Abstract
This chapter argues that lesbian women in Macedonia, their everyday practices, experiences of violence and discrimination as well as their struggles for human rights are unheard, marked as socially unimportant or unworthy. The lesbian political voice has in recent history become more of a silent ornament in the two major political and social discourses, the one of the gay rights movement and the other of the women’s movement. These practices of silencing the lesbian voice in the name of “the bigger picture” make possible the construction and framing of hegemonic political space marked as commonsensical, privileged, and patriarchal. Silence, I argue, is a core political strategy that marginalises lesbians and lesbian voices not only in the general public sphere, but also within the two domains where lesbian activism belongs: gay rights and feminism. Silence becomes a performative gesture that perpetuates the public’s lack of knowledge regarding female homosexuality.
Translated from Macedonian by Julija Micova.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ainley, R. (1995). What is she like? Lesbian identities from the 1950s to the 1990s. London: Cassell.
Altman, D. (1994). Power and community: Organisational and cultural responses to AIDS. London: Taylor and Francis.
Anderson, T. J. (2003). The use of silence as a political rhetorical strategy, Unpublished master’s thesis, Eastern Illinois University.
Being LGBTI in Eastern Europe: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, National LGBTI Report, UNDP and USAID, 2017. Retrieved on January 25, 2018, from www.eurasia.undp.org/.
Brandão, A. M. (2009). Not quite women: Lesbian activism in Portugal. Retrieved on October 15, 2017, from https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt.
Cvetkovic, I. (2007). Orgazmicni pisma. Skopje: Gjurgja.
Dimitrov, S., & Kolozova, K. (2011). Sexualities in transition: Discourses, power and sexual minorities in transitional Macedonia. In K. Daskalova, H. C. Tomic, K. Kaser, & F. Radunovic (Eds.), Gendering post-socialist transition: Studies of changing gender perspectives (pp. 151–187). Vienna: LIT Verlag.
Haraway, D. (1991). The Cyborg manifesto: Science, technology and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. Retrieved on February 3, 2010, from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html.
Lorde, A. (1984/2007). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press.
Miškovska Kajevska, A. (2016). Growing oppression, growing resistance: LGBT activism and Europeanisation in Macedonia. In B. Bilić (Ed.), LGBT Activism and Europeanisation in the post-Yugoslav space: On the rainbow way to Europe (pp. 81–116). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Perez, T. L., & Dionisopoulos, G. N. (1995). Presidential silence, C. Everett Koop, and the Surgeon General’s report on AIDS. Communication Studies, 46(1–2), 18–33.
Škarić-Murdževa, O. (1996). A woman’s vision: Priorities, projects and strategies. Skopje: Macedonian Union of Women’s Organisations.
Vrangalova, S. (2011). Treatment of homosexuality in the Macedonian educational system. In Ž. Trajanoski (Ed.), (Homo)sexuality in Macedonian education (pp. 24–43). Skopje: Coalition SHRMC.
Women Studies. (2001). First generation of women studies 2000/2001. Skopje: Union of Women Organizations in Macedonia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cvetkovic, I. (2019). Breaking the Silence: Lesbian Activism in Macedonia. In: Bilić, B., Radoman, M. (eds) Lesbian Activism in the (Post-)Yugoslav Space . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77754-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77754-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77753-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77754-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)