Violence against black lesbians: Minding our language

Hames, Mary

doi:10.1080/10130950.2011.631774

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…3. Also problematically termed 'corrective rape' (see Hames, 2011), such targeted violence is increasingly also documented in peri-urban and rural areas and recognised as also being committed against black transgender persons and gay men (Lee et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender outlaws or a slow bending of norms? South African bisexual women’s treatment of gender binaries

Lynch

Maree

2017

Feminist Theory

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A monosexual configuration of sexuality assumes that sexual desire is directed at either men or women. Bisexuality resists a choice between oppositional categories and is often theorised as having a transgressive potential to destabilise binary logic, not only in relation to sexuality but also to gender. There is, however, a lack of empirical work exploring how this potential might be realised in the accounts of bisexual individuals. Drawing on interviews with South African bisexual women, we use a narrative-discursive lens to examine the discursive resources employed by participants to trouble or resist hetero-gendered norms. Our findings demonstrate how resistance to the gender binary hinges on citational politics that are fundamentally gendered and linked to sexuality. Instead of entirely destabilising hetero-gendered norms, participants draw on gendered scripts that simultaneously expand norms to accommodate their sexual difference and, through processes of othering, function to reiterate hetero-gendered norms. While complete subversion of gender binaries is not possible in participants' discursive contexts, what does occur is a 'slow bending' of norms. Theorising bisexuality as transgressing oppositional categories closes off opportunities to interrogate the pervasive influence of gender binaries in contexts that remain marked by pervasive heteronormativity and heterosexism. Significantly, it also obscures more modest improvisations of gender scripts that hold potential for destabilising gender binaries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender outlaws or a slow bending of norms? South African bisexual women’s treatment of gender binaries

Lynch

Maree

2017

Feminist Theory

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“…As such, the enactment of sexual violence and homophobic rape of black lesbian women represent forms of discipline and social control of black lesbian sexuality. These enactments are embedded within justificatory (Tamale, 2014) and pathologising (Hames, 2011) cultural narratives that reflect the continued subjectification and objectification of black women. Public discourse constructs black lesbian women as being deviant, due to their perceived gender and sexual nonconformity (Morrissey, 2013).…”

Section: Contexualising and Historicising Black Lesbian Citizenship Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Public discourse constructs black lesbian women as being deviant, due to their perceived gender and sexual nonconformity (Morrissey, 2013). The continued use of the discourse of “corrective” rape (as opposed to homophobic rape) in communities, media reports and scholarly articles serves to legitimise the practice (Hames, 2011). Furthermore, the sensationalist nature of media focus on crimes against black lesbian women (Hames, 2011) reinforces the discourses of blackness and violence, and discursively constructs black lesbian women as disempowered, powerless victims (Morrissey, 2013).…”

Section: Contexualising and Historicising Black Lesbian Citizenship Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Black lesbian women in South Africa: Citizenship and the coloniality of power

Stephens

Boonzaier

2020

Feminism & Psychology

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Current conceptualisations of citizenship in South Africa are embedded in the egalitarian discourse of the Constitution, lauded for its recognition of historically marginalised groups, including sexually and gender diverse people. Within the paradox of progressive legal advancements and the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, we use a decolonial feminist lens to critically engage with the notion of citizenship for black lesbian women in contemporary South Africa. We adopt a social-psychological perspective of citizenship as an active practice, embedded within the dynamic intersections of historical, structural and discursive patterns of power-knowledge relations in everyday life. We draw from five focus group discussions that were part of a study that explored the intersections of identity, power and violence in the lives of black lesbian women in South Africa. Focusing on the enactments of citizenship in public spaces, we contend that black lesbian women’s lived experiences of citizenship point to the enduring manifestations of the coloniality of power, in which the centrality of race underpins the intersections of class, gender and sexuality. We conclude by arguing that current conceptualisations of full citizenship in contemporary South Africa require a reframing that recognises the coloniality of power and the heterogeneity of marginalised and invisibilised subjectivities.

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“…Part of the heteronormative assumptions is the belief that opposites attract within a binary sexed and gendered lens whereby only men and women exist and are attracted to each other (Kitzinger 2005a(Kitzinger , 2005b. Such a belief reinforces the prejudice and violence that characterises many practices of homophobia (Arfer and Eaton 2013;Arndt and De Bruin 2006;Hames 2011;Icard et al 2015;Lee and LaDousa 2015;Nduna and Mavhandu-Mudzusi 2015;Rich 1980;Schilt and Westbrook 2009). …”

Section: Theoretical Overview and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, these accounts must not sweep under the rug the ongoing practices and enactments of heteronormative cultures that exclude all gender non-conforming students. In a context such as South Africa, where homophobia often interfaces with other axis of race, class and gender (Hames 2007(Hames , 2011Mkhize, Bennett, Reddy and Moletsane 2010;Nduna and MavhanduMudzusi 2015), such critical emphasis on the forms of homophobia are important.…”

Section: Literature Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

'So I decided not to invade straight black men's space': exploring heteronormative spaces on campus

Kiguwa

Langa²

2017

SAJHE

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Challenging heteronormative spaces has been identified as one of the key difficulties facing the issue of destabilisation of deeply entrenched gendered and sexual practices and spaces within institutional contexts. In a university context, that includes a hegemonic masculine student residence culture; this may be even more challenging and disrupting to how one mediates social and academic space. Challenging includes awareness of how one may be able to challenge, as well as moments when one is not able to challenge. Strategies of resistance may be adopted that further reinforce gay male students' participation in academic space. Through qualitative analysis of a group of gay male students living in residence at a South African university, we explore these students' movement through different spaces on campus within the residences. Using performative theory and the concept of hegemonic masculinity, the findings highlight sexuality's intersection with other identities both in the experience of and resistance to victimisation.

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Violence against black lesbians: Minding our language

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Gender outlaws or a slow bending of norms? South African bisexual women’s treatment of gender binaries

Gender outlaws or a slow bending of norms? South African bisexual women’s treatment of gender binaries

Black lesbian women in South Africa: Citizenship and the coloniality of power

'So I decided not to invade straight black men's space': exploring heteronormative spaces on campus

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