14 English ones are taken form ReadTheseLips. I found even though these literary
works are produced in different countries they have the same spirit, but at the same time, they also have a variety of distinct characteristics. Therefore, it is
interesting to study the portrayal of lesbian through literary works since they represent the lesbian world. The issues varies, not only limited in sexual
orientation and identity issues but also the issues dealing with the way lesbians view her feeling, the way they conduct their relationship and life, background of
being a lesbian, problems and discrimination.
B. Scope of Study
Given the reasons outlined above, I focus my analysis on first, the way lesbians perceive and define their feeling, sexual orientation and relationship and
the background or reasons of becoming a lesbian as depicted in the stories, and second, conflicts and discriminations experienced by lesbians. The conflicts
discussed are the internal conflicts within the lesbians themselves psychologically, in reacting and understanding her same-sex feeling and sexual orientation; and the
external conflicts which happen between lesbians with their partners and family as well as discriminations experienced by lesbians in their life. The Lesbian
Criticism and Queer Theory will be used in this study. Thus, this research focuses on the lesbian literary texts, i.e the texts which describe about lesbians, their
relationships, life, and that using lesbians as the main characters, regardless of the authors’ sexual orientation.
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C. Research Questions
There are two formulated research questions related to this research to be discussed:
1. How are lesbians portrayed in Indonesian and English language short stories?
2. What kinds of conflicts and discriminations are faced by lesbians as shown in those Indonesian and English language short stories?
D. Significance of the Study
Since this research deals with homosexual piece of writings, especially describing lesbian relationships, this research can enrich and enlarge the
knowledge of other genres of literature about homosexual literature to the readers. The study examines lesbians’ personal experience with their family, partner,
society, culture and the state. The readers can catch and understand the portrait of lesbians, through the lesbian characters, their relationships and life which are
represented in the literary work. Through this research, the readers learn about lesbians’ life and
relationship, their suffering, difficulty, discrimination and injustice that they suffer, and the way they are treated by society. This study includes the Indonesian
and English language short stories. The readers hopefully understand who actually lesbian is. Because, by having the understanding on homosexuals and their life,
people can be more tolerant and wise in their behaviour and reactions to lesbians. It should be realized that all phenomenon are created and risen up from many
factors and different reasons. It is expected that by increasing knowledge, one can
16 minimize negative stigma and misunderstanding toward lesbians, especially
before judgment occurs. Misjudgment is normally done by people to this minor group of people. Thus, I hope the reader would come to the understanding that
everybody is equal; that everyone would like to be appreciated and accepted the way they are. Thus, the marginalization among human being due to their sexual
orientation can be avoided, and the harmony of life is created. Being minority does not constantly mean “different”, “abnormal”, “evil”, and “social illness”
because they are different to the majority. This study may also encourage other researchers and practitioners of
literature to be more aware of the variety of literary works to create a broader view of research. Instead of doing research on heterosexual authored works only,
more research on homosexual author’s writing or text is expected to encourage the other literary students to find more research topics develop perspective and theory
of literature. Since the result of this study provides new or other perspective of viewing
the lesbians and their relationships, the understanding of the readers are reshaped so as to become more empathetic and expand their understanding on human
sexuality so that social equality can be gained. When we read, we will learn to see life from a variety of perspectives and avoid unwise single interpretation or
judgment of the issue being read. Last, but not the least, this research is expected to raise awareness and encourage the lecturers and students to feel free in
discussing homosexual literary works in their literature class.
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E. Research Method This research is qualitative. It used qualitative method because the data
