The lesbian feminist community is beginning to question the patriarchal oppression of women in the same way it has looked at the oppression of women through rigid, traditional roles. It is a difficult struggle, for even though lesbians have rejected the assumption that a woman's purpose in life is to attract a man, they have still been socialized to attempt to mold their bodies to fit man's image of women.
Women and men in our society undergo a different socialization process. From early childhood women are taught that their appearance is a crucial aspect of their lives whereas men are taught that their accomplishments are what counts. Not only is appearance important for a woman but the appearance must come as close as possible to whatever the current media image of women happens to be. Often that image can only be achieved by a minority of the population. The end result of this impossible quest is that most women are unhappy with their bodies and suffer from negative body image.
Lesbians are a segment of the female population who have undergone the same socialization process as all women but have rejected traditional female values. A lesbian tends to resist male domination and through this resistance is able to escape the social and biological bindings from patriarchal society. Lesbians do not think of themselves as objects to be defined by male subjects. Therefore it seems lesbians ought to be able to escape from the negative body image and lack of self-acceptance that other women in our society suffer from. And yet many lesbians, even feminist lesbians, have bought into society's myths and suffer from body image disturbance.
All human beings develop a body image (mental representation of their body) which shapes their body concept and a self-concept. The self-concept is what a person thinks she is like and has cognitive and affective aspects. The body concept is the value-laden aspect of body image. Body concept and self-concept are related to each other and affect a person's self esteem, especially for women. Historically a woman's body concept and self-concept have been tied to the roles prescribed for her under the dominant, male, patriarchal culture. Women have needed to be attractive in order to catch a man and be assured of economic survival.
Before exploring how lesbians have been affected by the patriarchal standard of body image for women, it is important to briefly examine the lesbian experience within our society and the movement toward political, feminist, lesbianism. Lesbians have been viewed by the rest of society as either abhorant, deviant, or nonexistent. Rejection of the traditional female role, a primary commitment to women, and a questioning of every aspect of heterosexuality, including the male image of a female body are consistent themes in the thinking of lesbians.
Lesbians live and work within the heterosexual, patriarchal society. The socialization process of all women teaches lesbians that privilege and power comes with an acceptable appearance. Lesbians, as women, find that sexualizing women is part of the working world. Women have to market their attractiveness especially in the economic world and a closeted lesbian in the job market must also play this game. So, lesbians, even radical lesbians trying to fit in, act out the culture's dislike and fear of women's bodies, with all the mystery and power they represent. In acting out this dislike, lesbians suffer all the negative feelings about themselves and their bodies that non-lesbian women suffer.
Through clear examination of the attitudes of society about the body image of women from a patriarchal point of view, lesbians are beginning to form their own ideas about what a woman should look like. Lesbian feminists are attempting to create positive, self-affirming ways of reacting to and claiming back, women's bodies. Lesbians' willingness to look squarely into the ideas of the partriarchy and redefine society's image is courageous and challenging and can possibly, over time, make a difference for all women.
