150 Islamic Institution, after her sexual orientation is disclosed. She lives there for one
year. In “Putus” Sarah who has been a lesbian since she was in junior high school, has to stay at an Islamic Boarding School for 2 years. The unique issue in
these stories is that the parents strongly believe placing a lesbian in a religious institution would provide a solution and hope by building a stronger religious
knowledge their daughter’s sexual orientation can change. Yet, the fact is that this strategy is a totally failure. It is clearly portrayed in these stories, that this solution
is indeed successful in causing the lesbian understanding about her religion to be deeper and better. It is also successful in changing the way they dress, to be more
religious and modest, as expressed in the veils that the characters wear to cover their heads. Yet, when it comes to their sexual orientation, it does not work. Thus
from these stories, a conclusion can be stated that sexual desire towards the same sex cannot be changed with religious doctrines. Sexual orientation and religious
faith are two different things. Therefore, we need to make separation between religion and sexual orientation.
c. Forcing to Marry a Man
In “A Day in Vermont” by R.G. Emanuelle, Louisa is forced into marrying a man by her mother. This man is Dennis, her neighbour and also a childhood
friend. They grow up together. Actually, Louisa does not want to marry him because she is a lesbian. Because of her mother pressure who always says “You’ll
be old and alone. Someday, you’ll regret staying single”. ADIV, 62 Finally Louisa gives up and agrees. Forcing a lesbian into a heterosexual marriage as
shown in this story brings dilema for the lesbian herself. On one side, she does not
151 want to live with someone she does not love and vice versa. “But, I don’t want to
spend the rest of my life with someone I feel no passion for.” ADIV, 62. On the other hand, she wants to help Dennis hide what he is. That is the other reason why
she agrees to marry him. Dennis is a gay man. She knows about this truth because Dennis came out to her one night.
“One night, I went to Dennis’s and as I got to the door, this guy was coming out. Dennis’ father followed him, shouting ‘faggot’
and ‘fairy’. He said he’d kill him if he ever came back. Dennis cried in my arms that night. That’s when he came out to me. I felt
so sorry for him. Still do. And I think that’s really why I agreed to marry him. To help him hide it from his parents. ADIV, 64
Dennis is brought to the church by his parents when they know about their sons sexual orientation. After that Dennis mother asks Louisa’s mother to help
Dennis by allowing him to propose marriage to the narrator. Actually, her mother knows Dennis is a gay, but still she forces her daughter into marrying him.
d. “Cure” the Lesbian by Doing Corrective Rape
Corrective rape is a form of abusive sex where men rape women in order to ‘cure’ them of their lesbianism. It is a hate crime, violence against women on
the basis of their sexual orientation.
173
Cooperative rape is the use of rape against people who do not conform to perceived social norms regarding human sexuality
and gender role. Often lesbians are raped by heterosexual men and gay men are raped by heterosexual women.
174
This abusive practice of raping the lesbians is
173
Martin, A; Kelly A; Turquet L; Ross S, Hate crimes: The rise of corrective rape in South Africa, 2009, p.3.
174
Gonda W, Corrective Rape’ against Homosexuals on the Rise in Zimbabwe, 8 April 2010, SW Radio Africa
152 with the goal of punishment of abnormal behavior and reinforcement of societal
norms.
175
Corrective rape is used as a punishment for people who are gay or do not fit traditional gender roles usually women. They are also verbally abused
before the rape by the perpetrator saying things, such as, they will be “teaching [the women] a lesson” on how to be a “real woman.”
176
The short story written by Tommy F. Awuy entitled “Lesbi” portrays the practice of corrective rape by an
Indonesian father. The father believes that using this vicious practice of raping can ‘cure’ his daughter’s homosexual orientation, which he thinks abnormal. He
hires a man to rape his own daughter to make her pregnant and hope she will be back to normal. In this story, the father character reacts badly to the fact that his
daughter’s sexual orientation is homosexual. He personally cannot accept this fact. He often blames his wife by arguing that it is his wife heredity genes which
are abnormal, and cause their daughters sexual orientation to become abnormal too.
The strategy employed by Gesti’s father, who is endowed with power and money, is that he intentionally sends his employee to rape his daughter Gesti in
order to make her pregnant. He intends to correct his daughter sexual orientation and hopes the pregnancy would make Gesti become a straight girl. Papa planned
175
Martin, A; Kelly A; Turquet L; Ross S, Hate crimes: The rise of corrective rape in South Africa, p.1–20.
176
Mieses Alexa, Gender Inequality and Corrective Rape of Women Who Have Sex with Women, GMHC Treatment Issues, 2009, p. 1–3.
153 this rape with the intention to make me become a true woman, Gestys tone was
flat. More precisely the rape aimed at making me pregnant.”
177
L. Gesti’s father executed this rape plan, because she is the only child and
they automatically expect a lot from her, most importantly they expect her to have children. Grandchildren would continue the father’s hereditary line. However,
whatever the father’s reasoning behind this corrective rape, this form of cure cannot be tolerated. How could he hire a man to rape his own daughter because
she is a lesbian As a consequence of this rape, Gesti feels very revengeful against her father and cannot forgive him. She is eager to kill her father when she
knows that her father was the one behind the scenario that destroyed her life. Finally, she succeeds in killing her father. The killing happens when her father
gets a heart attack. At that time, only Gesti and he are in the room, and he asks Gesti to pick up his medicines on the table. Gesti steps close to the table, she
hesitates, and then stops, she does not pick up that medicine. Instead she turns to hug her daughter, who is running toward her. She ignores her father who has been
lying down on the floor in pain for some time. Eventually she asks her maid to get the medicine but it is too late. Her father is already dead.
Even though parents, as portrayed in these stories, do not allow or support their daughters sexual orientation, the lesbian’s brothers and sisters in some
stories show the opposite response of the parents. After knowing their younger sisters sexual orientation, they still support and help their sister. They do not
consider their sister as abnormal or someone who is mentally handicapped. “Both
177
“Papa merencanakan kejadian ini dengan alasan agar aku menjadi benar-benar seorang perempuan”. Nada suara Gesty datar. “Lebih tepat lagi pemerkosaan itu bertujuan agar aku
hamil”.
154 her sisters always contact her by phone which has been scheduled weekly.” BR,
34
178
In “Putus” the brother is portrayed as someone who loves his younger sister a lot. He is a very understanding brother. After his sisters homosexual orientation
is disclosed, their parents directly send her to one of the Islamic Institutions. If Sarah, the lesbian character, refuses to go to that Islamic Institution, she will
forcefully be agreed to an arranged marriage. To him, it is better to change his sister into a new person rather than to let her get married at a very young age.
Since that time, he has to be apart from his sister who has been in that institution for 2 years. However, this fact does not change his love toward his sister. Even
during her sister’s quarantine time in that Islamic Institution, he is the one who normally gives information about his sister to her lover, Eva.
What happens to Indonesian family in reacting to their daughter who is coming out to them does not happen to the family in the English language short
stories. It is reflected in “The Blush” where a homophobic and fanatic brother and father can be more tolerant to his lesbian family member. In the story, he is one of
members of a church, who usually picket every Thursday which in Gay Night at the local bar. Later, after he quarrels with his lesbian cousin and finds out that his
own daughter also a lesbian, he never joins the picketing again. This story seems to portray that when it comes to family, people tend to make excuses. They can
compromize and accept the fact of homosexual lifestyle among his own family. So, he was all of those things —homophobic and
almost fanatically
religious, but
often kind
and accommodating, even with his lesbian kin. “As long as they
don’t try to shove it down my throat,” he would say about
178
“Kedua kakaknya pun selalu menghubungi lewat telpon yang dijadwalkan tiap minggu”
155 the homos. I didn’t like to think of what “it” was.
By now you’re probably wondering why Ronnie and I put up with his attitude. We did for a long time. It’s funny,
but when it’s family you sometimes make excuses. We’d say to each other: Suss really has a problem with
homosexuals but not us, so he just doesn’t know any better. I think we were actually kind of grateful that he loved us in
spite of…well. TB, 11
The solution taken by Suss, as a father and br other, is not trying to change his daughter and sisters, yet he is the one who leaves his church
organization. It is in contrast to the Indonesian parents who try to change their daughter in many ways. Suss chooses to compromise or tolerate
homosexuality existed in his family, thought he is unhappy with this situation. However he seems to realize that he cannot change them. Thus
he is the one who step back from his struggle. A cooperative response from family is also portrayed in “Memory
Puzzle” by Anne Azel, where a woman who already married to a man chooses to spend her life with a woman she loves and loves her. Her
husband also remarries again with another woman. This all happens after she has given birth to a daughter with her husband. She comes out to her
mother and leaves her daughter to live with her grandmother. “I’ve got to leave, Sammy.
I know you can never understand. You are better off here with your grandmother
having a normal life. I love you so much. Rainy and I are going to live out west, you see.”
“Take care of her, Granny. She’ll be a good girl for you.” “I blame Dave. He is taking off with that woman.” MP, 81
156 The grandmother character can accept her daughter condition even her
granddaughter’s, Sammy, is also a lesbian like her mother. Her daughter and granddaughter sexual orientation is depicted as not bringing any conflict to this
family as happens in Indonesian family. Even the grandmother wants to help her daughter to take care and to raise her granddaughter to have a ‘normal’ life.
Perhaps, because she knows how difficult to live in homosexual family is. From the discussion above, it can be concluded that for Indonesian family
the truth about a daughter’s homosexual orientation is like black cloud and family tends to view it as a shame, abnormal and illness. Thus, they use several solutions
to cure their daughter, such as, separate the daughter with her partner, cure them in religious institution and use corrective rape in order to make their daughter
homosexual orientation can change into heterosexual. While, in English language short stories there is a negotiation process. The family can be more cooperative.
They can compromise or tolerate this situation. The way family in English language short stories in viewing the lesbian and her sexual orientation is totally
different to Indonesian family. There is a negotiation process. It is automatically influences they way they treat the lesbians. Therefore, there is no solution taken
by the family in English language short stories to cure the lesbian like Indonesian family does. Nevertheless, the parents still use heterosexual marriage as solution.
Thus they force or push their daughter into marrying a man.
C. Lesbian vs Social Environment
Besides the conflicts discussed above, lesbians also experience some discriminations which is related to their sexual identity and social environment.
