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INVERTED IMAGES |
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An investigation of the lesbian identity through visual and cultural representation |
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Introduction Michel Foucault, the French philosopher and sociologist, proposed that the category of homosexuality ‘grew out of a particular context in the 1870s and that, like sexuality generally, it must be viewed as a constructed category of knowledge rather than as a discovered identity’ (Spargo, 2000, p.17). It is my intention to investigate the social construction of the lesbian identity, through an examination of the representation of lesbian women in painting, writing, photography and cultural references from the late 1800s until the present day, with particular reference to how this construction was influenced by Havelock Ellis’s categorization of lesbians as congenital inverts. Havelock Ellis’s book, Sexual Inversion, was published in 1897 and defined homosexuality as ‘the sexual instinct turned by inborn constitutional abnormality towards persons of the same sex’. He identified two categories of female invert which, together, formed a lesbian couple – the passive or ‘pseudo’ invert – Their faces may be plain or ill-made, but not seldom they possess good figures. … they are always womanly. One may perhaps say that they are the pick of the women whom the average man would pass by. And the active or ‘congenital’ invert The chief characteristic of the sexually inverted woman is a certain degree of masculinity. There is, however, a very pronounced tendency among sexually inverted women to adopt male attire when practicable. (www.campus.udayton.edu) The terms ‘romantic friendship’ and ‘New Woman’ are commonly used to describe women living together in the nineteenth century, some of whom may have been lesbians. In Chapter One, I look at these and how the euphemisms were replaced in the consciousness of the general public by Havelock Ellis’s definition of sexual inversion as a pathological condition. I also consider the far-reaching consequences of Radclyffe Hall’s belief in his theories. Lesbian pulp fiction in the 1950s and 60s proved to be very damaging to the concept of the lesbian identity with a combination of lurid sex scenes and a warning against the evils of lesbianism. Chapter Two is centred around this genre and an examination of Ann Bannon’s work shows how she was influenced by Havelock Ellis and Radclyffe Hall and was one of the key figures in providing role models for ‘butch’ and ‘femme’ working class lesbians. In the 1960s, two films were made which, for the first time, featured lesbian women as the central characters in mainstream cinema. In Chapter Three, I consider The Killing of Sister George and The Children’s Hour and how, in their different ways, their directors chose to reflect the underlying prejudices surrounding the lesbian identity, whilst also acknowledging changing cultural attitudes. |
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Chapter Four provides an overview into how lesbian women have represented themselves visually over the last hundred years. From the artists among the elitist New Women of the late eighteenth / early-nineteenth centuries to the photographers of the present day, many devices and metaphors have been used to explore, reject and subvert the concept of lesbian identity, all of which have influenced current societal perceptions. I acknowledge the large body of research into the political theories surrounding the lesbian identity but, for the purposes of this dissertation, will confine my observations to visual and cultural references. |
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