The discourse of visibility : paradoxes and possibilities for lesbian identifying women in Zimbabwe

Abstract

A discussion on visibility of lesbian women creates an opportunity to understand what it means to Zimbabwean lesbian identifying women to be 'lesbian' and how that identity is visibilised or invisibilised depending on resulting benefit or possible detriment. The study investigates the experiences of lesbian women in Zimbabwe which have been subsumed in a 'homosexual' visibility discourse. Placing the focus of lesbian identity on the visibility locus helps foreground the possibilities and paradoxes of how visibility of an identity impacts personal experience. The intention of this study is to make lesbian identity more visible, bringing it out of the shadows where it has been concealed by a homosexuality discourse that revolves largely around gay men. The study also seeks to understand when visibility matters, for what purpose and when it may be problematic. My approach does not assume that there are ahistorical, transcultural truths about lesbian identity. Instead my question tracks the production of a lesbian identity in Zimbabwe, how it operates and how best its prevailing operation can be described. How is lesbian identity in/visibilised? What is the social and political consequence of in/visibility on the experiences of lesbian identifying women in Zimbabwe? Does a human rights framework positively impact visibility?