lambda nordica

Editorial

Erika Alm, Elisabeth L. Engebretsen — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Sex and Women in the Archive and New Imaginaries of Female Same-Sex Relations in the Late Nineteenth Century

Rikke Andreassen — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The article aims to contribute to queer histories of marginalised people and those who have left behind limited traces. It analyses medical sources informing about female same-sex relations among poor and marginalised women in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the late nineteenth century. The medical sources repeatedly mention how women in prostitution engaged in sexual and romantic relations with one other. The article provides examples of how female same-sex relations were described as passionate and dramatic, as well as violent, and proposes an expanded notion of female same-sex relations to accommodate “grim” stories of intimate partner violence and death. Furthermore, the medical reports associated women’s relations with carnal sex, . Finally, the article suggests that it might not have been the gender of a woman’s same-sex partner but rather the woman’s sexual activity, that caused condemnation. As the medical sources are confined to inform about women’s encounters with power authorities, such as doctors and police, I employ “imaginary scenarios” (Hartman 2021) to be able to represent the same-sex relations in a more profound way.

‘I love my country even if it does not love me back’

Mariya Levitanus, Polina Kislitsyna — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

This article aims to understand how the (im)possibility of emigration impacts queer post-Soviet identities, narratives, and everyday life. It is based on two studies: one biographical interview study conducted in Russia, and one conducted in Kazakhstan using in-depth narrative interviews. As a result of the high rate of homophobia, queer people from both countries contemplate emigrating to the West. According to our findings, the West is imagined as an “ideal place.” For some queer people, it is the only place where they can imagine a future, while for others emigration is hypothetical. The findings reveal the effects of this potentiality of emigration on the life and relationships of queer participants. For those who want to leave but are unable to do so due to practical obstacles or a lack of resources, inner emigration appears to serve as a survival strategy for managing a reality that is difficult to tolerate. The article applies postcolonial optics to explore the complex relationship between Kazakhstan, Russia, and the West, and the intersections of national, gender, and sexual identities.

Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration among Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals

Esra Ummak, Ezgi Toplu-Demirtas, Reidar Schei Jessen — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health concern that profoundly affects not only heterosexual but also lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations. Although studies conducted outside Norway have reported similar prevalence rates of IPV in heterosexual and LGB relationships, no published studies from Norway, whether academic or from nongovernmental organizations, have focused specifically on IPV prevalence rates in the LGB population. One reason might be the absence of a standardized tool to measure IPV. In this study, as researchers with backgrounds in social psychology, violence and minority studies, we firstly aim to evaluate the validity of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-R) in understanding the intimate partner violence experiences of LGB individuals. Secondly, we investigate how common various forms of perpetration and victimization are within the LGB community, specifically looking at psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion. We are also interested in whether there are any differences in the experiences of these forms of violence based on sexual orientation. To conduct this research, we studied 285 LGB individuals in Norway, aged between 18 and 64 (mean age = 31.80 years). The results of a correlation analysis revealed that all types of victimization from and perpetration of violence are positively and strongly associated. Chi-square tests indicated that there was no significant difference among LGB individuals in psychological and physical victimization or perpetration. However, gay individuals reported significantly higher sexual IPV victimization and perpetration than lesbian and bisexual individuals. Overall, we suggest that the CTS-R has satisfactory construct validity and effectively helps gauge psychological, physical, and sexual IPV in the LGB population. Moreover, we conclude that psychological, physical, and sexual IPV perpetration and victimization are prevalent in LGB relationships in Norway, and thus, that LGB IPV warrants further investigation into its antecedents and consequences.

Managing Unpredictability

Vilja Jaaksi — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

While research has delved into the political and protest potential of memes, the analyses have largely left out political memes of marginalized communities. This article provides an analysis of Finnish trans memes on Instagram, focusing simultaneously on their political arguments and on the intimate public formed around them. Based on 18 media diaries and interviews with Finnish gender minorities, this article explores how Finnish trans memes on Instagram articulate how unjust social infrastructures create vulnerability and unpredictability in trans lives, while at the same time creating feelings of connection between and across identities, and alleviating feelings of vulnerability through laughter and care. The article challenges the traditional notion of politics as being outside of intimate publics, arguing that Finnish trans memes’ articulation of the vulnerability and unpredictability resulting from unjust infrastructure is, in fact, the connecting glue of the intimate public.

‘Be a man!’

Daniel Fong — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

This autoethnographic article adopts Rosemarie Anderson’s (2001) notion of embodied writing to ruminate on the bodily violence done to the effeminate body by hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity and femophobia. Specifically, this text seeks to underscore how the socio-culture discourse to “be a man” bears negative consequences for the effeminate body from childhood to adulthood and from the schoolyard to the opera stage. Masculinity and queer theories, alongside the theories of Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Audre Lorde, are interwoven with the auto-narratives and serve as theoretical lenses through which the author widens his narratives beyond the self, situating his experiences within historical and theoretical contexts to contribute to the scholarship around masculinity and opera. At the end of this text, the author suggests that by creating Lordeian connections, new expressions of masculinity might be sought, which could pave the way for new futures within opera.

Prisma

Makz Bjuggfält, Lou Mattei — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

I denna text reflekterar Makz Bjuggfält och Lou Mattei över instiftandet och förvaltandet av det queerlitterära priset Prisma Litteraturpris. Prisma Litteraturpris grundades av PAGE 28 och Bögbibblan och delades ut första gången i december 2023. Prisma är ett ideellt projekt som kommer att fortsätta att uppmärksamma och prisa nordisk queer litteratur och skapa mötesplatser för nordiska queers.

Psykoanalys för ofärdiga kön

Siri Landgren — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Saketopoulou, Avgi & Ann Pellegrini. 2023. Gender Without Identity. New York: The Unconscious in Translation. (180 s)

A Hundred Years of Estonian Queer History

Andrés Brink Pinto — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Rebeka Põldsam. 2023. “Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia. University of Tartu: Department of Ethnology. (172 pages)