A comparative study on the portrayal of lesbians in thirty selected Indonesian and English language short stories.

(1)

Tira Mariana. 2014. A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected Indonesian

and English Language Short Stories. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program. Sanata

Dharma University.

The existence of lesbians and their rights in many countries remains a controversial issue. Lesbians are labeled by the society as being abnormal, sinners, mentally ill, etc. The discrimination, injustice and even violence toward lesbians keep happening. As a response to these facts, literature is used as part of lesbians’ struggle as a media to communicate, promote and campaign to this issue.

The purpose of this study is, first to reveal the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian and English language stories, starting from the way they perceive their feelings, sexual desire or orientation and relationship up to the background in becoming a lesbian. The second purpose is to find out the conflicts and the discriminations experienced by the lesbians in their life. There are 30 selected Indonesian and English short stories used in this study, taken from the lesbian websites and other published short stories collections.

This study uses Comparative Literature Approach in analyzing the similarity and the diversity of the way lesbians are portrayed. Lesbian Criticism and Queer Theory are applied to examine the issue of lesbian and lesbianism as an identity, as well as to reveal the complexity and the fluidity of sexuality represented through the lesbian characters, their conflicts and discriminations experienced in life.

The first finding of this study shows several similarities and differences. The differences are in Indonesian stories some lesbians perceive their feelings, sexual desire and relationship as predestination and others perceive it as a forbidden love, a mistake and a sin. While in English stories, lesbians perceive it as being different. The similarities are that they perceive it as something natural, normal, and unchangeable and not a mistake.

The second finding reveals that long term interactions, spontaneous or accidental feelings, environmental factors and early exposure to homosexuality, unhappy heterosexual married life, exploration and experiencing new sexual practice and personal choice are the reasons why women become lesbians.

(2)

Tira Mariana. 2014. Studi Banding Tentang Potret Lesbian dalam Tiga Puluh Cerpen Berbahasa

Indonesia dan Inggris. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca-Sarjana Universitas Sanata

Dharma

Keberadaan lesbian dan hak-hak mereka merupakan isu yang kontroversial di banyak negara. Lesbian dicap oleh masyarakat sebagai orang yang abnormal, pendosa, sakit, dll. Diskriminasi, ketidakadilan dan bahkan kekerasan terus dilakukan terhadap lesbian. Sebagai respon pada fakta-fakta ini, sastra digunakan sebagai bagian dari perjuangan lesbian untuk mengkomunikasikan, mempromosikan dan mengkampanyekan isu tersebut.

Tujuan pertama penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkapkan potret lesbian dalam cerpen-cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Mulai dari cara mereka memandang perasaan, hasrat atau orientasi seksual, dan hubungan yang mereka bangun sampai latar belakang yang menyebabkan mereka bisa menjadi lesbian. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk menemukan konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang dialami lesbian dalam kehidupan mereka. Ada 30 cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Cerpen-cerpen tersebut diambil dari website lesbian dan kumpulan-kumpulan cerpen yang sudah diterbitkan.

Penelitian ini menggunakan Pendekatan Sastra Bandingan dalam menganalisis persamaan dan perbedaan tentang cara lesbian dipotret dalam cerpen-cerpen tersebut. Kritik Lesbian dan Teori Queer digunakan untuk melihat isu lesbian dan lesbianisme sebagai sebuah identitas, juga untuk mengungkapkan kekompleksitasan dan kecairan sexualitas yang direpresentasikan lewat tokoh-tokoh lesbian, konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang mereka alami dalam kehidupan.

Hasil temuan pertama dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan beberapa persamaan dan perbedaan. Perbedaannya yaitu dalam cerpen berbahasa Indonesia beberapa lesbian mamandang perasaan, hasrat sexual and hubungan sesama jenis mereka sebagai sebuah takdir sementara lesbian yang lainnya memandang itu sebagai cinta terlarang, kesalahan dan dosa. Sedangkan dalam cerpen berbahasa Inggris, lesbian memandangnya sebagai sesuatu yang membuat mereka berbeda. Persamaannya adalah mereka sama-sama memandang perasaan dan orientasi sexual sebagai hal yang alami, normal, tidak dapat berubah dan bukanlah sebuah kesalahan.

Hasil temuan kedua mengungkapkan bahwa penyebab yang menjadikan perempuan menjadi lesbian adalah dikarenakan hasil interaksi jangka panjang, perasaan yang spontan dan kebetulan terjadi, faktor lingkungan dan pengalaman homosexual diusia dini, kehidupan penikahan hetero yang tidak bahagia, ingin mengeksplor dan merasakan praktek seksual yang baru dan memang persoalan pilihan pribadi.

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(4)

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF

LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the

Magister Humaniora (M. Hum)

Degree

in English Language Studies

TIRA MARIANA

Student Number: 096332018

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF

LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated,

are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands

the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s

ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.

Yogyakarta, January 23, 2014

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI

KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Tira Mariana

Nomor Mahasiswa : 096332018

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected

Indonesian and English Language Short Stories

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada).

Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata

Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya

dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan

mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis

tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya

selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta,

Pada Tanggal: 23 Januari 2014

Yang menyatakan,

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DEDICATION

It is true that together somebody else success there are other hands hold you up. It is true that we all need our friends And it is completely true without love we are hopeless

Thus, here I would like to dedicate my deepest appreciation:

My beloved mother, and my very understanding and supportive husband for love, praying, support, tolerance and sacrifices to provide me with amount of patience to stay far away in different island for more than one thousand two hundreds and ninety days during my study

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank a number of people who have helped me during my study. First of all, to my lecturers Dr. Mukarto, M.S, Prof. Dr. Bakdi Soemanto, Prof. Dr. Soepomo.P, Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Dr. Alb. Budi Susanto, S.J. and Pasca Sarjana Staff especially, Bu Lely and Pak Mul, thank you so much for your help.

I am grateful first and foremost to my supervisor, Dr. Katrin Bandel, and Miss Alathea Rael Gore, my proof reader a Bilingual Teacher from Austin, Texas for their constant support, correction, motivation, enthusiasm, and encouragement during the long process of writing this thesis. They do not only read the entire work a number of times but also provide crucial critical ideas and support for this writing.

A Moslem brother, Muhammad Taha Billah (Lesotho), Eva Busch and Oliver Kontny (German), Bazil Bumahiga (Tanzania) and my examiners Dra. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D and Mutiara Andalas, S.J, B.Th., S.T.D. deserve special thanks for critical discussion and suggestion to enrich this writing, as well as Dr. G. Budi Subanar, S.J (Religion and Culture Program of Sanata Dharma University) for his explanations about lesbianism in Bible.

My special thanks go to my colleagues and friends who have helped and supported me intellectually and emotionally during my study and as I wrote this thesis: Mba’ Ana (Yuliana Tri Nirmayanti, Malang) and Mba’ Ema (UGM) for the ideas and discussion, encouragement, sources, books and the very helpful lesbians and queer movies. Mba’ Lelly Sepniwati (Palangkaraya) for support and help, Kak Novianti Taweru (Papua) for a very critical discussion in the last minutes of the thesis accomplishment, Kak Uda (Mudalifa Mahmud, Gorontalo) for books and support, Sr. Marylin and Sr. Suzan Ningfa for praying, Mas Yayan (Lombok) and East Timor sister Nia Ximenes for being there when I was sick.

My deepest Gratitude to Uni (Noor Chairani, Yogyakarta) and her parents Bapak Drs. Psi. H. Hasyim Abdullah, MSi and Ibu Hj. Siti Nur Isnaini, BAA, for all their generosity for giving me a very comfortable and safe dwelling stay during the late 11 months in their home. Uni, thank you so much for taking me into your family. I can feel the real spirit of having complete family which I have never had before entering your home. And Bapak Sadino and Ibu Munti (Yogyakarta) family for their kindness in providing help, care and support.

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ABSTRACT

Tira Mariana. 2014.A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected Indonesian and English Language Short Stories.Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University.

The existence of lesbians and their rights in many countries remains a controversial issue. Lesbians are labeled by the society as being abnormal, sinners, mentally ill, etc. The discrimination, injustice and even violence toward lesbians keep happening. As a response to these facts, literature is used as part of lesbians’ struggle as a media to communicate, promote and campaign to this issue.

The purpose of this study is, first to reveal the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian and English language stories, starting from the way they perceive their feelings, sexual desire or orientation and relationship up to the background in becoming a lesbian. The second purpose is to find out the conflicts and the discriminations experienced by the lesbians in their life. There are 30 selected Indonesian and English short stories used in this study, taken from the lesbian websites and other published short stories collections.

This study uses Comparative Literature Approach in analyzing the similarity and the diversity of the way lesbians are portrayed. Lesbian Criticism and Queer Theory are applied to examine the issue of lesbian and lesbianism as an identity, as well as to reveal the complexity and the fluidity of sexuality represented through the lesbian characters, their conflicts and discriminations experienced in life.

The first finding of this study shows several similarities and differences. The differences are in Indonesian stories some lesbians perceive their feelings, sexual desire and relationship as predestination and others perceive it as a forbidden love, a mistake and a sin. While in English stories, lesbians perceive it as being different. The similarities are that they perceive it as something natural, normal, and unchangeable and not a mistake.

The second finding reveals that long term interactions, spontaneous or accidental feelings, environmental factors and early exposure to homosexuality, unhappy heterosexual married life, exploration and experiencing new sexual practice and personal choice are the reasons why women become lesbians.

(12)

ABSTRAK

Tira Mariana. 2014. Studi Banding Tentang Potret Lesbian dalam Tiga Puluh Cerpen Berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca-Sarjana Universitas Sanata Dharma

Keberadaan lesbian dan hak-hak mereka merupakan isu yang kontroversial di banyak negara. Lesbian dicap oleh masyarakat sebagai orang yang abnormal, pendosa, sakit, dll. Diskriminasi, ketidakadilan dan bahkan kekerasan terus dilakukan terhadap lesbian. Sebagai respon pada fakta-fakta ini, sastra digunakan sebagai bagian dari perjuangan lesbian untuk mengkomunikasikan, mempromosikan dan mengkampanyekan isu tersebut.

Tujuan pertama penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkapkan potret lesbian dalam cerpen-cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Mulai dari cara mereka memandang perasaan, hasrat atau orientasi seksual, dan hubungan yang mereka bangun sampai latar belakang yang menyebabkan mereka bisa menjadi lesbian. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk menemukan konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang dialami lesbian dalam kehidupan mereka. Ada 30 cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Cerpen-cerpen tersebut diambil dari website lesbian dan kumpulan-kumpulan cerpen yang sudah diterbitkan.

Penelitian ini menggunakan Pendekatan Sastra Bandingan dalam menganalisis persamaan dan perbedaan tentang cara lesbian dipotret dalam cerpen-cerpen tersebut. Kritik Lesbian dan Teori Queer digunakan untuk melihat isu lesbian dan lesbianisme sebagai sebuah identitas, juga untuk mengungkapkan kekompleksitasan dan kecairan sexualitas yang direpresentasikan lewat tokoh-tokoh lesbian, konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang mereka alami dalam kehidupan.

Hasil temuan pertama dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan beberapa persamaan dan perbedaan. Perbedaannya yaitu dalam cerpen berbahasa Indonesia beberapa lesbian mamandang perasaan, hasrat sexual and hubungan sesama jenis mereka sebagai sebuah takdir sementara lesbian yang lainnya memandang itu sebagai cinta terlarang, kesalahan dan dosa. Sedangkan dalam cerpen berbahasa Inggris, lesbian memandangnya sebagai sesuatu yang membuat mereka berbeda. Persamaannya adalah mereka sama-sama memandang perasaan dan orientasi sexual sebagai hal yang alami, normal, tidak dapat berubah dan bukanlah sebuah kesalahan.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL RESTLESSNESS

VS LESBIANS’ STORIES

A. Background of the Study

“Hey, what are you going to research for your thesis?”

“I am doing research on lesbian in Indonesian and Western Literature.”

“Why do you bother conducting research on lesbian literature?Who is actually the lesbian? The object of research or you yourself, as the researcher?”

I was shocked when someone asked me those questions. I was so surprised

at listening and responding to these comments. Should I also be considered as

lesbian because of my interest in studying lesbian literature? I opened this

paragraph by delivering a personal story of what happened to me when someone

asked me about the topic of my thesis. He automatically thought that I was a

lesbian, because I chose lesbian literature for my thesis topic. Why is it that when

someone does not know all the facts, they easily make unwise judgment without

confirming the information first? This example I personally experienced shows

that if we do not understand we will be mistaken. Thus, we should seek

information, try to understand others to avoid misunderstanding among each

others and try to understand so that others will not mistake us too.

In October 2009, I was sitting in fear because of my decision to join a

Queer Film Festival. A shorter name for the Queer Film Festival is Film.

Q-Film is a film festival organized by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender

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community. We were in a large comfortable building in one of universities in

Yogyakarta. It was around 8 pm. When we were ready to watch the film

scheduled by the committee, one of the committee members stood up be fore us.

She delivered a short speech to remind the audiences that this festival could be

under attack due to its content. Thus, she pointed out the location of the

emergency exits in case any sign of danger were to appear. The committee had

already been informed that the militant group; Islamic Defenders Front (FPI =

Front Pembela Islam), the Islamic fundamentalist group in Indonesia would come

to stop this program. And there could be a possibility they could use violence and

attack any of us who were at that place at that time. How ironic it is to live around

people and a majority society who are quick to label and judge somebody else,

without truly knowing what the essential issues are. At that time, I was

questioning myself. What if that night I had gotten injured or perhaps even died

only because of watching a QLGBT movie for the sake of my research? I know

that the FPI is notorious for its violence and anarchies actions.

We were watching the movie when suddenly one of the committee

interrupted to announce and apologize that we could not continue the program,

since the FPI was about to come. For this reason, the committee decided to end

the Q-Film Festival earlier to avoid being attacked by the FPI, which could harm

all of us. So, the Q-Film Festival ended abruptly without a closing statement or

ceremony, with the exception of a word of thank from the MC for coming that

night. Then, the audiences left the room through the emergency exits in a rush, but

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feel my fear from that night. The last information I got in that night was that after

all those in the audiences left the university, the committee members had to hide

themselves in a hotel. The FPI’s attack was failed because they could not find

either the participants or the committees of this festival.

I grew up in the environment which people consider and label themselves

as “normal.” During my 22 years, I personally have had no homosexual

experience. However, since I have been here in Yogyakarta and far away from my

family and my “normal” life environment in Jambi, I have met homosexual

people, interacted with them and even made friends with them. I try to learn about

them so that I can understand them and their way of life. Many of them have had a

more difficult life than most heterosexuals. Moreover, I propose it is not sufficient

information to only know lesbian and the issue of lesbianism only from their daily

life. I choose to learn them from other mediums, thus from literary perspective, as

well. Literature gives a space for people to voice out their true options and ideas

when they do not feel they can voice it due to societal norms in their daily lives.

Through literature we can speak unspoken things without any fear.

It was in 2010 when I was introduced to lesbian literature. In those days

when I began to research lesbian literary work, many questions came into my

mind, because it was really new experience for me. What does it actually mean to

be a lesbian? How can a woman fall in love with another woman? Why are there

women who love women, as if there are no more men to love? Why do so many

people hate lesbians? Should lesbian sexual desire be denied? Why are they

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etc? Why are they not accepted in their society or even among their own family?

Why should lesbians get married with men if they love women emotionally and

sexually? How can a married woman with children still be able to have sexual

experiences with another woman? Why is love and sexual desire to the same sex

considered to be evil and sinful? Is it wrong and a mistake if a woman loves

another woman? Then, if it is so, should they be punished? Who should punish

them? God? Society? The State? Nature? Or who? So, the only idea that came

into my mind then was: “Wow! Human sexuality is not as simple as I thought. It

is really complex”.

The existence of homosexual people in many countries remains a

controversial issue. They remain a minority community due to their sexual

orientation, not belonging to the common or majority sexual orientation

(heterosexual), they automatically get classified with negative images and

stereotypes. They are treated with injustice by society and even from the political

powers. Their tendency to have and express emotional and biological desire

toward the same sex is considered as abnormal. Society labels them with a variety

of stigmata or labels, such as abnormal, ill, sinful, dirty, evil, dangerous and other

labels. It is sad to see such discrimination, since all people, regardless of their

sexual orientation, or gender identity, should be able to enjoy the full range of

human rights without exception or exclusion from society. Yet, until today

homosexual people, especially lesbians, often get discrimination, such as social,

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For example, in Indonesia there is no law that exists to protect Indonesia

citizens from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation

or gender identity. LGBT people often suffer cruelty by the hands of the police

but it is hard to document due to victims refusing to give statements because of

their sexuality. Many LGBT people are often arrested, detained or charged due to

their sexual orientation and sometimes without clear reasons. In addition gays in

jails are sexually abused due to their sexual orientation, and often do not report it

due to being traumatized and fear of being sent back to prison to suffer further

abuse.1In America, gay and lesbian still face many kinds of discrimination until

today, for example in military, in obtaining jobs and housing, in using public

facilities (hotels and taverns), in areas of family law (right to marry, retain

custody of their children, adopt children, or provide foster care), as victims of

police harassment and violent hate crimes, and in AIDS-related discrimination.2

Lesbians are under attack through violent crimes, physical and

psychological abuse, sexual violence. These can occur at homes, schools,

workplaces, in places of worship or in the neighborhood. We can see from the

media that this is a global issue. Sexual orientation or gender identity that is

outside of mainstream society leads to the discrimination of these individuals in

the form of bias, abuse, violence, imprisonment, torture, or even execution. It is

shocking to know that people are being killed because of their sexual orientation

or gender expression.

1

Laurent Erick, "Sexuality and Human Rights", Journal of Homosexuality 40. 3&4 (2001): 163– 225.

2

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In Indonesia, lesbianism seems to become public. At first, lesbians tried as

much as possible to hide their true identity, but now they come together in a

forum or organizations so that everyone is able to know about their existence. On

April 19, 1981 a lesbian couple, Jessie (25) and Bonnie (22) ‘came out of the

closet’ by holding their marriage in a Pub located in Blok M district, Kebayoran

Baru, South Jakarta and their ceremony was attended by 120 guests.3Today there

are more than 30 LGBT organizations that spread over 21 big cities in Indonesia,

such as Jakarta, Manado, Makasar, Balik Papan, Pekan Baru, Lampung, Medan,

Banda Aceh, etc.

Therefore, many activists, not only homosexuals but also heterosexual

activists are still attempting to get equal rights for homosexuals. Moreover,

lesbians face double oppression from society; first because they are women and

second because of their sexual orientation. A variety of efforts is focusing on

lesbian and human rights in order to obtain the right to get married and protected

by law as heterosexual people do. The efforts come in the form of campaigns,

demonstrations, discussions and seminars, festivals. Also lesbian groups are

widespread on facebook and other internet sites, such as SepociKopi and

ReadTheseLips. These lesbian websites have become one of the objects of

research for this study.

However, many activists find their struggle has not been successful

enough because there is no immediate impact on lesbians and their rights. Thus a

new revolution of promoting this struggle is done through published literature.

3

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Literature is being used as medium to express this struggle. All these ways are not

done simply to show their rebellion to societal norms but because the lesbians

desire to be accepted and treated equally. They dream of a society where they are

protected from any kind of violence and discrimination against them due to their

sexual orientation.

In the frame of literature, as commonly literary piece being functioned,

many lesbian authors or even non-lesbian authors also use literature as medium to

express their experiences about lesbianism and its world. These authors use

literary work to bring forth the issue of homosexual. There are many literary

works written to express their feelings mostly focused on the emotion of sadness,

anger, hope and dream. Their literature also demonstrates the problems and

conflicts they experienced in their social environment. Their writing is in various

forms such as poetry, short story, and complete novels. Some of their central

themes are related to identity, feminism, politics, culture, and abuse.

Their bigger dream of these authors is to bring this ‘marginalzied world’

and its issues to the surface and view of main stream society. Their purposes are

to end the injustices and discrimination through the writing of literary works.

Their mission is to fight the rights of homosexuals in order that they may be

treated equally and considered "normal", both socially and politically. As stated

by Manaf4 that the option of being "silence", which is expected to provide

security and comfort for lesbian women turn out to provide no protection. It can

be seen from the attitudes and discriminatory actions against lesbians, such as

4

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beatings, forced to marry the opposite sex, even to the extreme of raping which all

in the pretext of bringing their sexual orientation back to "normal". In contrast,

World Health Organization has stated that being a homosexual (gay and lesbian)

is a normal and natural way of sexual expression.5

Then Manaf continued to say that to the young Indonesian lesbians these

bitter experiences and injustices are the reasons why they prefer to ‘stay in the

closet’. Thus, voicing the sexual rights of lesbian should be equal with the rest of

society so that they can have hope for a better life will not be stopped. Heroic

activists usually do demonstrations through peaceful protesting. Some come to the

House of Representatives to have dialogue with the government to gain support

politically. Unlike the effort done by these activists, Institut Pelangi Perempuan

(Indonesian Youth Lesbian Centre), SepociKopi and ReadTheseLips use another

strategy. It is by voicing those issues through the publishing of creative writings in

the forms of poetry and short fictions written by young and adult lesbians.

As mentioned earlier, the stories published in SepociKopi and

ReadTheseLipsas well asInstitut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth Lesbian

Centre) are the object of this study. SepociKopi is an Indonesian independent

online lesbian magazine. It was founded by two women who are concerned with

the movement of lesbians, Alex and Laskmi. In January 2007, they based a web

blog www.sepocikopi.blogspot.com. Early writings were merely personal

opinions written in their spare time. But it developed until the ideas that were

spawned critical and revolutionary to the Indonesian lesbian movement. These

5

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two women and their blog are now very influential. Their writings are followed by

other lesbian writers who continually broaden the breadth of topics ranging from

culture, lifestyle, and humanities. Their vision and mission is to inspire, reach out,

educate, move the hearts of the general public to possitive feelings especially

towards lesbians in order to improve their quality of life. They also have the

desire to create a broad and boundless virtual world lesbian community; in order

to inform like minded people of events, exchange of professional and acedemic

knowledge. SepociKopi wants to kindle more interest and education through

reading and writing trends, in the quality of the fields of information presented in

this lesbian magazine. MeanwhileInstitut Pelangi Perempuan(Indonesian Youth

Lesbian Centre) collected the young lesbians’ writings and published it on 17 Mei

2008 in IDAHO celebration day (International Day Againts Homophobia). These

collections of poems and short stories were published to show the Indonesian

young lesbians’ struggle to fight against homophobia and all discriminative

actions done toward lesbians in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Read These Lipsis different in that it is a collection of lesbian

short writings and creative works that are published into e-anthologies. It is

provided free of charge to all readers around the world. It is distributed via the

internet rather than through brick-and-mortar stores because the internet is a

medium that connects them more than any other in history and has the potential

to reach places that traditional print media may not. They want their readers to be

able to access their books anywhere and anytime. In spite of the availability of

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hard pressed to find affirming representations of their sexuality and their

lifestyles. Read These Lips is part of a growing group of queer publishers and

supporters who provide safe spaces for lesbians through literature.

The presence of these writings as explained by Manaf is expected to be a

media campaign. And at the same time to enrich Indonesian literature on lesbian

issues which are still very few in number. These published works function not

only as medium for them to deliver their daily life experience which usually

create problems either within themselves, their family and society, but also to gain

sympathy from the readers. It is also expected to be a better form of

communication with their family: father, mother, brother, sister, Indonesian

society and states; “Last but not least… our silence is not protecting us, and then

we choose to speak up.”6

Lesbian literature became a new issue in the 1990s. Popular

lesbian-themed literature itself has appeared in Indonesia 25 years ago. Since that era there

have been efforts by Indonesian authors to introduce the lesbian through literature.

The effort of those Indonesian writers in introducing and voicing this sensitive

world seems to be successful, if it is viewed from the response of Indonesian

society. For example, the production of some lesbian films which are adopted

from Indonesian novels which lesbians and their life become the themed centered.

Also a lesbian main character won an award Adikarya IKAPI and the Jakarta Arts

Council. The third champion Jakarta Arts Council in 2003, “Tabula Rasa”, set a

lesbian character as one of the main characters. In 2005, the novel of lesbian’s

6

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love story as the main element, “Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”

((Don’t Give Me Drugs (Last Seconds)) by Alberthiene Endah, was chosen by

IKAPI Adikarya as the best teenage book.7Then the response to lesbian literature

can also be said to have 'awakened' the world of Indonesian cinema through the

movie entitled “Detik Terakhir” was also created based on the novel “Jangan

Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”.

In Indonesian literary world, there are some works in which lesbians and

the issues of lesbians face appear in the form of short stories, for example a story

written by Seno Gumira Ajidarma which was published in 1997,Dua Perempuan

Dengan Hp-nya, and novels Kembang Kertas Ijinkan Aku Menjadi Lesbian

(2007)” by Eni Martini, Tabula Rasa (2003), Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (2004),

Garis Tepi Seorang Lesbian by HerlienaTiesn (2002), Suara Perih Perempuan

Lesbian dan Kawin Buleby Putri Kartini (2003), Gerhana Kembar by Clara Ng

(2007),Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen and Puisi Lesbian Muda Indonesia

by Institut Pelangi Perempuan (2008) and among others.

Short stories dealing with lesbian theme are interesting to be analyzed due

to the fact that lesbians and gay have become controversial issues in many

countries. Especially after knowing the real conditions of lesbians, it is interesting

to do research on how lesbians are portrayed in the literary works. It is important

to see what issues are pursued, how they struggle, how the lesbian are portrayed

7

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through literature, how they are focalized, etc. Homosexual, especially lesbian

literary pieces, have different and unique features compare to other literary works.

Lesbian literature is different because it usually shows the sexual orientation,

injustice and discrimination issues they get from their environment. Besides, in

English language short stories the authors openly reveal their identity even give

their photo. It is different in Indonesian stories where some of the authors usually

hide their true identity, by using pseudo name with no picture.

However, the homosexual literature, especially lesbian literary writings,

seem to be untouchable in the academic world. Neither in daily lives, such as

seminars, schools, academic institutions, even in universities these literature

works are not discussed. I personally have experienced the absence of our

professors and lecturers in pursuing homosexual literary works. During my own

studies in the undergraduate even in postgraduate, no gay or lesbian writings, such

as novels, short stories, or poems are used in a class discussion. The similar

situation also happens in America. Tyson tells us about uncomfortable atmosphere

in her class when lesbian and gay writings are conducted, since the stigma

attached to being thought as gay or lesbian is still quite strong in America today.

Thus, some of her students may be unwilling to express anything on the subject

until they see how the rest of their classmates respond. “As one of student told

me, after signing out a number of books on lesbian and gay theory form the

university library for a paper she was writing for my class, she wondered if the

students who waited on her at the circulation desk thought she were non-straight,

(29)

I’m not a lesbian!”8The situation experienced by this girl also happened to me as

I have narrated at the very beginning of this chapter. Then, Tyson continues to

explain that clearly in her college classrooms today, homosexuality is still

considered as an uncomfortable topic of discussion. And there are some literature

professors who simply avoid addressing lesbian and gay issues in college by not

specifically devoting a study on lesbian and gay writers. Moreover, at many

colleges, courses on gay and lesbian writers can be offered as “special topics”, but

they do not always occur as regular courses offering for English department

student.9 Homosexual writing is also part of literary world and it is a reflection of

society and cultural product, yet it is rarely discussed and therefore often

neglected. Thus, the absence of some literary classes on the subject of

homosexual or lesbian writers or themes reflects that this kind of literary piece

directly or indirectly has been ignored by the practitioners of literature.

Based on the reasons mentioned above, the reality of lesbians in the real

world and also their appearance in literature, I decided to examine the portraits of

lesbian in literary works. The idea of conducting this comparative study came

after several readings on lesbian literary works. Therefore, using the Indonesian

and English language short stories as the object of study was meant to find the

portrayal of lesbians not only in Indonesia but also in the Western countries which

are presented in the English language short stories. I analyze Indonesian lesbian

short stories taken from Institut Pelangi Perempuan and SepociKopi, while the

8

Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, (New York: Routledge. Taylor&Francis Group: 2006), p.317.

9

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English ones are taken formReadTheseLips. I found even though these literary

works are produced in different countries they have the same spirit, but at the

same time, they also have a variety of distinct characteristics. Therefore, it is

interesting to study the portrayal of lesbian through literary works since they

represent the lesbian world. The issues varies, not only limited in sexual

orientation and identity issues but also the issues dealing with the way lesbians

view her feeling, the way they conduct their relationship and life, background of

being a lesbian, problems and discrimination.

B. Scope of Study

Given the reasons outlined above, I focus my analysis on first, the way

lesbians perceive and define their feeling, sexual orientation and relationship and

the background or reasons of becoming a lesbian as depicted in the stories, and

second, conflicts and discriminations experienced by lesbians. The conflicts

discussed are the internal conflicts within the lesbians themselves psychologically,

in reacting and understanding her same-sex feeling and sexual orientation; and the

external conflicts which happen between lesbians with their partners and family as

well as discriminations experienced by lesbians in their life. The Lesbian

Criticism and Queer Theory will be used in this study. Thus, this research focuses

on the lesbian literary texts, i.e the texts which describe about lesbians, their

relationships, life, and that using lesbians as the main characters, regardless of the

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C. Research Questions

There are two formulated research questions related to this research to be

discussed:

1. How are lesbians portrayed in Indonesian and English language short

stories?

2. What kinds of conflicts and discriminations are faced by lesbians as shown

in those Indonesian and English language short stories?

D. Significance of the Study

Since this research deals with homosexual piece of writings, especially

describing lesbian relationships, this research can enrich and enlarge the

knowledge of other genres of literature about homosexual literature to the readers.

The study examines lesbians’ personal experience with their family, partner,

society, culture and the state. The readers can catch and understand the portrait of

lesbians, through the lesbian characters, their relationships and life which are

represented in the literary work.

Through this research, the readers learn about lesbians’ life and

relationship, their suffering, difficulty, discrimination and injustice that they

suffer, and the way they are treated by society. This study includes the Indonesian

and English language short stories. The readers hopefully understand who actually

lesbian is. Because, by having the understanding on homosexuals and their life,

people can be more tolerant and wise in their behaviour and reactions to lesbians.

It should be realized that all phenomenon are created and risen up from many

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minimize negative stigma and misunderstanding toward lesbians, especially

before judgment occurs. Misjudgment is normally done by people to this minor

group of people. Thus, I hope the reader would come to the understanding that

everybody is equal; that everyone would like to be appreciated and accepted the

way they are. Thus, the marginalization among human being due to their sexual

orientation can be avoided, and the harmony of life is created. Being minority

does not constantly mean “different”, “abnormal”, “evil”, and “social illness”

because they are different to the majority.

This study may also encourage other researchers and practitioners of

literature to be more aware of the variety of literary works to create a broader

view of research. Instead of doing research on heterosexual authored works only,

more research on homosexual author’s writing or text is expected to encourage the

other literary students to find more research topics develop perspective and theory

of literature.

Since the result of this study provides new or other perspective of viewing

the lesbians and their relationships, the understanding of the readers are reshaped

so as to become more empathetic and expand their understanding on human

sexuality so that social equality can be gained. When we read, we will learn to see

life from a variety of perspectives and avoid unwise single interpretation or

judgment of the issue being read. Last, but not the least, this research is expected

to raise awareness and encourage the lecturers and students to feel free in

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E. Research Method

This research is qualitative. It used qualitative method because the data

were delivered and explained descriptively. As this study was a comparative

study, there were some steps of research procedures used in this research.

Firstly, I did the data collection through library research. Short stories

were chosen to be the material objects. But I applied close reading on several

short stories and read critically the Indonesian and English language short stories,

in order to get a better understanding on the portrayal of lesbians, to grasp the tone

and the issues in the stories. Finally, I chose to study 30 short stories to be the

material objects in this study. I collected all data by reading, marking and making

notes on words, sentences, paragraphs, dialogues, and important statements of the

characters and in the narratives.

Secondly, I analyzed the data by identifying, classifying, describing,

interpreting and explaining the data. Then, I compared the data in these short

stories to find similarities and differences among them. Applying the theories

chosen, I cross-checked the information obtained from the fiction with other

sources, such as sociology, culture, and history texts, encyclopedias, journals, etc.

The last was evaluation and contextualization. This last step was done to the study

results entirety.

This study used 30 selected short stories as the material object. The

primary data in this research were taken from 17 Indonesian and 13 English

language selected short stories with lesbians and their life themes as well as

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The Indonesian lesbian short stories were taken from “Pelangi Perempuan

Kumpulan Cerpen and Puisi Lesbian Muda Indonesia” published by Institut

Pelangi Perempuan (2008). In this book all the authors are lesbians. Other

Indonesian lesbian short stories were taken from the collection of selected short

stories published in Lesbian Weblog SepociKopi, www.sepocikopi.com,written

by heterosexual and homosexual authors. The Indonesian short stories were “Bilik

Religius” (Lez Moslem), “Bunga Sakura di Hati Nia” (Sakura), “Gak Penting

Banget gitu loch” (Little Dyke), “Ketika Langit Senja” (Alvi. AH), “Menggapai

Langit Ke-7” (Estha Vadose), “Putus” (NV), “Potongan-Potongan Di Kartu Pos”

(Agus Noor), “Tahi Lalat Di Punggung Istri Ku” (Ratih Kumala), “Hari Ini, Esok

dan Kemarin” (Maggie Tiojakin), “Un Soir du Paris” (Stefany Irawan), “Sebilah

Pisau” (Cok Sawitri), “Saga” (Shantined), “Lelaki Yang Menetes Di Tubuhku”

(Ucu Agustin), “Lesbi” (Tommy F. Awuy), “Rahasia Bulan” (Clara Ng) and

“Lari” (Nuage Kusuma). The English translation versions of the Indonesian

language short story quotations are translated by the writer herself while

presenting the original.

The English language short stories were taken from the collection of

selected lesbian short fiction entitled “ReadTheseLips”, published at

www.readtheselips.com. Vol. I (2007): “The Blush” (Renee Strider), “The

Women’s Pool” (Beatriz Copello), “Getting Home” (JL Nicky), “The Eyes of

March” (A.K Niken), “Hearth Break” (Shady Lady), “Memory Puzzle” (Anne

Azel), “Driving Philosophies” (Anne Azel). Vol. II (2008): “To Dance With No

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“Where There’s Smoke” (J.E Knowles), “True Love” (Georgia Beers), Vol. IV

(2010): “Sing If You’re Glad” (Rachel Green) and “A Day in Vermont” (R. G.

Emanuelle). Over all, there were 30 short stories that become the object of

research in this study. In quoting the stories in the analysis chapter, the writer used

abbreviation listed in a table below to refer to the title of the stories and

pagination (page number) only.

Table: List of Short Stories

NO INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES YEAR

TITLE AUTHOR

1 “Bilik Religius” (BR) ”Religious Chamber”

Lez Moslem

2008 2 “Bunga Sakura Dihati Nia” (BSDN)

”Sakurain Nia’s Heart”

Sakura

3 “Gak Penting Banget Gitu Loch” (GPBGL)

7 “Hari ini, Esok dan Kemarin” (HIEK) “Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday”

Maggie Tiojakin 2011

8 “Lelaki Yang Menetas Ditubuh Ku” (LYMDK)

"The Man Who Hatched in My Body"

Ucu Agustins

12 “Tahi Lalat Di Punggung Istri Ku” (TLDPIK)

“The Mole in My Wife’s Back”

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I chose all these selected stories to be the main data, because each story

depicted and represented the lesbian in different perspectives and views. "Two Women and Their Cell Phones"

14 “Un Soir Du Paris” (USDP) “An Evening in Paris”

NO ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES YEAR

TITLE AUTHOR

1 “The Blush” (TB) Renee Strider

(Canadian)

Volume I 2007

2 “The Women’s Pool” (TWP) Beatriz Copello

(Sydney, Australia)

3 “Getting Home” (GH) JL Nicky

4 “The Eye of March” (TEOM) K. Niken

(Pennsylvania)

5 “Heart Break” (HB) Shady Lady

(Southern)

6 “Memory Puzzle” (MP) Anne Azel

(England)

7 “Driving Philosophies” (DP) Anne Azel

(England) 8 “To Dance With No Music”

(TDWNM) 10 “Where There’s Smoke” (WTS) J.E Knowles

(American, Upper East

Tennessee) Volume

III 2009

11 “True Love” (TL) Georgia Beers

(Canadian, living in New York)

12 “Sing If You’re Glad” (SIYG) Rachel Green (England)

Volume IV 2010 13 “A Day In Vermont” (ADIV) R. G. Emanuelle

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Moreover, different authors were a combination of homosexual and heterosexual

authors as to help me find more varieties of how lesbians were portrayed from

each view point. The stories chosen were all published in the 2000s in order to

obtain relatively current issues of lesbianism. Meanwhile, the secondary data used

to support this research were found in essays or articles, journals, books, cyber

data, and the previous research results.

Since this study focused on the portrayal of lesbians, the way they

perceive their feelings, sexual desire or orientation and relationship, the

background in becoming a lesbian as well as the conflicts and the discriminations

experienced by the lesbians in their life their internal and external conflicts,

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review on Related Theories

1. Lesbian andHerstory

Lesbian [฀lɛzbɪən] is a girl or a woman who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to the same sex, namely to other girls or women. A lesbian

is sometimes called as a gay woman, or a homosexual woman, but the word

lesbian is usually preferred. “Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English

language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may

be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are

characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality,

or as an adjective, to describe the characteristics of an object or activity related to

female same-sex desire”.10

Lesbianism is defined by Humm as the condition of emotional and sexual

relationships between women or between self-identified lesbians.11 Faderman in

Surpassing the Love of Menuse this lesbianism term to describe women writers

and thinkers throughout Western history who had feelings of love for, emotional

attachment to, or sexual attraction to, other women.12 Lesbianism is similar to

sapphism or female homosexuality, the quality or state of intense emotional and

10

Mayahuskee, “Label Me Lesbian: A Guide to Types of Lesbians”. A lesbian Journal (February 2010)< http://mayahuskee.deviantart.com/journal/Label-Me-Lesbian-A-Guide-to-Types-of-Lesbians-214218387>

11

Maggie Humm, The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1990), p. 117.

12

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usually erotic attraction of a woman to another woman. First used in the late 16th

century, the word "lesbian" referred to the Greek island of Lesbos.

However, the more common usage of lesbianism describes a female

homosexual which was coined by a lesbian poet Sappho (c. 610 –c. 580 BC) in

the late 19th century who commonly wrote homo-erotic poetry. Thus, lesbian is

recognized as a romantic feeling between women. In other words, it can be

defined as a sexual relationship of a woman with another woman, either in

long-term relationships or simply in short-long-term ones. The issues concerning the

lesbians in Europe and North America happened at the turn of the 21st century in

terms of legal recognition for same-sex unions, child-rearing rights, women's

health-care, taxes, inheritance, and the sharing of medical benefits with a

partner.13Brooten uses the “lesbian” term to refer to “a woman who behave like a

man (i.e., usurps a male culturall role) and is oriented towards female companions

for sex”.14 She explains that this definition accords with the Roman-period

cultural conceptualizations of female homoeroticism.

2. Lesbian Criticism

Humm defines lesbian feminism as “a belief that women-identified

women, committed together for political, sexual and economic support, provides

an alternative model to male/female relations which lesbians see as oppressive”.15

According to Charlotte Bunch, Ti-Grace Atkinson, and Andrienne Rich, lesbian

feminism engages both a sexual preference and a political choice because it

13

Maggie Humm, The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, p. 117.

14

Bernadette J. Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, (Chicago&London: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), p. 17.

15

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rejects male definitions of women’s lives. Both the institution and the ideology of

heterosexuality are attacked by Lesbian feminism because of considered as being

centre of patriarchy. Thus, lesbian feminism is a movement of female or a variety

of feminist belief and practice which emphasize on sexual and or political goal. It

is a cultural movement and critical perspective that questions the position of

women and lesbians in society in the 1970s up to early 1980s.

There is historical background why lesbian feminist rising. One of them

was influenced by the dissatisfaction of some feminists within the feminist

movement itself. Feminist movement is considered unsuccessful to answer the

whole range of women problems, because it neglected the sexual oppression of

women or lesbian. Around 1970s, a variety of groups within the feminist

movement initiated to convey their dissatisfaction with a collective feminism that

they increasingly saw as shaped by the interests of the dominant group within the

movement: white, middle-class, collage-educated, and heterosexual women16.

Consequently, the groups that did not or could not identify with this mainstream

progressively separate itself from the conventional feminism to formulate their

own feminism. The examples of some independent groups of feminist are black

feminists, Chicana feminists and lesbian feminist. As maintained by lesbian

feminists, the mainstream feminists questioned the traditional views of gender,

although they are failed to question the traditional views of the same-sex relation.

Thus, lesbian feminism turns away from the conventional feminism to pursue its

own separate trail.

16

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Lesbian criticism and feminist criticism initiated efforts to fight patriarchal

oppression. There are differences among the two types of criticism, i.e. feminist

and lesbian criticisms. The initial criticism gives major concern on “sexism” in

patriarchal domain, whereas lesbian criticism deals with both sexism and

heterosexism. Therefore, lesbian critics address the issues of psychological,

social, economic and political oppressions encouraged by patriarchy and

heterosexisms.17

According to the history, since the mid-1980s, lesbians have contested the

marginalization fostered by heterosexual feminist; while color and working class

lesbians have refused to be marginalized by white middle-class lesbians. Hence,

Tyson emphasizes that “This criticism therefore has remained one of the richest

and exciting issues of research and political activity”.18 One of the highly

interesting questions is the definition of lesbian itself and how someone can be

identified as a lesbian.

In answering the above mentioned question, there are a number of critical

opinions from different literary scholars. Similar to this question is “can a lesbian

be defined as a woman who has sex with another woman?” If this question is

answered based on heterosexualism, this would mean that virgins who thought of

themselves as heterosexual would have no right to call themselves heterosexuals

unless and until they had genital sex with man.19 Therefore, it brings us to the

conclusion that one’s sexuality must be defined in terms of one’s sexual desire

and sexual activity.

17

Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, p. 323.

18

19

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According to Tyson, a more appropriate definition of a lesbian is “a

woman whose sexual desire is directed toward women”.20 According to her

opinion this definition has an advantage in identifying a heterosexual married

woman as a lesbian. Because of the fact that there are some married women who

were romantically and sexually attracted to women rather than to men even

though they may have loved and respected their husbands,. For example, Virginia

Wolf who had affair with Vita Sackville-West when she was still legally married

with her husband.21

Another focus of lesbian criticism is “romantic friendship” in 19th century

in Britain and America. In this kind of relationship there is passionate attachment

and tenderest love expressions, but there is no evidence of sexual activity or

desire. Therefore, it is not reasonable to argue that expressions of passion such as

“I love you my darling, more than I can express, more than I am conscious of

myself”, are indicating sexual desire, or a kind of sexual activity. Tyson explains

that at this period of time is known for its overblown sentimentally and excesses

of verbal expression, and effusions of physical affection between women. All of

those things were accepted, even encouraged, by patriarchy as charming displays

of women’s “overemotional nature”.22 Therefore, from female romantic

friendships perspective in this 19thcentury, it is treated as an appropriate subject

for lesbian analysis, whether or not they involved sexual desire or activity.

Tyson states that defining sexual activity or sexual desire today has a risk

of ignoring an important dimension of women’s life. That may be well understood

20

21

22

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by lesbians. She indicates that in order to do away with this ignorance and to

promote solidarity among all women, some lesbian theorists have suggested that

lesbian identity is not limited to the sexual domain. In contrast, lesbian identity

consists of directing one’s attention and emotional energy to other women and

having other women as one’s primary source of emotional and psychological

support.23Andrienne Rich calls this a “lesbian continuum”. She says: “it includes

a range - through each woman’s life and throughout history - of woman-identified

experience, not simply the fact that a woman has had or consciously desired

genital sexual experienced with another woman”.24 Women-identified experience

can be emotional bonding through shared work or play, the giving and receiving

of psychological support, and the shared experience of joy in life. Then, Berry

also explores that this lesbian continuum “designates a wide variety of female

behavior, running, for instance, from informal mutual help networks set up

women within particular professions or institutions, through supportive female

friendships and finally, to sexual relationships.”25 Meanwhile Zimmerman

emphasizes that it is as interconnections among the various ways in which women

bond together.26

Furthermore, some lesbian theorists argue that by denying men access to

their bodies, lesbians deny patriarchy and heterosexuality as its main component.

This means lesbianism could be a tool, a tool that is used to end patriarchy and

heterosexuality. Such kinds of lesbians are sometimes called separatists since they

23

24

25

Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, (Manchester&New York: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 142.

26

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try by all means to disassociate themselves from all men (esp. male domination),

including gay men, and from heterosexual women or even from the lesbians who

do not share their view.27That is the reason why from the separatism perspective

lesbianism is not merely an issue of personal sexuality. It also has a political

mission. However, separatism is not only a way of fighting patriarchy and

heterosexuality. It also means to save other purposes in the lives of women, to

provide protection and security for women. For example, it serves as the provision

of shelters for beaten (physical abuse) women, divorce, women studies programs,

legalization of abortion and many other issues facing women.28

Another more critical question is in what way a literary work can be

acknowledged as a lesbian text. Responding to this problem, Tyson remarks the

complexity in indicating whether a particular writer is a lesbian or not. Hence, we

cannot depend on the author’s sexual orientation to categorize a text as a lesbian

text, especially after given the preceeding definition of that term (lesbian).

Furthermore, she states that “Even if we know it, we cannot be too sure to tell

whether or not we are reading a lesbian text”29.

In spite of the complexity, Zimmerman provides three categories to

determine the lesbian text. The first category emphasizes on the sexual orientation

of the author, whether she is a lesbian or not. The second one implies on the

content of the story, whether it tells about the life of a lesbian or not. The final

category concentrates more on the theme of story, whether it talks about the

27

28

29

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“vision” of lesbianism or not.30Based on these categories, lesbian literature can be

defined as works which deal with lesbian and or lesbianism. It involves lesbian

characters, plot or theme portraying lesbians and their life as well as their

relationship written by lesbians and non-lesbian authors.

3. QueerTheory

Queermeans strange or unusual.31The word ‘queer’ itself means across –

it come from the Indo-European root-twerkw, which also yields the Germanquer

(transverse), Latintorquere (to twist), Englishathwart… Keenly, it is relational,

and strange.32 Queer is a word used as an offensive way of describing a

homosexual. It is used as a taunt against gays and lesbians. The word was later

adopted by its own so that the element of mockery disappeared. Tyson explains

that the word queer is ‘adopted as an inclusive category for referring to a common

political or cultural ground shared by gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and all people

who considers themselves, for whatever reasons, non-straight’.33 According to

Tyson, the homophonic word queer, though that this ‘term is a tool for oppression,

but it is also a tool for change’. Thus, it is used by gay men and women

themselves as an approach within their own discipline “to demonstrate that

heterosexists shouldn’t be allowed to define gay and lesbian experience.”34 For

example; “You don’t tell us who we are - we tell you who we are! “We’re not

30

Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, p. 146.

31

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 5thed, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p.1037.

32

Julian Wolfreys, Literary Theories: A Reader And Guide, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,1999), p. 532.

33

Louis Tyson, Critical Theory Today, p. 334.

34

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afraid to be seen”, “We are proud to be different!.” Or “We’re here, we’re queer –

get used to it!” is used as a very popular slogan.

Alexander Doty defines several different meanings of queer. To him it

has come to mean many things. First, it is used simply as synonym to refers to

lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Second, it is an “umbrella term” used to

called “non-straight” positions.” Third, it is used to describes any non-normative

expression of gender, including straight. Fourth, it is used to describe

“non-straight things” not clearly sign-posted as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender

but that bring with them a possibility for such a reading, even if incoherently.

Fifth, it is used to locate the “non-straight work, positions, pleasure, and reading

of people who don’t share the same sexual orientation as the text they are

producing or responding to.” And the last, according to Doty “queer” may be a

particular form of cultural readership and textual coding that creates spaces not

contained within conventional categories such as gay, straight and

transgendered.35

Queer theory is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s

out of the fields of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) studies and

feminist studies. In Queer Theory, queer word had a wider meaning than just

another word for homosexual. What is meant with all sorts of queer sexual

orientation outside of normative heterosexuality. Queer theory allows us to view

the world from perspectives other than those which are generally validated by the

35

A comparative study on the portrayal of lesbians in thirty selected Indonesian and English language short stories.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF

LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the

Magister Humaniora (M. Hum)

Degree

in English Language Studies

TIRA MARIANA

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF

LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI

KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected

Indonesian and English Language Short Stories

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

ABSTRAK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL RESTLESSNESS

VS LESBIANS’ STORIES

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW