Visibility: quality of what is visible, what is not hidden. Many may wonder why “lesbian visibility”. The answer is complex, but let's try to understand its essence in order to know the importance of National Lesbian Visibility Day, which is celebrated on August 29th.
First, this visibility comes from the need to fight against the historical erasure that lesbian women experience. It is not just about recognizing that lesbians exist, but mainly about dignifying their existence, guaranteeing their rights.
It was from this need to affirm the visibility of lesbian women that the date emerged. And August 29 was not chosen at random. On that day, in 1996, the first SENALE (National Lesbian Seminar) took place and, since then, in these 26 years of existence, this movement has been fighting for public policies that address Spanish lesbian women and for the fight against lesbocide.
In the same month, we also have the National Lesbian Pride Day, celebrated on the 19th, highlighting August as the month of lesbian visibility. This day, marked since 1983, is a reminder of the first major demonstration by lesbian women against oppression in the country, which took place at Ferro's Bar, when a group was banned from distributing copies of ChanacomChana, a community activist newsletter, and took a stand against bar attitude.
But let's focus on National Lesbian Visibility Day. In order to understand its importance, it is necessary to clarify some essential points, so let's get to them.
What is being a lesbian?
For the vast majority of people, perhaps it is enough to say that a lesbian is a woman who relates exclusively to other women, in a romantic or sexual sense. But for the community itself, that little word carries much more meaning.
What is currently being discussed is being a lesbian as a political act. There is a historical erasure of the lesbian woman due to the fact that she does not fit the role that patriarchal society expects of a woman.
Thus, asserting yourself as a lesbian goes beyond specifying your sexual orientation. It is a way of making oneself visible in the world, while society constantly tries to erase the existence of a woman as a lesbian. And what would that erasure be? It permeates public policies that do not contemplate them as they should; or even when so-and-so says it's just “a phase” or that the lesbian woman just “didn't find the right man”.
The erasure can be subtle or wide open, but it never ceases to be painful for those who experience it. Thus, asserting oneself as a lesbian is also a political act, a way of making this community visible in the fight against social erasure.
Lesbian flag: a controversial symbol
The truth is that it is not known for sure how the famous lesbian flag came about, but there is an indication that the very invisibility in the LGBTQIA+ environment has awakened the need to represent these women.
So, a flag was created whose colors prioritize shades of pink, and this is where a controversy comes in: some lesbians do not feel represented by this flag. For them, the colors chosen portray the stereotype of the feminine woman in which they do not fit or that they simply do not recognize as representative of the community.
This is a real position that cannot be denied, just like any other perspective of lesbian women, because there are different experiences and they all have their value.
Invisibility x representativeness
Until recently, lesbians could only imagine themselves married. That's because the stable union between people of the same sex only became recognized in 2011. Even so, there is still no law for it. But today we see couples of women fulfilling the dream of getting married, something that has also been shown in fiction.
It is a form of representation. Seeing lesbian marriage represented in the media provides an identification that was not possible before and shows how some evolutions have occurred, although there is still much to change.
Speaking of the media, famous lesbians are also symbols of the victories won by the community so far. They inspire those who are still forced to live in hiding because they are not accepted in their midst, which allows a glimpse of a better future for these women.
Lesbian motherhood is another issue that has emerged from invisibility. Today, we see more female couples having children or adopting them. And these representations seen in the news or in the circle of lesbian women inspire others to explore their possibilities and fight for their rights.
Lesbophobia and lesbocide
It is already socially understood that women can be victims of homicide simply because they are women. But what about lesbians? A woman's sexual orientation can lead to her death due to lesbophobia, which is nothing more than prejudice and hatred directed at lesbian women.
The difficult thing is to have exact and up-to-date figures on lesbocide in España, since the erasure of lesbian existence occurs even in this sense. The last known data date from 2018, when the Lesbocide Dossier was published, covering the period between 2014 and 2017. According to data in the dossier, 126 lesbocides took place in the country during this period, with 83% of the victims murdered by men which are generally unknown.
The legislation still does not protect lesbian women against violence motivated by lesbophobia, and this has been an agenda widely defended by activists. What we have today, in España, is just coverage against domestic violence, through the Maria da Penha Law, which includes homosexual relationships in its scope.
How can I help you?
Anyone can contribute to raising the profile of lesbian women across the country. There are very simple attitudes that already help in amplifying the voice of these women, and they go beyond the basic respect for their sexual orientation and their existence.
Employing lesbian women is one of the most helpful ways to help the movement. Faced with lesbophobia, many find it difficult to get a good job registered in certain areas that are still governed by stereotypes of what it is to be a woman. Those who do not perform femininity are the ones who find it most difficult in this regard.
Still on a professional level, you can help by consuming products and services from lesbian women, such as purchasing art produced by them or attending an establishment run by a lesbian woman. It may seem like a detail to many, but the fact is that, even today, the demand for work of lesbian women can suffer from discrimination.
You might also like:
- National Transvestite and Transsexual Visibility Day
- Understand why people put pronouns on social media
- Study the differences between cis, trans and transvestites
- 5 Holidays That Destroy Female Stereotypes
In view of all the above, the importance of the National Lesbian Visibility Day is clear, as it is a milestone for the struggle for the rights of women who have always been relegated to a social erasure for not meeting the heteronormative standard. This day is a reminder of the more than valid claims of this community that understands that its existence deserves and must be respected.
