For the love of women :

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" For the love of women : "
Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth.

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Record Number	:	1094987
Doc. No	:	TLets367934
Main Entry	:	Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth.
Title & Author	:	For the love of women :\ Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth.
College	:	London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
Date	:	2001
student score	:	2001
Degree	:	Ph.D.
Abstract	:	This thesis is an anthropological study of gender and gay identity in a community of women whocurrently live in a Greek provincial town and engage in same-sex relationships They identifythemselves as the area' (the company) and attempt to deft conventional sexuality-basedclassifications, promoting their own idioyncratic discourse on gender and sexuality The women ofthe parea treat same sex relationships as instances for the enactment of desire and opportunitiesfor the intersubjective transformation of the self Mj ethnographic analysis follows close/y the lifeand organisatzon of this community of women by paying special attention to themes such as therecruitment of new members, the construction of erotic relationships, the role of friendship and thespecial rituals that mark the separation of partners. These are some of the occasions where thewomen negotiate the meaning of masculinity, femininity and same-sex desire through genderedperformances of a 'yncretic and ambiguous character.The original ethnographic information presented in this study documents how somesurreptitious narratives formed in the Greek periphery resist and reify conventional gender idiomsthrough a peformatzve/y realised objectification of the self The institutionalised character ofheterosexuality and the disapproving connotations of lesbianism prevalent in Greece, force thewomen of the parea to conceal their sexuality in order to live congenzaly with the otherinhabitants of the town. In this respect, the parea operates as a context for the articulation ofalternative gender ideas and relations and as a support network for women who wish to challengecustomary notions offemininiey albeit without openly provoking the heterosexual establishmentEnmeshed in the politics of visibility and znvzsibiliçy, concealment and dispiqy, experiences ofempowerment and homoerotic desire are thus accomplished in a culturalfy recognzsable butrntricatefy disguzsedfashzon. The thesis testifies to the symbiotic co-existence of contrastingdiscourses, multiple identifications and conflicting relationships and confirms the importance ofgender identity as a threshold where cultural and historical forces interface with the willingness ofthe actor to exist as creative agent.
Subject	:	Sociology
Added Entry	:	London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)