Protagoniste invisibili. Del lesbofemminismo italiano e delle butch tra femminismo e transfemminismo

Abstract

Fifty years after Stonewall, Italian lesbian activism is deeply divided on various issues. On one side, the feminists of ArciLesbica, self-described radical lesbians, who are opposed to the commodification of the woman’s body and surrogacy, as well as being hostile to “queer fluidification”. On the opposite side of the spectrum are a complex galaxy of movements and acronyms that recognize themselves in transfeminism and in an intersectional struggle against gender violence. Without the pretense of pacifying the ongoing conflicts, this article attempts to rethink the current public discourse, beginning with a reflection on the contribution of lesbians to the elaboration of a political culture and a way of life capable of challenging sexual binarism and its hierarchical structure. Such reflection will discuss Italian lesbian-feminist movement of the 1980_s and the relevance of butch-femme question in North American queer theory, especially the one of Judith Butler and Jack J. Halberstam.

Keywords: Italian lesbian activism, lesbian-feminism, butch-femme, queer theory.