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Redefining the Self

Laura Markowe
€23.99
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A01=Laura Markowe
Author_Laura Markowe
backdrop
basis
book
Category=JBSJ
Category=JMS
consider
divisions
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
experiences
firmly
freeze gender
heterosexist
heterosexual
identify
identities
identity
individuals
interviews
lesbian
questions
sexual
society
stresses
tends
themselves
way
women

Product details

  • ISBN 9780745611297
  • Weight: 340g
  • Dimensions: 154 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 15 Jul 1996
  • Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description
What experiences do women have when they come to identify themselves as lesbian? What happens when they consider telling family and friends about their sexual identity? This book examines these questions on the basis of interviews with individuals and other source materials. Coming out can only be understood, the author stresses, against the backdrop of a firmly heterosexist society. The dominant heterosexual culture tends to freeze gender divisions in such a way as to polarize sexual identities.


The author focuses more upon the isolated lesbian, rather than upon political lesbianism. Coming out is seen to be a complex and emotional process, but one that is potentially highly rewarding. Lesbians, Markowe shows, have to struggle with both their 'invisibility' in the predominantly heterosexual culture, but also with perceptions of threat and abnormality. Coming out to family and heterosexual friends involves risks and benefits. Case studies of lesbian women are discussed in the context of the threat to, and reconstruction of, identity which the coming-out process presumes.


This book will be of interest to second year undergraduates and above working in the fields of women's studies, social psychology and the psychology or sociology of gender.
About Laura Markowe
Laura Markowe is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Care, South Bank University.

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