17
E. Research Method This research is qualitative. It used qualitative method because the data
were delivered and explained descriptively. As this study was a comparative study, there were some steps of research procedures used in this research.
Firstly, I did the data collection through library research. Short stories were chosen to be the material objects. But I applied close reading on several
short stories and read critically the Indonesian and English language short stories, in order to get a better understanding on the portrayal of lesbians, to grasp the tone
and the issues in the stories. Finally, I chose to study 30 short stories to be the material objects in this study. I collected all data by reading, marking and making
notes on words, sentences, paragraphs, dialogues, and important statements of the characters and in the narratives.
Secondly, I analyzed the data by identifying, classifying, describing, interpreting and explaining the data. Then, I compared the data in these short
stories to find similarities and differences among them. Applying the theories chosen, I cross-checked the information obtained from the fiction with other
sources, such as sociology, culture, and history texts, encyclopedias, journals, etc. The last was evaluation and contextualization. This last step was done to the study
results entirety. This study used 30 selected short stories as the material object. The
primary data in this research were taken from 17 Indonesian and 13 English language selected short stories with lesbians and their life themes as well as
lesbians as the main character.
18 The Indonesian lesbian short stories were taken from “Pelangi Perempuan
Kumpulan Cerpen and Puisi Lesbian Muda Indonesia” published by Institut Pelangi Perempuan 2008. In this book all the authors are lesbians. Other
Indonesian lesbian short stories were taken from the collection of selected short
stories published in Lesbian Weblog SepociKopi, www.sepocikopi.com
,
written by heterosexual and homosexual authors. The Indonesian short stories were “Bilik
Religius” Lez Moslem, “Bunga Sakura di Hati Nia” Sakura, “Gak Penting Banget gitu loch” Little Dyke, “Ketika Langit Senja” Alvi. AH, “Menggapai
Langit Ke-7” Estha Vadose, “Putus” NV, “Potongan-Potongan Di Kartu Pos” Agus Noor, “Tahi Lalat Di Punggung Istri Ku” Ratih Kumala, “Hari Ini, Esok
dan Kemarin” Maggie Tiojakin, “Un Soir du Paris” Stefany Irawan, “Sebilah Pisau” Cok Sawitri, “Saga” Shantined, “Lelaki Yang Menetes Di Tubuhku”
Ucu Agustin, “Lesbi” Tommy F. Awuy, “Rahasia Bulan” Clara Ng and “Lari” Nuage Kusuma. The English translation versions of the Indonesian
language short story quotations are translated by the writer herself while presenting the original.
The English language short stories were taken from the collection of selected
lesbian short
fiction entitled
“ReadTheseLips”, published
at
www.readtheselips.com. Vol. I 2007: “The Blush” Renee Strider, “The
Women’s Pool” Beatriz Copello, “Getting Home” JL Nicky, “The Eyes of March” A.K Niken, “Hearth Break” Shady Lady, “Memory Puzzle” Anne
Azel, “Driving Philosophies” Anne Azel. Vol. II 2008: “To Dance With No Music” Lois Cloarest Hart, “Serious” Lorenza Martelli. Vol. III 2009:
19 “Where There’s Smoke” J.E Knowles, “True Love” Georgia Beers, Vol. IV
2010: “Sing If You’re Glad” Rachel Green and “A Day in Vermont” R. G. Emanuelle. Over all, there were 30 short stories that become the object of
research in this study. In quoting the stories in the analysis chapter, the writer used abbreviation listed in a table below to refer to the title of the stories and
pagination page number only. Table: List of Short Stories
NO INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
YEAR TITLE
AUTHOR
1 “Bilik Religius” BR
”Religious Chamber” Lez Moslem
2008 2
“Bunga Sakura Dihati Nia” BSDN ”Sakura in Nia’s Heart”
Sakura 3
“Gak Penting Banget Gitu Loch” GPBGL
” Not That Important” Little Dyke
4 “Ketika Langit Senja” KLS
“The Twilight” Alvi. H
5 “Menggapai Langit Ke-7” MLK-7
“Reaching the Seventh Heaven” Estha Vadose
6 “Putus” P
“Break” NV
7 “Hari ini, Esok dan Kemarin” HIEK
“Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday” Maggie Tiojakin
2011 8
“Lelaki Yang Menetas Ditubuh Ku” LYMDK
The Man Who Hatched in My Body Ucu Agustins
2006 9
“Potongan-Potongan Cerita Dikartu Pos” PPCDP
“Story Fragments on Post Cards” Agus Noor
10 “Saga” S
“Saga” Shantined
2008 11
“Sebilah Pisau Roti” SPR “A Bread Knife
Cok Sawitri 2001
12 “Tahi Lalat Di Punggung Istri Ku”
TLDPIK “The Mole in My Wife’s Back”
Ratih Kumala
2006 13
“Dua Perempuan Dengan HP-nya” DPDHP
Seno Gumira Ajidarma
20 I chose all these selected stories to be the main data, because each story
depicted and represented the lesbian in different perspectives and views. Two Women and Their Cell Phones
14 “Un Soir Du Paris” USDP
“An Evening in Paris” Steffany Irawan
15 “Rahasia Bulan” RB
“The Secrets of the Moon Clara Ng
16 “Lari” LR
”Run” Nuage Kusuma
17 “Lesbi” L
“Lesbian” Tommy F. Awuy
2001
NO ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
YEAR TITLE
AUTHOR
1 “The Blush” TB
Renee Strider Canadian
Volume I
2007 2
“The Women’s Pool” TWP Beatriz Copello
Sydney, Australia 3
“Getting Home” GH JL Nicky
4 “The Eye of March” TEOM
K. Niken Pennsylvania
5 “Heart Break” HB
Shady Lady Southern
6 “Memory Puzzle” MP
Anne Azel England
7 “Driving Philosophies” DP
Anne Azel England
8 “To Dance With No Music”
TDWNM Lois Cloares Hart
Canadian Volume
II 2008
9 “Serious” S
Lorenza Martelli New York
10 “Where There’s Smoke” WTS
J.E Knowles American, Upper East
Tennessee Volume
III 2009
11 “True Love” TL
Georgia Beers Canadian, living in New
York 12
“Sing If You’re Glad” SIYG Rachel Green
England Volume
IV 2010
13 “A Day In Vermont” ADIV
R. G. Emanuelle New York
21 Moreover, different authors were a combination of homosexual and heterosexual
authors as to help me find more varieties of how lesbians were portrayed from each view point. The stories chosen were all published in the 2000s in order to
obtain relatively current issues of lesbianism. Meanwhile, the secondary data used to support this research were found in essays or articles, journals, books, cyber
data, and the previous research results. Since this study focused on the portrayal of lesbians, the way they
perceive their feelings, sexual desire or orientation and relationship, the background in becoming a lesbian as well as the conflicts and the discriminations
experienced by the lesbians in their life their internal and external conflicts, Lesbian Criticism and Queer theory was applied in this study.
22
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW