| Summary: | 碩士 === 世新大學 === 性別研究所 === 99 === Drawing on butch lesbians’interpretation of the concept “butch lesbian”and the experiences of lesbian intimate relationships, this research study clarifies how each butch lesbian understands the special meanings under their individual life experiences and social and cultural co-structures. This study also takes into consideration, in the homosexual and patriarchal society and cultural context, with differences of social situation, how these butch lesbians’female identity and multiple identifications affect their cognitions of butch lesbian identifications and imaginations of sexual practices. With these data and analysis, the research could explain how butch lesbians’ sexual practices are being formed by the social cultural contexts and homosexual discourses. Through each interviewee’s interpretation of “butch lesbian” identity and disclosure of sexual practices, this thesis finds out more diverse body images and sexual interactions.Research questions are mainly put into three dimensions and listed as follows: how the “butch lesbian” concept is interpreted by the subject in the social and cultural interactions; how these butch lesbians interpret their body experiences with the “butch lesbian” identity and separate contexts; how the possibilities of these butch lesbians’sexual desire developments; and how these butch lesbians create different sexual desires and interests. Research methods include semi-structured interviews, with self-identified butch lesbians who have ever had woman-woman sex, and who are willing to share their experiences. Twelve interviews are conducted with snowball sampling from June 2009 to October 2010. Each interview is conducted for 1.5 to 3 hours with 1 to 3 follow-up interviews added if necessary.
Research findings show that based on the uniqueness of life experience of each subject, the discrepancies cannot be explained through general definitions, yet back to the contexts of personal experiences, including the concepts of masculinities, the ways of involvement in lesbian subculture, the interpretations of gender roles within relationships, or strategies of sexual practices in lesbian relationships. How the differences of participants’ interpretation of “butch lesbian” identity influence the ways in which butch-identified lesbians see their body images and interactions in intimate relationships, including the subjects’ interpretation of the body boundaries in intimate relationships, the imaginations and paradoxes of sexual interactions, and the special rules formed by a combination of the discourses of lesbian sexual desire with the course of sexual interactions. Furthermore, through the individual lesbians’ experiences of sexual interactions and developments of lesbian intimate relationships, the participants reverse the imaginations of butch lesbian sexual practices under lesbian subculture, developing different and diverse pairs of sexual desire. By participants’ diverse presentations in sexual practices, this study clarifies, deconstructs and reconstructs the articulations of identification and sexual practices within lesbian culture. This thesis clearly describes the ways in which these butch lesbians interpret their identity and the strategies of sexual practices from the angels of personal experiences, empowering the participants and practice-doer as a subject to voice themselves.
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