Comparing conceptions of gender, sexuality and lesbian identity between baby boomers and millennials

Bibliographic Data

ID21129604
AuthorsElla Ben Hagai (0000-0003-0088-9594, California State University, Fullerton, California, USA, corresponding author), Rachelle Annechino (0000-0002-2436-3178, Critical Public Health Research Group at Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, California, USA), Tamar M J Antin (0000-0002-2490-419X, Prevention Group), Tamar Antin (Critical Public Health Research Group at Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, California, USA)
Year2022
Volume26
Issue3
Pages216-234
Publication date2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Lesbian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1089-4160 • E-ISSN: 1540-3548
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10894160.2021.1972915
PMID34491875
OpenAlexW3198287414
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited18

To answer this special issue provocation, Is Lesbian Identity Obsolete? we analyzed interviews with people who had identified at some point in their lives as lesbians, or as women/femmes who were attracted to women - some of them part of the Baby Boomer generation and some part of the Millennial generation. Participants from both generations rejected the gender binary. Nevertheless, we found a shift away from understanding gender as an oppressive category to an understanding of gender as a proliferating identity in which one may play with gender in an intentional and creative manner. It appears that participants across generations articulated their sexual identities strategically to express not only a sexual orientation but more importantly political and community alliances. For Baby Boomer lesbians, lesbian identity connoted an alliance with feminism, and for Millennials their sexual identity indicated a political alliance with queer and trans* movements. In order to sustain solidarity between lesbians of different generations, we suggest that narratives about gender should include both intrinsic and extrinsic components. We further suggest that the political project of ending the oppression of all lesbians/women who love women is fraught, but essential in a world that hates women

Aesthetics · Alliance · Baby boomers · Closet · Feminism · Homosexuality · Human sexuality · Lesbian · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Queer · Sexual identity · Sexual orientation · Sociology · Transgender · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology

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