If you have Facebook and LGBT friends, you've certainly noticed that many of them are changing their profile photo to the filter with the inverted triangle and female gender symbols in recent days. This is a campaign for Lesbian Visibility Day, celebrated this Saturday (29).
+ Peruvian lesbians report corrective rape
The date originated from the first National Lesbian Seminar – Senale – which took place in 1996 in Rio de Janeiro. And it aimed to discuss actions for the full citizenship of women who have relationships with other women.
With the focus on the lesbian community, many doubts and comments arise from conservatives and the LGBT community itself: Is it really necessary to pay attention to just one letter in the alphabet soup? Do lesbians suffer more or less prejudice than gays? Is it really important to emphasize the word "lesbophobia" in the speech?
To answer all this, the THE CAPE talked to the communicator Jessica Tauane, 24 years old. She is successful on the web Canal das Bee – a video blog that addresses issues of the LGBT community and has more than 200 videos – and participates in several meetings to discuss diversity. Below is an important feat:
– On Lesbian Visibility Day, what are the topics and reflections that the group currently wants to give visibility to?
We want to say that, in addition to suffering lesbophobia, lesbians also suffer prejudice because they are women. Of course, gay men also suffer from machismo because they often deny the masculine standard, but we suffer this machismo in a systematic and violent way. It's hard level misogyny. This is because the woman in history can never be the agent of desire and life, she has always been seen as the property of her father and husband. And when a woman subverts this and desires another woman, she is viewed in even more prejudiced ways. For example: she becomes a victim of the fetish of straight men and cis straight couples, who use affection between women for their own consumption. As if we were in the shadow of man, which is not true.
– Do you believe that many people don’t take relationships between women seriously? Are they still scared today when they see a woman sexualized and concerned with her own pleasure, without the presence of a man?
As long as the woman doesn't show her desire, whatever it may be, everything is ok for people. From the moment she demonstrates that she is a sexual being, that she likes to cum, then people get scared. And there is an aggravating factor that occurs with cis lesbians: they suffer precisely from phallocentrism, because the vagina is still seen as something dirty, disgusting "and, if you can, you don't even look at it much." I looked at my vagina as an adult and only 30% of my friends masturbate. They say: "What do you mean, vagina with vagina?", "There's no sex, it's foreplay", "you need a penis". And that's a lie, because we have fun, we're complete, we're happy in sex without needing a penis or necessarily toys.
– You recently published a video of lesbians watching a gay porn film. Was this a response to a video of gay men watching lesbian porn and slipping into misogyny?
It wasn't something personal, because I believe they made the video without knowing they were being prejudiced. Because society hammers all this into our heads and many gays end up being misogynists without knowing it. Many gay men want to reaffirm their sexuality and end up excoriating everything feminine. Many are misogynists to reaffirm their sexuality. "Oh, vagina, how disgusting", "it's stinky", "I was born by cesarean section so I wouldn't even go near it". Of course we were uncomfortable, as we don't smell like cod and we don't want to be treated like that. We made a video to show that you don't need to criticize others to talk about your own sexuality.
– How do you evaluate the voice of lesbian women in the LGBT events, debates and circles you participate in?
It is very evident that boys have more credibility in their speech and that they still have a great power to silence. In other words, they interrupt, are impatient and don't show interest when the agenda doesn't talk about them. Not all of them, of course. But the patriarchal and misogynistic culture that we live in can be seen anywhere.
– Do you defend the use of the word "lesbophobia" instead of just focusing on "homophobia"? Why a new term when everyone is homosexual?
I defend it, because we still see many cases of lesbophobia practiced by cis gay men. And they say: "I'm homosexual, how can I be homophobic?" It is important to show that this prejudice comes with added weight due to the fact that we are women in a patriarchal society. There are several differences between the prejudices suffered. It ranges from corrective rape, which many men commit because they think she is only a lesbian because she "wasn't caught properly", to issues of stereotypes. Many people say, for example, that a lesbian wants to get married on the second date and have a cat, while a gay man has the freedom to make out and party. In other words, this is falling into that role of submission, where women have to stay at home.
– Well, I know the readers and many will say: "Gays suffer more prejudice than lesbians, considering that two men kissing shocks and generates more negative reaction than two women." What do you think about this?
Firstly, I think we cannot focus on the "sufferometer" or the oppression gymkhana, as this is a biased debate. Everyone suffers, but in different and parallel ways. The two boys kissing and being beaten is oppressive. The two girls kissing, and the guy thinks he can masturbate while watching, interrupting and saying he wants to participate, is also a very strong oppression. People all the time say that there's an agent missing, that there are only two receivers, that there's one missing... Man! They are different oppressions: one is physical and the other is psychological violence, which can often be physical. And both dehumanize people.
– This clash of finding out who is more oppressed is kind of unproductive, right?
The most important thing is to unite, be aware of each other's prejudices and fight against all these oppressions.
– What do you think of lesbian representation in the media?
It doesn't exist, right? Although the first kiss was given by women, I see several cis gay programs and characters emerging. Lesbians are always good, naughty people, without much variation. I think this cut exists because there are a lot of gay people in the arts: gay actors, gay screenwriters, gay writers… Vai que Cola (from Multishow) cast Tatá Werneck to play a very strange lesbian, for example. What I find positive are the American series, like The L World, Orange is the New Black…
– But this 21pm soap opera, Babilônia, featured a couple of lesbian ladies. Do you think the mainstream media helps with this visibility?
I'm not following the soap opera, but I know they were afraid to show other kisses. And, in this case, the capitalist approach comes into play. Representation in the media helps, but it will not be salvation. They will always have their tail stuck with something and what should prevail is money. For example, I saw a lot of people applauding the O Boticário campaign with gays and lesbians. But the advertising market is never-ending. They only launched the campaign because they knew what would happen, with a lot of analysis and research. In other words, our redemption will not come from those who hold this power, from those who are taking economic advantage of it. The guy is doing it for the money, not for the LGBT. The revolution occurs through the social movement, fighting in politics, in the work of alternative media…
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– Daniel Mercury, Maria Gadú… Do you feel well represented?
Daniela is bisexual, she doesn't have an activist profile, but she has brought the agenda well. She has good will, courage and truth. Maria Gadú never said much, I know she married a woman, but she doesn't talk. Outside of Brazil, my reference is Ellen DeGeneres, but I don't see anyone who can say that she represents me here. There was Vange Leonel, who passed away… Ah! Ellen Oléria (winner of The Voice). I remember that the first article I read about her was: "I can talk about this place: woman, black, fat and lesbian". I thought: "What a sensational woman."
– I saw a comment by journalist Melissa de Miranda, who was interviewed by you on Canal, that many women who could be defined as "lesbian" avoid the word. They say they are "gay" or create other names to talk about their relationships with women. Has this fear of using the word "lesbian" always been there or is it something new?
It always happened. The word lesbian is loaded with a bad meaning and scares a lot of people. Of marginality, something strong... And we have done work to establish ourselves as lesbians. Now, it's complicated to stick your head into how someone defines themselves, as it's something personal and everyone has their own time. What we do is, when we see that the person defines themselves as "gay" to avoid the word lesbian, as we think it scares us, we talk and explain: "Friend, let's reaffirm our lesbian identity, because we should also be proud of say that we are lesbians." There is gay pride and we also want lesbian pride. We are on the way…
– In what way do you feel that the work at Canal das Bee impacts and helps the LGBT community?
Oh, in different ways and with different accounts. From people who showed the video to their mother and the relationship improved at home, to an Angolan woman saying that she and her friends are using the channel to empower themselves and have the courage to leave the house. We do cool work, which often happens behind the camera. We help many young people who have been kicked out of their homes, but in this case we have a psychologist with us. The reach is immense.
– What message would you like to give to lesbians? What about gay and bisexual men?
For lesbians: empower yourselves as much as possible, let's help each other, let's unite and let's organize. As for gay and bi men, I say: Have empathy, you are not the kings of the world. This thing about gays only hanging out with gays, and lesbians only hanging out with lesbians, is bullshit. I have a lot of gay friends and I know that we discovered a lot of cool things in this relationship. In short, less glaring and more affection.
Anyone who wants to use the lesbian visibility filter can make the change by clicking here. And if you want to check out all the videos on Canal das Bee, just click here.
