Theorizing Homophobias in the Caribbean: Complexities of Place, Desire and Belonging is a a digital multimedia collection of activist reports, creative writing, critical essays, film, interviews, music, and visual and performance art reflecting the complexities of homophobias in the Caribbean, while also expanding understanding of Caribbean sexual minority experiences and activism in the region and its diaspora.
There’s a lot there. I began my tour with Charmaine Crawford’s critical essay “‘It’s a Girl Thing’ Problematizing Female Sexuality, Gender and Lesbophobia in Caribbean Culture”. Excellent, well written, highly analytical read.
Crawford analyses how Caribbean lesbian lives are rendered invisible through Caribbean feminist analyses which take women to be always already heterosexual and sexual citizenship activism which often focuses on gay men. While Caribbean lesbians often escape public homophobic violence which is meted out to gay and gender non-conforming men, Crawford reveals the “private” violence to which they are subjected. Her analysis demonstrates how heterosexism and gender ideologies coalesce to render Caribbean lesbians as disruptive women who breach societal norms about both gender and sexuality.
I’ll definitely be coming back to this collection again and again.
Image source: Globe writer
Feminist Conversations on Caribbean Life 