III. Notes of a Feminist Lesbian during Wartime

Abstract

Being a lesbian during wartime strengthens interiorized homophobic fears, and the process of coming out becomes more difficult and many fears appear on the surface. The author wrote this article in order to express the dilemmas and questions she had during the war in the former Yugoslavia, which started in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991 and went on until 1996. The article poses a number of questions asked by a feminist lesbian living in Belgrade, Serbia, during the war. How was the war in the former Yugoslavia connected to the fears experienced by a lesbian? How did the war create lesbian solidarity and what did it mean for lesbians in the isolated regions?

Towards trans-feminist coalitions in the post-Yugoslav space: Building feminist radical solidarities

“…sought solidarity with feminists on the ground of gender identity and human rights, that is the right for sexual choice which echoed the predominant global lesbian feminist theories from the 1970s. The re-invisibilisation of lesbianity proved to be a particularly pertinent matter within the misogynous context of war which “creates a priority of survival needs” (Mlađenović, 2001, p. 384; see also Mlađenović, 2016; Mlađenović, 2001 Q2]) 4 and in which many lesbian feminists contributed to peace and engaged in solidarity with heterosexual women but were not visible as lesbians (Bilić, 2020). The struggle of lesbians to be accepted as ‘proper feminists’ within some feminist circles in the post-Yugoslav space is ongoing, while lesbian invisibility seems to get entangled with the trans-exclusionary option by way of the lesbian being advanced politically as a ‘proper’ woman's position against the trans one as an ‘improper’ one.…”

Feminist Security Studies in Europe: Beyond Western Academics’ Club

“…Feminists also focus on the questions of agency and activism during conflicts (Mladjenovic 2001); sexuality (Močnik 2017); transitional justice (Björkdahl and Selimovic 2015); R2P (Kolmasova and Krulisova 2019); gender in/and DDR and SSR (Duriesmith and Holmes 2019); peacebuilding (Partis-Jennings 2017); peacekeeping (Loftsdóttir and Björnsdóttir 2015); or post-conflict justice (Brown and Ní Aoláin 2015;O'Reilly 2018). Closely related to this are discussions on militarization and militarism (Grzebalska 2016(Grzebalska , 2021, hegemonic and military masculinities (Woodward and Duncanson 2017), or feminist perspectives of wartime memory sites (Reeves 2020).…”

La doble salida del closet de Simon Nkoli: ‘heterosexismo’ en las luchas anti-apartheid

“…La mayor cercanía de mujeres lesbianas con las luchas por la equidad de las mujeres en general y por trabajar en temas como atención a mujeres víctimas de violación o de violencia domesticas o en derechos sexuales y reproductivos en particular, fue mencionada con frecuencia por mujeres entrevistadas en esta investigación. Esto coincidiría con relatos de mujeres lesbianas durante la guerra en la antigua Yugoslavia, por ejemplo, que hablan de su mayor involucramiento en la atención de mujeres víctimas y menos en mantener movimientos en torno a la identidad sexual (Mladjenovic, 2001;Sagasta, 2001). En el caso de la activista mencionada antes, hoy gura relevante en la política Surafricana, su historia de vida da cuenta de una lucha constante por articular más bien las luchas por la liberación de las mujeres y las luchas anti-apartheid y no las luchas por derechos de gays y lesbianas y las luchas anti-apartheid, como en los casos anteriores.…”

“…El movimiento LGBT surafricano participó activamente en el desarrollo de las ideas de democracia, inclusión y ciudadanía que fueron necesarias en la transición del apartheid (Massoud, 2003). Su participación se hizo en una lógica y retórica 'positiva' de 'igualdad' y 'derechos'.…”