عنوان

For the love of women :

Number

TLets367934

Title Proper

For the love of women :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth.

Title Proper by Another Author

gender and gay identity in a Greek provincial town.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2001

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Text preceding or following the note

2001

Text of Note

This thesis is an anthropological study of gender and gay identity in a community of women whocurrently live in a Greek provincial town and engage in same-sex relationships They identifythemselves as the area' (the company) and attempt to deft conventional sexuality-basedclassifications, promoting their own idioyncratic discourse on gender and sexuality The women ofthe parea treat same sex relationships as instances for the enactment of desire and opportunitiesfor the intersubjective transformation of the self Mj ethnographic analysis follows close/y the lifeand organisatzon of this community of women by paying special attention to themes such as therecruitment of new members, the construction of erotic relationships, the role of friendship and thespecial rituals that mark the separation of partners. These are some of the occasions where thewomen negotiate the meaning of masculinity, femininity and same-sex desire through genderedperformances of a 'yncretic and ambiguous character.The original ethnographic information presented in this study documents how somesurreptitious narratives formed in the Greek periphery resist and reify conventional gender idiomsthrough a peformatzve/y realised objectification of the self The institutionalised character ofheterosexuality and the disapproving connotations of lesbianism prevalent in Greece, force thewomen of the parea to conceal their sexuality in order to live congenzaly with the otherinhabitants of the town. In this respect, the parea operates as a context for the articulation ofalternative gender ideas and relations and as a support network for women who wish to challengecustomary notions offemininiey albeit without openly provoking the heterosexual establishmentEnmeshed in the politics of visibility and znvzsibiliçy, concealment and dispiqy, experiences ofempowerment and homoerotic desire are thus accomplished in a culturalfy recognzsable butrntricatefy disguzsedfashzon. The thesis testifies to the symbiotic co-existence of contrastingdiscourses, multiple identifications and conflicting relationships and confirms the importance ofgender identity as a threshold where cultural and historical forces interface with the willingness ofthe actor to exist as creative agent.

Sociology

Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth.

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y