- Title
- From gender inversion to choice and back changing perceptions of the aetiology of lesbianism over three historical periods
- Creator
- Gottschalk, Lorene
- Date
- 2003
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/36723
- Identifier
- vital:357
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(03)00052-9
- Identifier
- ISSN:0277-5395
- Abstract
- This study examined the dominant cultural beliefs about the aetiology of lesbian sexual orientation and identity over three historical periods and sought to establish the relationship between such dominant beliefs and women's perceptions and understanding about how they became lesbians. The findings from this study add weight to arguments that women are influenced by popular ideas about homosexuality in terms of their experiences during the process of becoming lesbians, how they interpret the aetiology of their lesbianism, and the lifestyle choices they make. Throughout the 20th century, the underlying belief about the aetiology of homosexuality has been that it is essential or biologically based, although biological theories were mitigated by the theories of feminism during the 1970s. For women who became lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s, a belief in a biological basis was overwhelmingly the dominant account. In the 1970s and early 1980s, choice was the dominant account, and in the 1990s, there is a tendency to go back to biological explanations. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.; C1
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Relation
- Women's Studies International Forum Vol. 26, no. 3 (2003), p. 221-233
- Rights
- Copyright Elsevier
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- 1699 Other Studies In Human Society; Gender relations; Historical perspective; Homosexuality; Perceptions
- Full Text
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