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

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 gen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lesbian studies 2022, Vol.26 (3), p.216-234
Main Authors: Ben Hagai, Ella, Annechino, Rachelle, Antin, Tamar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Baby Boomers
Female
Feminism
Gays & lesbians
Gender
gender and sexuality
Gender Identity
generational differences
Homosexuality, Female
Humans
Lesbian
Lesbianism
Male
Millennials
nonbinary
Oppression
Political alliances
Queer
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Sexual Behavior
Sexual orientation
Sexuality
Women
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1089-4160
1540-3548
DOI:10.1080/10894160.2021.1972915