Dyke Drama: Andrea Long Chu’s Females, Lesbian Refusal, and Polemic Eroticism

• In Event: Gender, Sexuality, and Resistance

Abstract

Monique Wittig’s infamous assertion that lesbians are not women in “The Straight Mind” (32), Zoe Leonard’s “I Want a Dyke for President”, Jill Johnston’s Lesbian Nation, pretty much everything that Andrea Dworkin ever did—some of the most well-known examples of feminist polemic—are all distinctly lesbian. Certainly, these are not the only instances of feminist polemic, and there are others one might be (even) less inclined to claim, tending even further into some of the reactionary, separatist impulses on display. In this paper, nonetheless, I will advocate for an understanding of polemic as not just a feminist form, but a lesbian one, thus theorizing lesbian refusal beyond separatism. In order to do so, I will engage in a close reading of Andrea Long Chu’s Females, who revives and transes this long-held tradition of lesbian polemic via her provocative assertion that everyone is female, and everyone hates it (1). As Adrienne Rich contends, “lesbian existence comprises both the breaking of a taboo and the rejection of a compulsory way of life.” (649) Lesbianism has much to do with renunciation, often of lesbianism itself, as Sara Ahmed reveals in her consideration of Agnes Martin and other historical figures who denied the label even as they engaged in sex and relationships one might characterize as lesbian, insomuch as they were between two women. Political lesbianism misunderstood the nature of this refusal, which was one of forced relationship to men—but more importantly of the heterosexist society that manufactured and necessitated these relationships—and which was animated by desire.

Author

• S. N. Dowdy, CUNY Graduate Center