Lesbianism and the use of public space: Social backlash and avoidance in French urban areas
Drawing upon a survey of homosexual women performed in 2010 and 2012, the present article is concerned with the different forms by which lesbians appropriate public space in France. The question of visibility is central here, as it is to contemporary discussions via both the recognition of homosexuality, as well as the struggle against forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation. For our purposes, the notion of public space will be considered as a place in which interaction occurs: places which have identities construed from the sexual orientation of their occupants as well as the places which do not. We will question the impact of the heterosexual norm and that of the social hierarchy of sexes regarding the lesbians’ conditions of movement in the public space. This paper aims to identify the different strategies of visibility and invisibility, in order to highlight all forms of specific discriminations experienced by lesbians. And thus, to shed light on the public space heteronormativity.