Lesbian Stereotypes In Julie Maroh's Blue Is The Warmest Color

Everyone knows a woman that dresses feminine—in long, flowy dresses, bright pink lipstick, and towering high heels. Personally, my usual attire is composed of a flower headband and a pastel yellow sundress. People typically expect straight women to uphold a certain feministic standard and anticipate that lesbian women appear masculine. Lesbians are stereotyped to have short hair, wear striped flannels and boyfriend jeans, and not wear makeup. Masculine-appearing women are assumed to be gay; however, there is a group of lesbian women who dress femininely. Lipstick lesbians, or LLs, are a part of the feminine lesbian community. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community has built up recently and an abundance of stereotypes as well. Contrary to popular belief, lesbians are not bound to one appearance. We as humans should have the opportunity to express ourselves in whichever way we desire. Similar to everyone else, lesbians’ appearances do not have to be strictly based off of who they are attracted to. Lipstick lesbians positively influence lesbian stereotypes because they defy masculine appearance and are unafraid to express themselves. By recognizing that lesbians who dress femininely are still lesbians, individuals can avoid awkward and uncomfortable situations by being respectful and acknowledging their boundaries.

In Octavia Butler’s Dawn the idea of gender is deconstructed and reformed from the typical human’s definition. Often people do not consider the role of gender in society today. Usually the first thing one notices when meeting someone new is their gender or their presumed gender. However, there becomes a problem when the person whose gender we perceived identifies as a different gender. Butler forces the reader to examine how they judge and perceive gender. While the ooloi are actually “its” their personalities seem to imply a certain gender. The transgender community often brings up this issue because these assumptions of gender based on our judgments of what defines a male and what defines a female can skew how a transgender person is treated and addressed. In Chapter One of Gender Through the Prism of Difference by Anne Fausto-Sterling, the idea of expanding the number of genders based on one’s biological differences is examined through the five sexes theory. By now the concept of gender being defined solely by one’s biology has mostly been left in the past but the question remains of how do we truly define gender? How does being outside of the social norms that Michael Warner talks about cause us to feel shame when discussing our gender and our perceptions of gender? In this essay, I will argue that preconceived notions of gender create shame when a person’s own perception of their gender does not fit the social norms. This stigma around the limited and strict definitions

We are all living in a society that is filled with social expectations of gender. From our early age, we seem to be able to response to these expectations accordingly. For example, we notice Barbies are for girls while robots and cars are for boys only. In the “Performative Gender”, “Doing Gender”, and “Nerd Box”, authors all indicate gender is learned instead of inherited. They bring out their insightful observation and critical personal experience to illustrate how the social expectations with punitive effects construct our gender unconsciously. These articles provide a great lens for us to understand the mental state and behaviors of the main characters in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. In Fun Home, Alison Bechdel portrays how living in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania during the 1930s not only repressed both her father, Bruce, and her from coming out as a homosexual and genderqueer, but also trapped her mother, Helen, in her “women box”. Through the graphic memoir, Fun Home is able to present the struggling process that one may need to go through before admitting one’s unusual gender identity and sexual orientation.

Some women seek lesbian relationships because they want to reject this sort of powerless state they may feel in a heterosexual situation. Relationships between men to men and women to women hold several differences, but at the same time they share several similarities. Downing concludes the article by stating that there are both gay men and lesbians that dismiss the homosexuality myth, but it is crucial that they understand that the myth does hold a cultural vision on the power of gender and human selfhood. In order to get past the myth, we must understand to accept its existence.

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender. It is intended to highlight a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. Historically, LGBT people have had to deal with being brutalised and misunderstood because of the misconception that being gay is different and deserves different treatment. However, there are efforts being made daily by the community in order to educate people and ease their fears. The purpose of the following analysis is to deconstruct how people who fought back while growing up realizing they are apart of community help shaped and/or will shape them to become strong roles for LGBT people around the world.

Above all, the passage deals with Cara Sykes coming out to wwher parents. Cara gathers her strength and announces that she is a lesbian to her parents. Her mom tries to make an attempt to talk her out of this by stating, “I wouldn’t worry too much. Lots of adolescents experiment with same-sex play. That doesn’t make you homosexual. But please don’t let it get in the way of a normal relationship.” Her mother doesn’t like the picture that having a lesbian daughter will paint. Cara knows that her mom thinks her sexuality will stain her mother’s name. To this Cara responds, “I’ve fought the ‘who’ of me for years. I wanted you to know the truth, but if you’re not mature enough to handle it, I don’t care. This is who I am- Straight-A, top of my class, Stanford-bound lesbian.” This is

Published by the Huffington Post, 20 year old Austin Fisher voices his process of coming out in his article entitled “The 3 Sides to my Coming Out Story”. I choose to analyze and reflect on this text for I believe it displays various situations and perceptions in response to one coming out. The author starts by explaining how he came to terms with himself. When Fisher was younger he idolized his brother’s bravery for announcing his homosexuality to the world. This planted a seed in Fisher’s mind that would not seem to stop growing. Though deep down he knew he was gay, he was not ready to admit it to himself or the outside world. Instead, Fisher suppressed his “gay side” and reinvented himself. He got a girlfriend and views “coming out” as overrated, for Fisher views it as unfair and unjust that because of his inherently “wrong” sexualtity he has to go through an emotional process of explaining who he is attracted to the people he loves.

There were couple limitations of the study. First, lesbian mothers’ response rate was higher than heterosexual parents’ because lesbian mothers’ curiosity in their parenting styles. Second, lesbian mothers’ had higher educational history compared to heterosexual parents. Finally, this study was conducted in Netherland where showed more tolerant attitude toward homosexuality. Dutch lesbian families’ daily life experiences might be significantly different with lesbian families’ from other countries.

Ways on how to deal with rejection and internet dating were discussed also. Stalking is a very dangerous situation. Lange offered tips on how to prevent and deal with dyke stalking and the behaviors that come along with it. Another main point that was discussed is the drama that lesbians go through when in a relationship. This section of the book included things like tips on how to have a healthy lesbian relationship, and explained tips for successful couples counseling and family

“Coming out” is a means of identifying one’s sexual orientation as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. At its most basic, “coming out of the closet,” means being honest with those around you—friends, family, colleagues, and so forth—about your sexual orientation, about whom you are. It also means acknowledging one’s sexual orientation to self. Such disclosure is an ongoing, lifelong process rather than a one-time event. New personal, social, and professional situations require gay men and lesbians to make decisions about the degree to which they can be open about their sexual orientation (Morrow, 1996).

Research has found that for LGBTQ youth one of the most important task is coming out to others which is a process that “…often involves acknowledgement of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity…grappling with implications for family relationships, peers, relationships and dating, initial life-planning steps, and ensuring school and community-based safety, security, and well-being” (Weber & Poster, 2010, p.1). These implications highlight the importance of maintaining an open and accepting attitude towards my work with Mary to ensure that I do not pressure her to come out to her parents when she unready to do so. I must work to ensure that I empower Mary and uphold her right to self-determinate in her decision to come out to her family. Because coming out to one’s family and friends is a very complex, scary, and tedious process I need to be conscientious that there are many micro, mezzo, and macro factors that will influence when, how, and even if, Mary will come out to her family as Asexual and questioning her gender identity.

The sexual orientation identity development is a theoretical model that conceptualized the resolution of internal conflict related to the formation of individual sexual identity. For sexual minority people, it is commonly known as the coming-out process (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). There have been many different models elaborated to explain such process. All of them share similar stages: awareness, crisis, and acceptance (Loiacano 1989). When individuals become aware of their queer feelings and attraction, they try to block these homosexual feelings by constantly denying and minimizing them. This mechanism of defense leaves negative sequelae in their overall psychosocial well-being (Bilodeau & Renn 2005). Individuals tend to pass by a

Many negative stereotypes are the cause of homosexuals failing to come out the closet to their friends, family and loved ones. There are also positive effects to coming out as well but the negative opinions of some has triumphed across the nation during the last decade. Even though it may seem that our country has come a long way and accepts homosexuals, we still have a long way to go. Why do such stereotypes override the good effects of coming out gay? Coming out as a homosexual improves the quality of life such as making the individual feel confident and happier within. My own experience will serve as an example on how these things can reduce the confidence level in someone that wants to be open to friends, family and loved ones.

Sexuality is an issue that has been widely discussed and has often been misunderstood by society. It has often been a misconception by members of the heterosexual community that all lesbians want to be men. Through applying common sense, it can be understood why people may think gay women want to be men when looking in on the lesbian community, some lesbians prefer to express themselves and their sexuality through the way they dress and act; their short hair, masculine clothing, wearing no make-up and their macho