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Lesbian Bodies: Tribades , Tomboys and Tarts

Lesbian Bodies: Tribades , Tomboys and Tarts. Barbara Creed. On the Playground . . . . “woman” “gay” “tomboy” PSTD. “Normal Woman”.

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Lesbian Bodies: Tribades , Tomboys and Tarts

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  1. Lesbian Bodies:Tribades, Tomboys and Tarts Barbara Creed

  2. On the Playground . . . • “woman” • “gay” • “tomboy” • PSTD

  3. “Normal Woman” • Women are already threatening in the “normal” state (p. 112, top):“Unlike the male body, the proper female body is penetrable, changes shape, swells, gives birth, contracts, lactates, bleeds. Woman’s body reminds man of his ‘debt to nature’ and as such threatens to collapse the boundary between human and animal, civilized and uncivilized (Kristeva 1982: 102). Bakhtin argued that the essentially grotesque body was that of the pregnant, birth-giving woman (1984: 339). When man is rendered grotesque, his body is usually feminized (Creed 1993; 122); it is penetrated, changes shape, swells, bleeds, is cut open, grows hair and fangs. Insofar as woman’s body signifies the human potential to return to a more primitive state of being, her image is accordingly manipulated, shaped, altered, stereotyped to point to the dangers that threaten civilization from all sides” (112).

  4. Variations • Animalistic • Earth Mother • Witch (forest gatherings) • Garden / snake

  5. “There are at least three stereotypes of the lesbian body which are so threatening they cannot easily be applied to the body of non-lesbian” (112).

  6. Lesbian body as1)masculinized2) animalistic3)narcissistic

  7. 1) Lesbian body as active and masculinized Tomboy, Tribade, Butch

  8. Tomboy • Image of the “tomboy” • “Feminine sexuality is put into crisis and finally recuperated into the dominant patriarchal order . . . “ (112). • Likened to Freud’s notions (116-117).

  9. Freud’s Ideas (20th Century) • 1) 2 sexes, but one is castrated (the female) • 2) Penis Envy • 3) Rivaling the Father • 4) Inferior Orgasm • 5) Masturbation and Lesbianism

  10. Contrast: the One-Sex Model(believed for 2,000 years) • Woman is man, but an inferior model (the genitals fail to grow outside of the body) • Female reproductive/sex organs have no names. • Ovaries are “female testes,” vagina is inverted penis. • Vagina has no name before 1700 and clitoris is not part of the model.

  11. In Both Models • Women and their sexuality are defined in relationship to male sexuality, which is the superior norm. • Therefore, lesbians are likened to males, rather than having their own sexuality.

  12. Tribades • Tribade: Woman who assumes a male role in sex with another woman (rubbing genitals). • Large enough clitoris: Deemed a “man” and could take on that power that gets assigned to people with penises. • Oversized or regular clitoris: Deemed a “woman” with oversized clitoris (burned at stake or clitoridectomy) • Large clitoris bad, large penis good (otherwise perceived threat to social order) • Early 20th Century: Masturbation thought to enlarge clitoris and cause women to become lesbians

  13. Invention of “Homosexuality” and “Heterosexuality” (mid-19th C) • Notion that there are two sexualities/lifestyles: (one is thought to be an inversion of the other)

  14. Queer Theory (late 20th C-pres) • Notion that there are many sexualities (many genders, sexual identities, etc.) • “gender queer” – not conforming to heteronormative society.

  15. How far have we come? • Freud was the first to imply a connection between the biological and psychological. • At the same time (20th Century), theory of devolution (men were evolving but all women and some men were devolving into animals). • Feminists in the mid and late 20th Century are first to imply connection between the biological and the cultural (power structures) • Queer theory (1990’s) proposes that sexuality is diverse and not binary or LGBT. • But most people are still using the 19th Century model of homosexual vs. heterosexual. • Unfortunately, technologies are reinforcing these gender norms--e.g., surgery to make the clitoris (and other organs) smaller.

  16. 2) Lesbian body as animalistic

  17. Homosexuality compared to “animal sex.” (Physiologus, First Century A.D.) • Even animal sex wasn’t understood very well (see beliefs about animal sex). • On one hand, likened to animals (“what will be next—sex with animals?”) • On the other hand, the argument that “animals don’t have sex that way, so it’s not natural.” • Animals represent that which is “natural” and that which is depraved or inferior to humans at the same time, as do women. • BTW: Homosexual sex is common among many animal species (e.g., dolphins, apes), but since when does animal sex become the norm for human sex?

  18. 3) Lesbian body as narcissistic

  19. Image of Narcissistic Lesbian • Models • Femmes (vs. Butch) • Vampires • Movie Characters(Single White Female, Body Double) • Magnifies the existing idea that the “normal” woman is self-obsessed

  20. QUESTIONS?

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