In this article I consider working-class lesbians' views and experiences of
commercialized scene space as these venues change in light of social, economic and
political developments. Working-class lesbians both participated in and felt
excluded from scene spaces, often criticizing them as 'pretentious' and 'unreal' for
their cosmopolitan gloss. In this upgrading a politicized perspective was believed
to have been sacrificed or in jeopardy, threatened by gendered and classed
consumer-based expectations and inhabitations. The reproduction of such space via
regeneration and sophistication mediates the construction of lesbian styles,
appearances and identities, demarcating boundaries of inclusion across time and
place. Interviewees spoke of scene developments and changes with a sense of loss,
even nostalgia; their descriptions frequently conjured up binaries of now/then,
political/apolitical, marginal/mainstream, metropolitan/provincial —
producing an uneasy situation in and out of place. Such
positionings illustrate material, embodied and felt exclusions, and tenuous
inclusions, as this space is negotiated, contested and rejected.
Adler, Sy
and
Brenner, Johanna
(1992)
'Gender and Space: Lesbians and Gay Men in the City'
, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research16(1):
24-34.
2.
Bell, David
(1995)
'Pleasure and Danger: The Paradoxical Spaces of Sexual Citizenship'
, Political Geography14(2):
139-53.
3.
Bell, David
and
Binnie, Jon
(2000) The Sexual Citizens.
Cambridge : Polity
Press.
4.
Bell, David
and
Binnie, Jon
(2004)
'Authenticating Queer Space: Citizenship, Urbanism and Governance'
, Urban Studies41: 1807-20.
5.
Bell, David
and
Valentine, Gill
(eds) (1995) Mapping Desire.
London:
Routledge.
6.
Bettie, Julie
(2003) Women Without Class.
Berkeley : University of
California Press.
7.
Binnie, Jon
(1995) 'Trading Places. Consumption, Sexuality and the
Production of Queer Space' in
David Bell
and
Gill Valentine
(eds) Mapping Desire, pp. 182-99.
London:
Routledge .
8.
Binnie, Jon
(2000) 'Cosmopolitanism and the Sexed City' in
D. Bell
and
A. Haddour
(eds) City Visions, pp. 166-78.
Harlow: Prentice
Hall.
9.
Binnie, Jon
(2004) The Globalization of Sexuality.
London:
Sage.
10.
Binnie, Jon
and
Valentine, Gill
(1999)
'Geographies of Sexuality - Review of Progress'
, Progress in Human Geography23(2):
175-87.
11.
Bourdieu, Pierre
(1984) Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of
Taste. London:
Routledge.
12.
Casey, Mark
(2004)
'De-dying Queer Space(s): Heterosexual Female Visibility on Gay and Lesbian
Space'
, Sexualities7(4):
446-61.
13.
Casey, Mark
(2007) 'The Queer Unwanted and Their Undesirable
Otherness' in
K. Bowne
,
J. Lim
and G.BrownGeographies of Sexualities: Theory, Practices and Politics, pp.
125-35. Aldershot :
Ashgate.
14.
Castells, Manuel
(1983) The City and the Grassroots.
Berkeley: University of California
Press.
15.
Chasin, Alexandra
(2000) Selling Out. The Gay And Lesbian Movement Goes To
Market. Basingstoke:
Palgrave .
16.
Chatterton, Paul
and
Hollands, Robert
(2003) Making Urban Nightscapes: Youth Cultures, Pleasure
Spaces and Corporate Power. London :
Routledge.
17.
Duggan, Lisa
(2002) 'The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of
Neoliberalism' in
R. Castonovo
and
D. Nelson
(eds) Materializing Democracy: Towards A Revitalized Cultural
Politics, pp. 175-94. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press.
18.
Evans, David
(1993) Sexual Citizenship. The Material Construction of
Sexualities. London:
Routledge.
19.
Field, Nicola
(1997) 'Identity and Lifestyle Market' in
R. Hennessy
and
C. Ingraham
(eds) Materialist Feminism. A Reader in Class, Difference, and Women's
Lives, pp. 259-71.
London:
Routledge.
20.
Flaherty, Jan
,
Veit-Wilson, John
and
Doran, Paul
(2004) Poverty: The Facts (5th edn.).
London: Child Poverty Action
Group.
21.
Hennessy, Rosemary
(2000) Profit and Pleasure. Sexual Identities in Late
Capitalism. London: Taylor and
Francis Group.
22.
Holliday, Ruth
(1999)
'The Comfort of Identity'
, Sexualities2(4):
475-91.
23.
Hunter, S.
,
Shannon, C.
,
Knox, J.
, and
Martin, J. I.
(eds) (1998) Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youths and Adults:
Knowledge for Human Service Practice.
London:
Sage.
24.
John, Sue
and
Patrick, Adele
(1999) Poverty and Social Exclusion of Lesbians and Gay Men
in Glasgow. Glasgow: Glasgow
Women's Library.
25.
Kennedy, Elizabeth L.
and
Davis, Madeline D.
(1993) Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold. The History of a
Lesbian Community. New York:
Routledge.
26.
Kitzinger, Celia
(1987) The Social Construction of Lesbianism.
London:
Sage.
27.
Knopp, Larry
(1995) 'Sexuality and Urban Space. A Framework for
Analysis' in
D. Bell
and
G. Valentine
(eds) Mapping Desire. London :
Routledge.
28.
Lawler, Steph
(1999)
'Getting Out and Getting Away: Women's Narratives of Class Mobility'
, Feminist Review63: 3-24.
29.
McDowell, Linda
(1995) 'Body Work: Heterosexual Gender Performances in City
Workplaces' in
D. Bell
and
G. Valentine
(eds) Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sexualities, pp.
75-95. London:
Routledge.
30.
Moran, Les
and
Skeggs, Beverley
(2001)
'Property, Boundary
, Exclusion: Making Sense of Hetero-Violence in Safer Spaces', Social
and Cultural Geography2(4):
407-20.
31.
Richardson, Diane
(2005)
'Desiring Sameness? The Rise of a Neo-liberal Politics of
Normalisation'
, Antipode37(3):
515-35.
32.
Richardson, Diane
,
McLaughlin, Janice
and
Casey, Mark
(eds) (2006) Intersections in Feminist and Queer
Theory. Basingstoke:
Palgrave.
33.
Simpson, Mark
(1999) It's a Queer World: Deviant Adventures in Pop
Culture . New York: Harrington Park
Press .
34.
Skeggs, Beverley
(1997) Formations of Class and Gender.
London:
Sage.
35.
Skeggs, Beverley
(1999)
'Matter Out of Place: Visibility and Sexualities in Leisure Spaces'
, Leisure Studies18(3):
213-32.
36.
Skeggs, Beverley
(2001)
'The Toilet Paper: Femininity, Class and Misrecognition'
, Women's Studies International Forum24(3-4):
295-307.
37.
Skeggs, Beverley
(2004) Class, Self, Culture.
London :
Routledge.
38.
Taylor, Yvette
(2004a)
'Negotiation and Navigation: An Exploration of the Spaces/Places of
Working-Class Lesbians'
, Sociological Research Online, 9(1), URL
(accessed 15 August 2007): www.socresonline.org.uk
39.
Taylor, Yvette
(2004b)
'Hidden in the Small Ads: Researching Working-Class Lesbians'
, Graduate Journal of Social Science1(2)
253-77.
40.
Taylor, Yvette
(2005a)
'Classed in a Classless Climate: Me and My Associates
. . .' Feminism and Psychology15(4):
491-500.
41.
Taylor, Yvette
(2005b)
'Real Politik or Real Politics? Working-Class Lesbians' Political
"Awareness" and Activism'
, Women's Studies International Forum28(6):
484-94.
42.
Taylor, Yvette
(2007)
'"If Your Face Doesn't Fit. . .": The Misrecognition of Working-Class
Lesbians in Scene Space'
, Leisure Studies26(2):
161-78.
43.
Valentine, Gill
(1993)
'Hetero-sexing Space: Lesbian Perceptions and Experiences of Everyday
Spaces'
, Environment and Planning D - Society and Space9(3):
395-413.
44.
Valentine, Gill
(1995)
'Out and About: Geographies of Lesbian Landscapes'
, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research19(1):
96-111.
45.
Valentine, Gill
(2000) From Nowhere to Everywhere: Lesbian Geographies
. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
46.
Warner, Michael
(1993) Fear of a Queer Planet. Queer Politics and Social
Theory. Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press.
