The lesbian community isn't actually the lesbian community

It was a pleasure and an honor to have Esther Newton in class with us last week. What most intrigued me was her essay titled Will the Real Lesbian Community Please Stand Up?. I do find it problematic that, what is seen as the lesbian community is middle class and white. Clearly, this is simply the most “visible” part of the entire lesbian community. They have the most political power and the resources to be visible since they are members of a dominant culture (racial or socioeconomic, or both).

In her essay, Newton goes into the reasons why the gay male community contains “subcultures” and the lesbian community is so monolithic. She talks about how diversity partly developed from repeated sexual contacts between gay men and the presence of bath houses and fuck bars (Newton 158). The absence of these unique social institutions in the lesbian community apparently contributed to the lack of intermingling between different sects of the lesbian community. This may or may not be true, but I know that the notion of bathhouses and fuck bars are very unappealing to me and I don’t think I am the only person within the lesbian community who thinks that. (This is not to say that it isn't for some people. I support their existence, it is just something I wouldn't do.)

I think that there is a fundamental difference between men and women. Women are socialized differently and, as Newton points out, enjoy coupling off. They, when developing, tend to play with one or two or three best friends whereas boys tend to hang out with big groups of friends. I think this contributes to the separation of communities within the lesbian community. Being friends with people who share similar lifestyles is comfortable and most people do not thrive on being put in uncomfortable situations. Carleton is a unique place in that respect. Students here like to push their social boundaries and learn things about different people, which is important and educational. The majority of the population, especially those in the dominant majority don’t like being uncomfortable.

This poses a problem when we are talking about inter class, race, age, etc. mixing. In theory, having one large all inclusive lesbian community would be ideal. It would be an amazing learning experience for all involved and would have the potential to strengthen the community as a whole. Practically, however, this seems implausible, especially because it would involve a lot of discomfort within the community and would be extremely difficult to facilitate. There would be a chance that it would create hostility and rifts in the community that weren’t there before.

I don’t think there’s an easy answer to this question or an easy solution to this problem. Nonetheless, Newton’s piece made me think a lot about this problem. There is so much that I don’t know about subsets of the lesbian community. I’m sure there are so many subcultures within the community that I don’t even know exist, maybe even at Carleton. This will be an ongoing struggle within this community, as it is within other communities.