Psychology Wiki

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline


Lesbophobia (sometimes Lesbiphobia) is not a phobia in the clinical sense but a form of prejudice which comprises various forms of negativity toward lesbian women as individuals, as a couple or as a social group. Based on the categories of sex or biological gender, sexual orientation, lesbian identity, and gender expression, this negativity encompasses prejudice, discrimination, and abuse in addition to attitudes and feelings ranging from disdain to hostility. As such, lesbophobia is sexism against women that intersects with homophobia and vice-versa. Cynthia Petersen, a professor of law at University of Ottawa, has defined lesbophobia as also including "the fear that women have of loving other women, as well as the fear that men (including gay men) have of women not loving them."[1]

Related terminology[]

While some people use only the more general term homophobia to describe this sort of prejudice or behavior, others believe that the terms homosexual and homophobia do not adequately reflect the specific concerns of lesbians. In particular, some lesbians argue that they experience the double discrimination of both classic homophobia and sexism.[2] Similarly, bisexual women may prefer to use the term biphobia to refer to prejudice or abuse that they encounter which is based on their bisexual identity or behaviour, as people who identify as transgender often prefer to use the word transphobia.[How to reference and link to summary or text]

Extent of lesbophobia[]

The idea that lesbians are dangerous, while heterosexual interactions are natural, normal and spontaneous is a common example of beliefs which are lesbophobic. Like homophobia, this belief is classed as heteronormative, as it assumes that heterosexuality is dominant, presumed and normal, and that other sexual or relationship arrangements are abnormal and unnatural.[3] A stereotype that has been identified as lesbophobic is that female athletes are always or predominantly lesbians.[4][5] Lesbians encounter lesbophobic attitudes not only in straight men and women, but from gay men as well.[6] Lesbophobia in gay men is regarded as manifest in the perceived subordination of lesbian issues in the campaign for gay rights.[7]

Lesbophobic violence[]

Lesbophobia is sometimes demonstrated through crimes of violence, including rape and even murder. In South Africa, Sizakele Sigasa, a lesbian activist living in Soweto, and her partner Salome Masooa were raped, tortured, and murdered in July 2007 in an attack that South African lesbian-gay rights organizations, including the umbrella-group Joint Working Group, said were driven by lesbophobia. Two other rape/murders of lesbians occurred in South Africa earlier in summer 2007: Simangele Nhlapo, member of an HIV-positive support group, as well as her two-year-old daughter were raped and murdered in June; and Madoe Mafubedu, aged 16, was raped and stabbed to death. In 2006, Zoliswa Nkonyana, aged 19, was killed for being openly lesbian by about 20 young men in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha, who clubbed and kicked her to death. Eudy Simelane, the Banyana Banyana soccer player was also raped and killed in South Africa. Zanele Muholi, community relations director of a lesbian rights group, reports having recorded 50 rape cases over the past decade involving black lesbians in townships, stating, "The problem is largely that of patriarchy. The men who perpetrate such crimes see rape as curative and as an attempt to show women their place in society."[8][9]

See also[]

References[]

  1. Petersen, Cynthia. (1994) "Living Dangerously: Speaking Lesbian, Teaching Law." Canadian Journal of Women & the Law 7(2).
  2. What is “Lesbophobia”?. ILGA. URL accessed on 2007-08-07.
  3. Jillian Todd Weiss, "The Gender Caste System - Identity, Privacy, and Heteronormativity" 10 Law & Sexuality 123 (Tulane Law School, 2001)
  4. Peper, Karen, "Female athlete=Lesbian: a complex myth constructed from gender role expectations and lesbiphobia", Queer words, queer images: communications and the construction of homosexuality, pages 193-208 (New York University Press, 1994)
  5. Darcy Plymire and Pamela Forman, "Breaking the Silence: Lesbian Fans, the Internet, and the Sexual Politics of Women's Sport", International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, pages 1566-1768 (Springer Netherlands, April 2000)
  6. Megan Radclyffe, Lesbophobia!: Gay Men and Misogyny (Continuum, October 2005)
  7. Kristen Raizada, "An Interview with the Guerrilla Girls, Dyke Action Machine (DAM!), and the Toxic Titties", NWSA Journal, pages 39-58 (Volume 19, Number 1, Spring 2007)
  8. Bridgland, Fred. (2007-07-14). "Lesbian couple killed in execution-style murder: Hate crimes increase despite equal rights law." Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland). Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
  9. Cogswell, Kelly Jean. (2007-07-26). "Cut It Off — And Stop AIDS." Gay City News. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
Discrimination
Brain animated color nevit

General forms

Specific forms
Social
Homophobia · Transphobia
Ableism · Sizeism · Adultism
Misogyny · Misandry · Lookism
Gerontophobia · Classism · Elitism

Manifestations
Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching
Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups
Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom
Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war
Religious persecution · Gay bashing
Pedophobia · Ephebiphobia

Movements
Discriminatory
Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism
Kahanism
Anti-discriminatory
Abolitionism · Civil rights · Gay rights
Women's/Universal suffrage · Men's rights
Children's rights · Youth rights
Disability rights · Inclusion
Social model of disability · Autistic rights

Policies
Discriminatory
Segregation: Racial/Ethnic/Religious/Sexual
Apartheid · Redlining · Internment
Anti-discriminatory
Emancipation · Civil rights · Desegregation
Integration · Reservation · Reparations
Affirmative action · Racial quota

Law
Discriminatory
Anti-miscegenation · Anti-immigration
Alien and Sedition Acts · Nuremberg Laws
Jim Crow laws · Black codes · Apartheid laws
Anti-discriminatory
List of anti-discrimination acts

Other forms
Nepotism · Cronyism
Colorism · Linguicism
Ethnocentrism · Triumphalism
Adultcentrism · Isolationism
Economic discrimination

Related topics
Prejudice · Supremacism · Intolerance
Tolerance · Diversity · Multiculturalism
Political correctness · Reverse discrimination
Eugenics · Racialism

br:Lesbofobiezh el:Λεσβοφοβία es:Lesbofobia fr:Lesbophobie