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Sep. 13th, 2007 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sebastienneI've been talking to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andustar_5 and the term "Lesbian".
Not so clearly defined as all that, actually. I was assuming, in my previous post, that it means "I identify as female and I am attracted to others who identify as female". But does it, necessarily? I'd be really interested to hear the perspectives of people for whom it means "I identify as female and I am attracted to people with breasts and vaginas" or even "I have breasts and a vagina and am attracted to others with breasts and a vagina". Certainly, a few comments in which I was unecessarily combative (for which I apologise) seem to have been drawn from this confusion.
There's some really interesting discussion of it here, with special reference to the way in which lesbian-identified people dating FtMs somewhat invalidates FtM maleness. Now I must admit that lesbian/FtM pairings, and the idea of FtM as a kind of hard butch, is not something that I have come across, although it seems a lot more common in the USA. I'd be really interested in any input from people with experience of this, as well.
But I've concluded - sometimes I'm attracted to people, and their actions and gestures and thoughts and expression. And while I may vaguely prefer the "feminine" to the "masculine" in some areas, this is a pretty gender-neutral area of my attraction.
And sometimes I'm attracted to breasts, and fleshy curves, and full lips and long hair. This tends to correlate with female-identification, but by no means always, and that's OK. I can love these things about you without forcing you to be something you're not!
All else being equal, though, I'll always go for the transgressor, the oppressed, the bottom half of the binary. Female not male. Alternative not mainstream. Exceptional not average. Genderfucking not gender-conforming. Etc. Which is really what my Lesbianism means to me. I am rejected by the Patriarchy/western society/capitalism/you name your lefty scourge, and am attracted to those who are similarly rejected.
Is it immensely wanky to end this with the question "what does your lesbianism mean to you?"? Actually, answer this whatever your orientation! Genitals? Gender? Is there unnecessary confusion because people use the same terms to mean different things?
andustar_5 and the term "Lesbian".Not so clearly defined as all that, actually. I was assuming, in my previous post, that it means "I identify as female and I am attracted to others who identify as female". But does it, necessarily? I'd be really interested to hear the perspectives of people for whom it means "I identify as female and I am attracted to people with breasts and vaginas" or even "I have breasts and a vagina and am attracted to others with breasts and a vagina". Certainly, a few comments in which I was unecessarily combative (for which I apologise) seem to have been drawn from this confusion.
There's some really interesting discussion of it here, with special reference to the way in which lesbian-identified people dating FtMs somewhat invalidates FtM maleness. Now I must admit that lesbian/FtM pairings, and the idea of FtM as a kind of hard butch, is not something that I have come across, although it seems a lot more common in the USA. I'd be really interested in any input from people with experience of this, as well.
But I've concluded - sometimes I'm attracted to people, and their actions and gestures and thoughts and expression. And while I may vaguely prefer the "feminine" to the "masculine" in some areas, this is a pretty gender-neutral area of my attraction.
And sometimes I'm attracted to breasts, and fleshy curves, and full lips and long hair. This tends to correlate with female-identification, but by no means always, and that's OK. I can love these things about you without forcing you to be something you're not!
All else being equal, though, I'll always go for the transgressor, the oppressed, the bottom half of the binary. Female not male. Alternative not mainstream. Exceptional not average. Genderfucking not gender-conforming. Etc. Which is really what my Lesbianism means to me. I am rejected by the Patriarchy/western society/capitalism/you name your lefty scourge, and am attracted to those who are similarly rejected.
Is it immensely wanky to end this with the question "what does your lesbianism mean to you?"? Actually, answer this whatever your orientation! Genitals? Gender? Is there unnecessary confusion because people use the same terms to mean different things?
