title: Considering lesbian identity from a social-psychological perspective: two different models of "being a lesbian".
abstract: One long-standing project within lesbian studies has been to develop a satisfactory working definition of "lesbian." This article proposes two new models of a definition using principles of social psychology. Each model (a) utilizes the premise that gender lacks a categorical essence and (b) separates behavioral adherence to cultural stereotypes of femininity and masculinity from one's gender self-categorization. From these premises, I generate and critique two internally coherent models of lesbian identity that are inclusive (to different degrees) of various gender identities. For each model, the potential inclusion of trans men, trans women, genderqueers, and lesbian-identified cisgender men is evaluated. The explanatory power of these models is twofold. One, the models can serve as theoretical perspectives for scholars who study the intersection of gender and sexual identity. Two, the models can also characterize the everyday experience of people who have tacit working definitions of lesbian identity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132, USA. ctate2@sfsu.edu
authors.forename: Charlotte Chuck
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Tate
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012649:Self Concept; D012925:Social Conformity; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping