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Vanishing Act: Non-straight Identity Narratives of Women in Relationships with Women and Men

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Abstract

This research examines how women who experience a change to a partner of a different gender make sense of this shift both to themselves and to others. Specifically, the study draws on 32 interviews conducted with self-identified lesbian, bisexual and queer women who have moved from relationships with female partners to relationships with male partners. None of the women interviewed sought to identify themselves as straight or heterosexual. Many, instead, tried to negotiate non-straight identities. We conclude that women, in doing their non-straight identities, mainly rely upon a strategy of narrative, including narratives of attraction, choice of men and challenging homophobia.

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Notes

  1. In addition to the narrative strategies, a few women also used their bodies to showcase a non-straight identity, by manipulating their dress and hairstyles to echo those socially read as lesbian. We address this aspect of the identity negotiation in another manuscript.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participants who so generously shared their stories with us. This research was made possible by a dissertation fellowship from the Charles P. Taft Research Center, University of Cincinnati. We thank David Smilde, Rebecca Hanson, and the anonymous reviewers, at Qualitative Sociology. We also thank the following colleagues for their useful insights: Steve Carlton-Ford, Erynn Masi de Casanova, Stephan Groschwitz, Jaime McCauley and Rhys H. Williams.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Sociology, Columbia College, 1001 Rogers Street, Columbia, MO, 65216, USA

    Ahoo Tabatabai

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati, 1021 Crosley Tower, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0378, USA

    Annulla Linders

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  1. Ahoo Tabatabai
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  2. Annulla Linders
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Correspondence to Ahoo Tabatabai.

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Tabatabai, A., Linders, A. Vanishing Act: Non-straight Identity Narratives of Women in Relationships with Women and Men. Qual Sociol 34, 583–599 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-011-9202-4

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