Young lesbians negotiating public space: an intersectional approach through places

Abstract

In this paper I analyze how different aspects of identity combine to shape the experiences of seven young lesbians in public space in Manresa, a non-metropolitan city in Catalonia. I argue that their experiences need to be understood intersectionally and spatially, as complex processes that involve the mutually constituted identities that shift in space. I focus on interviews and Relief Maps to show how these dynamics work and how they are related to larger social processes such as the heteronormalization and adultification of public space.

Keywords:

• youth
• lesbians
• public space
• intersectionality
• feminism
• Relief Maps

Acknowledgements

I offer many thanks to the young lesbians who participated in this research. I would also like to thank my advisor, Mireia Baylina, for her comments and support. I am also very grateful for the suggestions and comments made by Marta Jorba, Joseli Maria Silva, the GETE members in Ponta Grossa (Brazil) and the anonymous referees, as well as Alexandra Martí for her help in editing the Relief Maps. Research carried out within the project ‘Plan Nacional de I+D+I 2008–2011’ [2009; CSO2009-10913] and thanks to the doctoral grant (FPI) from the Spanish State Department of Science and Innovation.

Notes

1. The Law for Youth Policies of Catalonia (Llei de Polítiques de Joventut de Catalunya) takes the age range ‘16 to 29 years old’ to refer to youth. I kept this definition for my research, understanding that the complexity and diversity among youth makes it difficult to define it through age.

2. I will be using the word lesbian to refer to self-identified women who desire/love/sleep with/have sex with other women. Lesbian, in the context of this investigation, is not an old-fashioned word (as it could be in other contexts; see Pellegrini 2004) but rather the common word used along with bollo, bollera or tortillera, which would be similar to dyke in terms of its origins as an insult and its reassignment. Similarly, the term queer, being an English word, is not commonly used in Catalonia, and it is even less used in the context of Manresa. None of the participants identified herself as queer. Even though some academics and activists have adopted it, it is not a concept commonly used to refer to lesbians.

3. Data extracted from the Anuari Estadístic de Manresa, 2011. Ajuntament de Manresa.

4. The Relief Maps drawn by the participants themselves followed the next steps: first they were told to write a list of places that were relevant for their daily life. Next, they had to fill in their feelings for each place based on gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity and class. They had to think about how they felt (for example) at home as a woman, then as a lesbian, being 17 years old … Once all the gaps were filled with their feelings for each place and power structure they had to classify each one as a place of oppression, place of intersected experiences, neutral place or place of relief. After that, they were told to draw the lines of the Relief Map by placing the dots in a line of comfort–discomfort. The last step was to think about the possible arrows that increased or decreased their feelings, and draw them in.

5. See Rodó-de-Zárate (2013) for a detailed explanation of the construction of the Relief Maps and their theoretical and methodological implications.

6. Translation from catalan by Elaine Lilly. Original text: ‘Cercant recers coixos i efímers, a cobert de l'ull que proscriu i del mot que coarta. O del silenci que agredeix, de sotamà. Ponts fonedissos entre el carrer, massa obert, i la cambra, massa closa’.

7. I will use the concept ‘public space’ as the people interviewed defined it to me, mainly referring to the open spaces such as streets and parks, and leisure places, such as bars and pubs.

8. This was the first interview and it made me change some of the questions and methods, as the experience of discomfort could be made visible by the specific discrimination but also by other more complex dynamics.

9. This is a reference to the park ‘el Castell’ in the city center of Manresa but hidden because of it is on a hill with difficult access.

10. As this map was drawn by Sílvia herself, the lines might be confusing and it is written in Catalan. The words ‘Malestar’ and ‘Benestar’ mean ‘discomfort’ and ‘comfort’, respectively, and were the only ones written by me. The words below refer to: ‘Carpes’ (a pub), ‘carrer’ (the street in general,) ‘futbol’ (where she plays football/soccer), ‘Passeig’ (the central boulevard in Manresa), ‘Barcelona’ (Barcelona), ‘Stroika’ (a disco), ‘Santpedor’ (a village suorrounding Manresa), ‘teatre’ (the place where she plays theatere), ‘Ateneu’ (a social centere), ‘Acció Lila’ (a feminist collective) Colour online, B/W in print and ‘casa’ (home).

11. Name given to the left side of Barcelona's Example, where there is a concentration of shops and bars directed at gay men.

12. Another study conducted in the Ateneu in a Participatory Action Research project reported that for feminist women engaged politically in the squattered house intersectionality played an important role. When it came to organizing some activities, gender was an accentuated identity even if it was considered a place of relief. But in the case of young lesbians frequenting the bar it was not experienced like that.

13. The significance of home in (masculinist) humanist geography as a place of rootedness was questioned by feminists such Rose (1993) pointing out that for women it could be the place of abuse and oppression. Considering gender in the analyses changed the significance of a place. However, Hooks (1990) developed the idea of ‘home as a place of resistance’, pushing forward an intersectional analysis that considered gender, race and class and disrupting the role and sense of ‘home’.