Coming Out as a Lesbian in Johannesburg, South Africa: Considering Intersecting Identities and Social Spaces

Abstract

The process of coming out is important in trying to understand how a lesbian identity is shaped and re-negotiated within various social spaces in South Africa today. The article argues that it is vital to acknowledge the intersectionality of identities and social spaces in order to understand and conceptualise the coming-out process. The article raises the question how lesbian identities are formed over time and argues that the different stages of identity development are influenced by the individual's other overlapping identities, as well as certain spaces which either permit or prohibit the disclosure of her sexual identity. The study draws on data gathered through a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews with black and white lesbians, and it forms part of an ongoing conversation about the experiences of lesbian women in South Africa, by documenting the identity formation of several lesbian women living in and around Johannesburg.

Sociology as bridge over troubled waters: establishing a link between the principles of lesbian and gay studies and queer theory

“…Downs 2006: 76) themselves as gay men, with pride (cf. Cass 1984: 116;Smuts 2011). Problematic in such an approach, as Plummer concedes, is the fact that these phases and/or stages condone the homogenisation of homosexual experience.…”

“…Research has commented on the seeming 'invisibility' of lesbianism in mainstream heterosexual or homosexual culture and academia (Distiller 2005: 45;Dlamini 2006: 128;Fester 2006: 108;Gevisser 1995: 19;Kowen & Davis 2006: 80;Sanger & Clowes 2006: 38), due to the fact that women were not afforded the freedom of choice relating to sexual intercourse with their husbands or even other women, but found their experiences enmeshed in medical and/ or pathological models of inquiry or even initial exclusion from criminalisation because of their 'denied existence' (Sanger & Clowes 2006: 39). Some researchers focused on how lesbianism does not necessarily pose an immediate threat to heteronormativity, whilst others associated physical violence directed towards particularly black lesbians as an outgrowth of both patriarchal and traditional African culture (Kowen & Davis 2006;Muholi 2004: 118;Ochse 2011;Smuts 2011). These studies identified factors such as pathologisation, abandonment, corrective rape and accusations of witchcraft as impediments in accessing lesbian respondents for research objectives.…”

The role of selfreflexivity on the part of gay male academics on South African university campuses

“…Jackson and Scott (2010) and Smuts (2011), writing from British and South African perspectives respectively, caution an uncritical view of reflexivity as being only redeeming. One should consider the particular context in which one finds oneself which may necessitate the social (and sexual) actor to engage in a critical selfevaluation and efforts of "impression management" (Goffman 1971).…”

Editorial

“…This is attributed to the fact that they are required to constantly re-enter, re-emerge and re-create new closets based on the contextual allowances or restrictions with which they are confronted (Smuts 2011). Given contextual constraints, some may not be afforded the opportunity to access the necessary material or human resources which are important to master Cass's (1990) identity synthesis or Seidman's (2002: 75) so-called 'post-closeted gay sensibility'.…”