The social construction of lesbianism

the long version

The old model of lesbianism as a pathological affliction has largely given way to a liberal social scientific one which presents it as an alternative lifestyle, a way of loving, a sexual preference, or a source of personal fulfilment. This book argues that the shift from "pathological" to "gay affirmative" research merely substitutes one depoliticized construction of the lesbian for another. The author contends that the liberal "social construction," instead of furthering the liberation of women, represents a new development in the oppression of women in general and lesbians in particular. Gay affirmative constructions are fundamentally incompatible with radical feminist theory in which lesbianism is a political statement representing the bonding of women against male supremacy. Kitzinger urges researchers to reject the traditional model of science as an objective search for truths or facts, but instead to examine their own rhetoric and evaluate their political commitments.--From publisher's description.