THE SEXUALITY AND GENDER RELATIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LESBIAN WOMEN’S AFFECTIVITY

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyze the interlocutors’ life path, in order to investigate about these women’s sexuality, supporting itself on gender issues and its traditional roles defined by means of heteronormativity. The present research was developed by literature review and in-depths interviews. On the other hand, the sample selected is composed of five lesbian women, who, in the majority, don’t perform femininity. It can be noticed that the “lesbian” word and their derivatives, utilized in a pejorative manner, firstly appear during the interlocutors’ childhood, always related to behaviors considered “masculine”. In other words, at this first moment, it can be noticed that being a lesbian says more about what you dress or what/whom you play with, than your sexuality. During adolescence the results indicate that different social contexts enable different self-affirmation and acception processes, as in the intercolutors’ cases from religious families, who found more difficulty in accepting themselves as lesbian women, oftentimes giving in to family pressure and resorting to compulsory heternormativity. Afterwards, it concludes that the lesbian who doesn’t perform femininity is important for the gender binarism deconstruction, since she shouldn’t be seen as a copy of the heterosexual man, but a new meaning of gender expression.