In the current rise of far right discourses, nationalism and anti-gender movements, lesbophobia is present now more than ever but it remains a phenomenon misunderstood, underestimated and often not even nominated. For this reason, in the past months, EL*C has taken action, collecting cases and data from all over Europe and Central Asia, consulting with all its members’ organisations and discussing with lesbians active in many different contexts.
The results of this work are now available in a new report that show how misogyny plays a fundamental role in lesbophobia and how lesbophobic hate crimes are used to silence, punish and oppress lesbians. Yet analysis, policies and legislation on gender-based violence and hate crime do not consider the specifities of lesbophobia and once again lesbian falls between the cracks. Long before this report, lesbians have been analysing and raising awareness on lesbophobia, because we were aware that not speaking about it will not make lesbophobia disappear, it will just make it stronger. Data and information are here, it is now time to listen and act.
Download the full report on lesbophobia here
[embeddoc url=”https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Lesbophobia-3.pdf”]
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About lesbian identities and intersectional oppressions
In the title of this report, we have decided to refer to lesbophobia as an “intersectional” form of violence, because it relates always to oppressions depending both on gender inequalities as well as to stigma against non-conforming sexual orientation. It is however important to note that intersectionality is a term coined and conceptualised by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989[a] and related originally to experience of oppression of black women, at the intersection between gender and race. Since then, intersectional analysis has been used, in different contexts, to identify and analyze forms of oppressions based on the interlocking of different social identities.
Therefore, we are aware that the experience of lesbophobia is not homogenous in our community. We want to put a focus on lesbophobia in this report while not forgetting that the levels of stigma multiply and intensify depending on other perceived or claimed social identities, such as ‘gender identity’, ‘race,’ ‘citizenship status’, ‘refugee/asylum seeker status’, ‘class,’ or ‘ableness.’ and others that a lesbian might embody. From this shared, but different, history of oppression we work to build a community and allyship capable of freeing every lesbians, even when our shackles are not the same[b].
[a] K. Crenshaw (1989) “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”, University of Chicago Legal Forum, Vol. 1989 Issue 1, Article 8.
[b] The reference here is to the phrase “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own” pronounced by Audre Lorde in the speech “THE USES OF ANGER: WOMEN RESPONDING TO RACISM”, keynote presentation at the 1981 National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Storrs, Connecticut
The EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community will present today the first ever research focusing on lesbian lives and realities in Europe, titled: The State of Lesbian Organizing and the Lived Realities of Lesbians in the EU and the Accession Countries.
This research comes at a time in which the awareness around the exclusion and invisibility of lesbians is growing, and as an increasing number of stakeholders express willingness to engage in a more meaningful way on advancing human rights and visibility of lesbians.
Yet, even though societies and movements in the EU, and to some extent the accession countries, have come a long way in advancing the rights of LGBTI persons and women’s rights, lesbians still face strong discrimination, violence and stigma. Lesbians are one of the most marginalized, vulnerable and invisible social groups, affected by patriarchal gender norms, misogyny, sexism and lesbophobia, which is still widespread throughout the EU and the accession countries.
The lack of capacities, strategic and sustained mobilization of the lesbian movement is hindering effective impact on national authorities, policy reform and decision-making, which is further exacerbated by lack of awareness, data, impact assessment and in some contexts, the political will of decision makers, which in turn results in lesbian-specific issues being unrecognized and absent from policy-making.
The work has been conducted from October 2019 to January 2020. Since the start of the research, the Coronavirus pandemic has re-shuffled the global list of priorities and exacerbating the already existing oppressions and violence experienced by minority groups, like people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTI and queer persons. The global crisis has affected lesbians as everyone else, but also in so many specific and intersectional ways.
This research is the starting point to fill the gaps. You will find in it an analysis of three main areas: the history of the European lesbian movements, existing data on lesbians, and the state of affairs of lesbian organizing.
The EL*C, would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing contribution of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, one of the main actors in Europe working to counter lesbian invisibility. The study that we were able to conduct during almost half a year was made possible thanks to its willingness, visionary political objectives and support.
Find the Short Version here after. A Full Version of this report will be available very soon:
[embeddoc url=”https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-State-of-Lesbian-Organising-1.pdf” download=”all” text=”Lesbian Organising and the Lived Realities”]
One of the tools of the EL*C that is aimed at empowering and informing lesbians* throughout Europe is this paper – EL*C Brief Report on Lesbian* Lives in (parts of) Europe Focus Topics: Discrimination and Health The EL*C Brief Report is meant to highlight recent empirical findings on lesbian* lives in Europe in an easy and accessible way for everyone. As there is scarce public data and research on the diverse experiences in all areas of lesbian* lives, our aim is to publish annual focus topics. For the launch report, the two focus topics are Discrimination and Health because of their various interrelations as well as their fundamental and positive impact on lesbians* lives when properly addressed by key stakeholders. In this line, the EL*C Brief Report is an ongoing project, that is meant to grow over the years with the contribution of researchers and activists alike. Please let us know (see our email address below) about any research endeavour that could contribute to the EL*C Brief Report and shed light on lesbian* lives.
Mail: info@lesbiangenius.org
DOWNLOAD: EL*C In
fographics Brief Report (web)
EL*C Infographics Brief Report Print Version? Request by E-Mail.
Thank You!
We thank the various people who have made this report possible: We thank all the lesbians* brave enough to share their experiences with the world and the researchers who dedicated their energy, time, and creativity to collecting and analyzing these experiences. We thank the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union for conducting the invaluable and unique EU LGBT survey and sharing their disaggregated data with everyone. We thank the EL*C Board-Members for providing their valuable feedback throughout all stages of drafting this report. We thank Mari-Liis Sepper from Transgender Europe and Kseniya Kirichenko from The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for providing their professional opinion on various aspects of this report. We thank Dovilė Alseikaitė and Helene Traxler for working their magic and sharing their incredible talent with us in designing this brochure and the corresponding infographics. We thank Katrin Gygax for her tremendous and professional proof-reading. We thank the participants of the first EL*C and the innumerable volunteers and local organization teams for making it a colourful, vibrant, empowering, and unique experience for everyone. Last but not least, we thank our partners, families, and friends for bringing love and joy into our lives.