Not quite women: lesbian activism in Portugal

Abstract

Lesbian activism is a recent phenomenon in Portugal. Due to the country’s specific development pattern, lesbian organisations only began to emerge during the 1990’s, usually as subsidiary of major lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual organisations. They have, nevertheless, roots in past attempts of consciousness-raising led by some women networks. Lesbian activists appear to be very critical of the extent and scope of women’s and lesbians’ social mobilisation abilities in the context of the Portuguese society, and consequently of its actual outcomes in terms of women’s empowerment. As for women themselves, involvement in political activism is seen alternatively as a dangerous or as an unnecessary and personally awkward exposure. Adhesion to lesbian organisations, as well as the very formation of lesbian networks seems to be particularly dependent on opportunity structures – namely State policies, juridical frames, and class origin –, as much as on dominant and class-specific representations of lesbianism. Furthermore, Portuguese feminism, with few exceptions, seems to have always opposed itself to any kind of alliance with lesbianism and to the admission of formal lesbian networks within feminist organisations. Altogether, these factors contribute to highlight the existence of a socially variable access to cultural, social, and economical resources, which determine both women’s willingness to get actively involved in political struggles, and the way they deal with same-sex desire, with considerable and uneven impacts on their personal and psychological well-being. This paper, resorting to document analysis and to interview data, is an attempt to explore the origins and representations of lesbianism in Portugal, relating them to the recent emergence of a lesbian activism oriented towards the promotion of women’s well-being and political rights.