-femmes, 1992.
  • Judith Halberstam, Female Masculinity, Durham, Duke University Press, 1998.
  • Karla Jay et Joanne Glasgow (dir.), Lesbian Texts and Contexts : Radical Revisions, New York, New York University Press, 1990.
  • Elisabeth Lapovsky Kennedy et Madeleine D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold. The History of a Lesbian Community, New York, Penguin, 1993.
  • Christine Lemoine et Ingrid Renard (dir.), Attirances. Lesbiennes fems, lesbiennes butchs, Paris, éditions gaies et lesbiennes, 2001, 416 p.
  • Joan Nestle, (dir.), The Persistent Desire : A Femme-Butch Reader, Los Angeles, Alyson Publications, 1992.
  • Geneviève Pastre, De l’amour lesbien, Paris, Horay, 1980.
  • Anne Rambach et Marine Rambach, La Culture gay et lesbienne, Paris, Fayard, 2003.
  • Adrienne Rich, Blood, Bread and Poetry. Selected Prose, 1978-1985, New York, W. W. Norton, 1986.
  • Florence Tamagne, Histoire de l’homosexualité en Europe. Berlin, Londres, Paris, 1919-1939, Paris, Seuil « l’univers historique », 2000.
  • Suzette Triton et Marie-Hélène Bourcier (dir.), Parce que les lesbiennes ne sont pas des femmes, autour de l’œuvre de Monique Wittig, Paris, éditions gaies et lesbiennes, 2002.
  • Monique Wittig, La Pensée straight (The Straight Mind and Other Essays, Boston, Beacon Press, 1992), Paris, Balland, 2001.
  • Bonnie Zimmerman et Toni A. McNaron (dir.), The New Lesbian Studies : Into the Twenty-First Century, New York, Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1996.

[modifier] Liens internes