“My spouse is not just my ‘friend'”, “It’s not a ‘phase'”, “When we kiss in the street, it’s not supposed to be exciting or shocking”. Here are some examples of testimonials from women of sexual diversity that can be found on the visibilitelesbienne.ca site, since the launch of the “Invisibiliser, c’est discriminant” campaign at the beginning of April.
Indeed, even in 2022, women of sexual diversity still sometimes struggle to find their place within the LGBTQIA2S+ movement, society and sometimes even their own lives.
To be at the crossroads
Internationally, April 26 is Lesbian Visibility Day (JVL), which Quebec is celebrating on April 23 this year. Never heard of it before this year? Not so surprising. Born 40 years ago this year in Quebec and celebrated internationally for several years, this day has not received the same attention from the general public as other thematic days. There is already an International Women’s Rights Day and a Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, so why a specific day for lesbians?
In short: because they are at the crossroads of oppressions based on gender — sexism and misogyny — and on sexual orientation, or homophobia. At this intersection, women of sexual diversity face many prejudices fueled by a dominant culture that still too often offers a negative image — eroticized, diminished, hidden — of their reality.
This specific discrimination is called lesbophobia. It affects all women who love women because of their sexual orientation, ie lesbians, bisexual, pansexual and gay women in a lesbian relationship, or people perceived as lesbians by society. Lesbophobia manifests itself in negative attitudes, contempt, rejection or hatred towards lesbian populations and can even lead to acts of intimidation or violence.
Internalized lesbophobia
Even within LGBTQIA2S+ struggles, the realities of sexually diverse women are rarely brought to the fore. For example, if you think of gay marriage, gay pride, and gay games, do many images of women come to mind? The answer is simple, it’s no! Because society, and therefore the media, tend to put forward certain representations of homosexuality more than others and tend to obscure women of sexual diversity, like women in general.
We also note that certain nomenclatures used, such as “LGBTQIA2S+” and “queer”, conceal the gendered dimension of the oppressions experienced by women. Indeed, addressing the issues of our communities as a whole directly contributes to making invisible the realities of women of sexual diversity and, by the same token, the inequalities between women and men within these communities.
Some people even avoid mentioning terms associated with lesbianism to describe realities that specifically affect lesbians and lesbophobia, because these words are considered “ugly” or directly associated with negative representations. This obviously contributes to the stigmatization of lesbians in society, but also to their perception of themselves.
Not being comfortable with this word — lesbian — which is avoided, and being able to count on very few models who openly appear in the public and media space, many women of sexual diversity delay even refuse to recognize themselves as such for fear of being judged and sometimes even abused.
Make visible
In addition to being too often overshadowed when it comes to talking about discrimination and prejudice, women of sexual diversity are often forgotten when it comes to highlighting their successes, their stories and their faces.
This is why, this year, to celebrate 40 years of struggles for lesbian visibility, we are leading the campaign “Invisibiliser, c’est discriminant” to invite the media and the general public to speak about lesbians and lesbophobia and to celebrate sexually diverse women.
Sexually diverse women are everywhere. They are diverse and they are strong, let’s give them the floor more often and dare to promote them in an authentic and positive way.