Voices from Silence? Reflections on 'Coming out' in Socialist Czechoslovakia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3645142
AutoresJaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková (0000-0003-4823-8934, Charles University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen68
Número13
Páginas2214-2233
Fecha de publicación2021-11-10
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2020.1804252
PMID32795217
OpenAlexW3049540438
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas14

The region of Central and Eastern Europe and oppressive social conditions in former socialist society often became symbols of the impossibility to articulate non-heterosexual identities under the conditions of a totalitarian regime. This study analyzes data from 19 in-depth interviews with people older than 50 living in the Czech Republic who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. It focuses on the ways in which their forced silence and inability to speak about their sexual desires resonated throughout their biographical narratives. The first part of this paper focuses on themes surrounding the absence of representations of non-heterosexual identities in socialist Czechoslovakia's public sphere and the impact of this absence on participants' perceptions of their own life experiences. The second part of the paper analyzes the ways in which participants relate to their own coming out and their reflections on their previous lives in relation to newfound opportunities to live outside of heterosexual norms. The paper strives to problematize the concept of "silence" as one of the defining features of this generation, in contrast with the concept of coming out as a sign of emancipation in younger generations

Aesthetics · Czech · Emancipation · Homosexuality · Impossibility · Lesbian · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Relation (database · Sign (mathematics · Silence · Sociology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law