Date of Award

Spring 5-2-2025

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Department Chair or Program Director

Gupta, Surupa

First Advisor

Haffey, Kate

Major or Concentration

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Abstract

This paper examines gender identities within what is historically categorized as lesbian literature, focusing from 1928 to 1993. In The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, and Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, gender is portrayed in complex ways. In The Well of Loneliness, Stephen is labeled as an invert and often viewed as a masculine lesbian, but she also states that she loves women like a man loves women. For Orlando, the character of Orlando goes through a sex change and transitions from a man to a woman for Woolf to subtly write about same-sex attraction. Nightwood follows a love triangle between three women, one who is labeled as a masculine invert, and features a transmasculine character that further complicates gender in a text about lesbian sexuality. Lastly, Stone Butch Blues’s main character is a butch lesbian who takes testosterone, gets chest masculinization surgery, and passes as a man. Ultimately, it is impossible to analyze lesbian sexuality in these characters without also looking at gender because the two identities are intrinsically linked.

Download

Share

COinS