A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF
LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M. Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
TIRA MARIANA
Student Number: 096332018
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2014
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ii
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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF
LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated,
are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands
the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s
ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta,
January 23, 2014
TIRA MARIANA
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama
: Tira Mariana
Nomor Mahasiswa
: 096332018
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected
Indonesian and English Language Short Stories
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada).
Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata
Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya
dalam
bentuk
pangkalan
data,
mendistribusikan
secara
terbatas,
dan
mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis
tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya
selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
Pada Tanggal: 23 Januari 2014
Yang menyatakan,
Tira Mariana
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DEDICATION
It is true that together somebody else success there are other hands hold you up.
It is true that we all need our friends
And it is completely true without love we are hopeless
Thus, here I would like to dedicate my deepest appreciation:
My beloved mother, and my very understanding and supportive husband for love,
praying, support, tolerance and sacrifices to provide me with amount of patience to stay
far away in different island for more than one thousand two hundreds and ninety days
during my study
Ibu Dr. Katrin Bandel and Ibu Dr. Novita Dewi, you are not simply supervisor and
lecturer but also inspiring figures for me. I really can’t count how much I have learnt
from you.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people who have helped me during my study.
First of all, to my lecturers Dr. Mukarto, M.S, Prof. Dr. Bakdi Soemanto, Prof. Dr.
Soepomo.P, Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Dr. Alb. Budi Susanto, S.J.
and Pasca Sarjana Staff especially, Bu Lely and Pak Mul, thank you so much for
your help.
I am grateful first and foremost to my supervisor, Dr. Katrin Bandel, and Miss
Alathea Rael Gore, my proof reader a Bilingual Teacher from Austin, Texas for
their constant support, correction, motivation, enthusiasm, and encouragement
during the long process of writing this thesis. They do not only read the entire
work a number of times but also provide crucial critical ideas and support for this
writing.
A Moslem brother, Muhammad Taha Billah (Lesotho), Eva Busch and Oliver
Kontny (German), Bazil Bumahiga (Tanzania) and my examiners Dra. Sri
Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D and Mutiara Andalas, S.J, B.Th., S.T.D. deserve special
thanks for critical discussion and suggestion to enrich this writing, as well as Dr.
G. Budi Subanar, S.J (Religion and Culture Program of Sanata Dharma
University) for his explanations about lesbianism in Bible.
My special thanks go to my colleagues and friends who have helped and
supported me intellectually and emotionally during my study and as I wrote this
thesis: Mba’ Ana (Yuliana Tri Nirmayanti, Malang) and Mba’ Ema (UGM) for
the ideas and discussion, encouragement, sources, books and the very helpful
lesbians and queer movies. Mba’ Lelly Sepniwati (Palangkaraya) for support and
help, Kak Novianti Taweru (Papua) for a very critical discussion in the last
minutes of the thesis accomplishment, Kak Uda (Mudalifa Mahmud, Gorontalo)
for books and support, Sr. Marylin and Sr. Suzan Ningfa for praying, Mas Yayan
(Lombok) and East Timor sister Nia Ximenes for being there when I was sick.
My deepest Gratitude to Uni (Noor Chairani, Yogyakarta) and her parents Bapak
Drs. Psi. H. Hasyim Abdullah, MSi and Ibu Hj. Siti Nur Isnaini, BAA, for all their
generosity for giving me a very comfortable and safe dwelling stay during the late
11 months in their home. Uni, thank you so much for taking me into your family. I
can feel the real spirit of having complete family which I have never had before
entering your home. And Bapak Sadino and Ibu Munti (Yogyakarta) family for
their kindness in providing help, care and support.
For endless academic support from Islamic Institute of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin
Jambi: Bapak Prof. Dr. H. Adrianus Chatib (Jambi), Kak Diana Rozelin, M.Hum
(Jambi) and Kak Minsakutra, M.Hum (Jambi) for encouragement to continue and
finish my study.
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ABSTRACT
Tira Mariana. 2014. A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty
Selected Indonesian and English Language Short Stories. Yogyakarta: English
Language Studies, Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University.
The existence of lesbians and their rights in many countries remains a
controversial issue. Lesbians are labeled by the society as being abnormal,
sinners, mentally ill, etc. The discrimination, injustice and even violence toward
lesbians keep happening. As a response to these facts, literature is used as part of
lesbians’ struggle as a media to communicate, promote and campaign to this issue.
The purpose of this study is, first to reveal the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian
and English language stories, starting from the way they perceive their feelings,
sexual desire or orientation and relationship up to the background in becoming a
lesbian. The second purpose is to find out the conflicts and the discriminations
experienced by the lesbians in their life. There are 30 selected Indonesian and
English short stories used in this study, taken from the lesbian websites and other
published short stories collections.
This study uses Comparative Literature Approach in analyzing the similarity and
the diversity of the way lesbians are portrayed. Lesbian Criticism and Queer
Theory are applied to examine the issue of lesbian and lesbianism as an identity,
as well as to reveal the complexity and the fluidity of sexuality represented
through the lesbian characters, their conflicts and discriminations experienced in
life.
The first finding of this study shows several similarities and differences. The
differences are in Indonesian stories some lesbians perceive their feelings, sexual
desire and relationship as predestination and others perceive it as a forbidden love,
a mistake and a sin. While in English stories, lesbians perceive it as being
different. The similarities are that they perceive it as something natural, normal,
and unchangeable and not a mistake.
The second finding reveals that long term interactions, spontaneous or accidental
feelings, environmental factors and early exposure to homosexuality, unhappy
heterosexual married life, exploration and experiencing new sexual practice and
personal choice are the reasons why women become lesbians.
The last finding show that the similar internal conflicts experienced by lesbians:
are the feeling of confused in understanding and accepting their condition, being
happy but, guilty to live as a lesbian, and no courage to disclose their true
feelings. The external conflicts founded are the conflicts between lesbian and her
partner and her family. Meanwhile, lesbians are socially discriminated against but
at the same time their existence is tolerated. The discriminations are mostly
imposed on them because of religions, holy books and certain religious
institutions. Therefore, lesbians are often attacked and discriminated against based
on religious doctrines.
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ABSTRAK
Tira Mariana. 2014. Studi Banding Tentang Potret Lesbian dalam Tiga Puluh
Cerpen Berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris,
Program Pasca-Sarjana Universitas Sanata Dharma
Keberadaan lesbian dan hak-hak mereka merupakan isu yang kontroversial di
banyak negara. Lesbian dicap oleh masyarakat sebagai orang yang abnormal,
pendosa, sakit, dll. Diskriminasi, ketidakadilan dan bahkan kekerasan terus
dilakukan terhadap lesbian. Sebagai respon pada fakta-fakta ini, sastra digunakan
sebagai bagian dari perjuangan lesbian untuk mengkomunikasikan,
mempromosikan dan mengkampanyekan isu tersebut.
Tujuan pertama penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkapkan potret lesbian dalam
cerpen-cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Mulai dari cara mereka
memandang perasaan, hasrat atau orientasi seksual, dan hubungan yang mereka
bangun sampai latar belakang yang menyebabkan mereka bisa menjadi lesbian.
Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk menemukan konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi
yang dialami lesbian dalam kehidupan mereka. Ada 30 cerpen berbahasa
Indonesia dan Inggris yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Cerpen-cerpen
tersebut diambil dari website lesbian dan kumpulan-kumpulan cerpen yang sudah
diterbitkan.
Penelitian ini menggunakan Pendekatan Sastra Bandingan dalam menganalisis
persamaan dan perbedaan tentang cara lesbian dipotret dalam cerpen-cerpen
tersebut. Kritik Lesbian dan Teori Queer digunakan untuk melihat isu lesbian dan
lesbianisme sebagai sebuah identitas, juga untuk mengungkapkan
kekompleksitasan dan kecairan sexualitas yang direpresentasikan lewat tokohtokoh lesbian, konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang mereka alami dalam
kehidupan.
Hasil temuan pertama dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan beberapa persamaan dan
perbedaan. Perbedaannya yaitu dalam cerpen berbahasa Indonesia beberapa
lesbian mamandang perasaan, hasrat sexual and hubungan sesama jenis mereka
sebagai sebuah takdir sementara lesbian yang lainnya memandang itu sebagai
cinta terlarang, kesalahan dan dosa. Sedangkan dalam cerpen berbahasa Inggris,
lesbian memandangnya sebagai sesuatu yang membuat mereka berbeda.
Persamaannya adalah mereka sama-sama memandang perasaan dan orientasi
sexual sebagai hal yang alami, normal, tidak dapat berubah dan bukanlah sebuah
kesalahan.
Hasil temuan kedua mengungkapkan bahwa penyebab yang menjadikan
perempuan menjadi lesbian adalah dikarenakan hasil interaksi jangka panjang,
perasaan yang spontan dan kebetulan terjadi, faktor lingkungan dan pengalaman
homosexual diusia dini, kehidupan penikahan hetero yang tidak bahagia, ingin
mengeksplor dan merasakan praktek seksual yang baru dan memang persoalan
pilihan pribadi.
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Hasil temuan terakhir menunjukkan bahwa lesbian merasakan konflik internal
yang sama. Yaitu perasaan bingung dalam memahami dan menerima kondisi
mereka, bahagia tapi juga merasa bersalah dan tidak berani mengungkapkan
perasaan mereka. Konflik eksternal yang ditemukan yaitu konflik yang terjadi
antara lesbian dan pasangan dan keluarga mereka. Sedangkan secara sosial lesbian
didiskriminasi, tetapi diwaktu yang bersamaan keberadaan mereka tetap
ditoleransi. Diskriminasi yang ditujukan kepada mereka sebagian besar karena
agama, kitab suci dan institusi-institusi keagamaan tertentu menentang mereka.
Karena itu lesbian sering diserang dan didiskriminasi berdasarkan doktrin-doktrin
keagamaan.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF TITLE ......................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................... ii
DEFENSE PAGE ........................................................................................ iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ........................................................... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA
ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ……………………...v
DEDICATION ………………………………………………………….... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………….... vii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................viii
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................... ix
TABLE OF CONTENT.............................................................................. xi
CHAPTER I
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL
RESTLESSNESS VS LESBIANS’ STORIES
Background of the Study
Scope of Study
Research Questions
Significance of the Study
Research Method
CHAPTER II
1
1
14
15
15
17
THEORITICAL REVIEW
22
A. Review on Related Theories
1. Lesbian and Herstory
2. Lesbian Criticism
3. Queer Theory
4. Lesbians in Indonesia and in West
a. Lesbians in Indonesia: Movement and How They Are
Treated in Terms of Law
b. Lesbian in the West
B. Review on Related Studies
C. Theoretical Framework
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CHAPTER III
LESBIANS’ PORTRAYAL IN INDONESIAN
AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SHORT STORIES
A. The Ways Lesbians Perceive and Define Their Feeling,
Sexual Orientation and Relationship
1. Becoming a Lesbian as Something Predestined
2. Becoming a Lesbian as Natural, Normal,
Unchangeable and Not a Mistake
3. Being a Lesbian is Viewed as Forbidden Love
(Cinta Terlarang) and Sin
4. Being a Lesbian is Being Different
B. The Root of Herstory in Becoming a Lesbian
1. Becoming a Lesbian as a Choice
2. Becoming a Lesbian Purely because of
Spontaneous or Accidental Feelings
3. Becoming a Lesbian as a Result of
Long Term Interaction
4. Becoming a Lesbian because of Early Exposure to
Homosexuality and Environmental Factor
5. Becoming a Lesbian to Explore and Experience
New Sexual Practices
6. Becoming a Lesbian because of Unhappy
and Unharmonious Marriage Life
CHAPTER IV
LESBIAN’S EXPERIENCES:
CONFLICTS AND DISCRIMINATIONS
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A. Lesbian’s Internal Conflicts
1. Feeling Confused with Her Own
Feelings and Sexual Orientation
2. No Courage to Disclose Her Feelings
3. Happy but Guilty
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B. Lesbian’s External Conflicts
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1. The Problems Between a Lesbian and Her Partner
a. A Very Busy Partner
b. Butch and Femme Gender Role
among Lesbians and Their Partners
c. Between Dating and Serious Lifelong
Commitment in Lesbian’s Relationship
d. Social Gap and Jealousy
2. The Steps Taken by Lesbians to Overcome Problems
Due to Their Sexual Orientation and Relationship
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a. “Coming Out” or “In the Closet”?
b. Pretending to Love Man and Getting Married Heterosexually
c. Lesbian vs Heterosexual Marriage:
Bisexual Not Merely the Answer
3. Lesbian and Family: Solutions Taken by the Family to
Overcome Lesbian’s Sexual Orientation and Relationship
a. Separating the Lesbian and Her Partner
b. “Cure” the Lesbian in Religious Institution
c. Forcing to Marry a Man
d. “Cure” Lesbian by Doing Corrective Rape
C. Lesbian vs Social Environment
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1) Being Treated Badly or Unfriendly
2) Lack of Legal Responsibility and
Legitimate Rights for Each Other
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D. Lesbian vs Religion: Being Attacked or
Discriminated Based on Religion and Holy Books
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E. Lesbian vs Country and Legal Law Protection:
How Lesbians are Treated before Law
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CHAPTER V
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CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAHY
APPENDICES
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1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL RESTLESSNESS
VS LESBIANS’ STORIES
A. Background of the Study
“Hey, what are you going to research for your thesis?”
“I am doing research on lesbian in Indonesian and Western Literature.”
“Why do you bother conducting research on lesbian literature?Who is actually
the lesbian? The object of research or you yourself, as the researcher?”
I was shocked when someone asked me those questions. I was so surprised
at listening and responding to these comments. Should I also be considered as
lesbian because of my interest in studying lesbian literature? I opened this
paragraph by delivering a personal story of what happened to me when someone
asked me about the topic of my thesis. He automatically thought that I was a
lesbian, because I chose lesbian literature for my thesis topic. Why is it that when
someone does not know all the facts, they easily make unwise judgment without
confirming the information first? This example I personally experienced shows
that if we do not understand we will be mistaken.
Thus, we should seek
information, try to understand others to avoid misunderstanding among each
others and try to understand so that others will not mistake us too.
In October 2009, I was sitting in fear because of my decision to join a
Queer Film Festival. A shorter name for the Queer Film Festival is Q-Film. QFilm is a film festival organized by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) activists to communicate their way of life to others outside of their
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community. We were in a large comfortable building in one of universities in
Yogyakarta. It was around 8 pm. When we were ready to watch the film
scheduled by the committee, one of the committee members stood up be fore us.
She delivered a short speech to remind the audiences that this festival could be
under attack due to its content. Thus, she pointed out the location of the
emergency exits in case any sign of danger were to appear. The committee had
already been informed that the militant group; Islamic Defenders Front (FPI =
Front Pembela Islam), the Islamic fundamentalist group in Indonesia would come
to stop this program. And there could be a possibility they could use violence and
attack any of us who were at that place at that time. How ironic it is to live around
people and a majority society who are quick to label and judge somebody else,
without truly knowing what the essential issues are. At that time, I was
questioning myself. What if that night I had gotten injured or perhaps even died
only because of watching a QLGBT movie for the sake of my research? I know
that the FPI is notorious for its violence and anarchies actions.
We were watching the movie when suddenly one of the committee
interrupted to announce and apologize that we could not continue the program,
since the FPI was about to come. For this reason, the committee decided to end
the Q-Film Festival earlier to avoid being attacked by the FPI, which could harm
all of us. So, the Q-Film Festival ended abruptly without a closing statement or
ceremony, with the exception of a word of thank from the MC for coming that
night. Then, the audiences left the room through the emergency exits in a rush, but
calmly. The doors led to the ground floor and on to the parking area. I can still
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feel my fear from that night. The last information I got in that night was that after
all those in the audiences left the university, the committee members had to hide
themselves in a hotel. The FPI’s attack was failed because they could not find
either the participants or the committees of this festival.
I grew up in the environment which people consider and label themselves
as “normal.”
During my 22 years, I personally have had no homosexual
experience. However, since I have been here in Yogyakarta and far away from my
family and my “normal” life environment in Jambi, I have met homosexual
people, interacted with them and even made friends with them. I try to learn about
them so that I can understand them and their way of life. Many of them have had a
more difficult life than most heterosexuals. Moreover, I propose it is not sufficient
information to only know lesbian and the issue of lesbianism only from their daily
life. I choose to learn them from other mediums, thus from literary perspective, as
well. Literature gives a space for people to voice out their true options and ideas
when they do not feel they can voice it due to societal norms in their daily lives.
Through literature we can speak unspoken things without any fear.
It was in 2010 when I was introduced to lesbian literature. In those days
when I began to research lesbian literary work, many questions came into my
mind, because it was really new experience for me. What does it actually mean to
be a lesbian? How can a woman fall in love with another woman? Why are there
women who love women, as if there are no more men to love? Why do so many
people hate lesbians? Should lesbian sexual desire be denied? Why are they
considered to be people who are mentally handicapped, abnormal, evil, immoral,
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etc? Why are they not accepted in their society or even among their own family?
Why should lesbians get married with men if they love women emotionally and
sexually? How can a married woman with children still be able to have sexual
experiences with another woman? Why is love and sexual desire to the same sex
considered to be evil and sinful? Is it wrong and a mistake if a woman loves
another woman? Then, if it is so, should they be punished? Who should punish
them? God? Society? The State? Nature? Or who? So, the only idea that came
into my mind then was: “Wow! Human sexuality is not as simple as I thought. It
is really complex”.
The existence of homosexual people in many countries remains a
controversial issue. They remain a minority community due to their sexual
orientation, not belonging to the common or majority sexual orientation
(heterosexual), they automatically get classified with negative images and
stereotypes. They are treated with injustice by society and even from the political
powers. Their tendency to have and express emotional and biological desire
toward the same sex is considered as abnormal. Society labels them with a variety
of stigmata or labels, such as abnormal, ill, sinful, dirty, evil, dangerous and other
labels. It is sad to see such discrimination, since all people, regardless of their
sexual orientation, or gender identity, should be able to enjoy the full range of
human rights without exception or exclusion from society. Yet, until today
homosexual people, especially lesbians, often get discrimination, such as social,
law, political, and cultural even religious discrimination.
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For example, in Indonesia there is no law that exists to protect Indonesia
citizens from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation
or gender identity. LGBT people often suffer cruelty by the hands of the police
but it is hard to document due to victims refusing to give statements because of
their sexuality. Many LGBT people are often arrested, detained or charged due to
their sexual orientation and sometimes without clear reasons. In addition gays in
jails are sexually abused due to their sexual orientation, and often do not report it
due to being traumatized and fear of being sent back to prison to suffer further
abuse.1 In America, gay and lesbian still face many kinds of discrimination until
today, for example in military, in obtaining jobs and housing, in using public
facilities (hotels and taverns), in areas of family law (right to marry, retain
custody of their children, adopt children, or provide foster care), as victims of
police harassment and violent hate crimes, and in AIDS-related discrimination.2
Lesbians are under attack through violent crimes, physical and
psychological abuse, sexual violence. These can occur at homes, schools,
workplaces, in places of worship or in the neighborhood. We can see from the
media that this is a global issue. Sexual orientation or gender identity that is
outside of mainstream society leads to the discrimination of these individuals in
the form of bias, abuse, violence, imprisonment, torture, or even execution. It is
shocking to know that people are being killed because of their sexual orientation
or gender expression.
1
Laurent Erick, "Sexuality and Human Rights", Journal of Homosexuality 40. 3&4 (2001): 163–
225.
2
Laurent Erick, “Sexuality and Human Rights”: 163-225.
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In Indonesia, lesbianism seems to become public. At first, lesbians tried as
much as possible to hide their true identity, but now they come together in a
forum or organizations so that everyone is able to know about their existence. On
April 19, 1981 a lesbian couple, Jessie (25) and Bonnie (22) ‘came out of the
closet’ by holding their marriage in a Pub located in Blok M district, Kebayoran
Baru, South Jakarta and their ceremony was attended by 120 guests.3 Today there
are more than 30 LGBT organizations that spread over 21 big cities in Indonesia,
such as Jakarta, Manado, Makasar, Balik Papan, Pekan Baru, Lampung, Medan,
Banda Aceh, etc.
Therefore, many activists, not only homosexuals but also heterosexual
activists are still attempting to get equal rights for homosexuals. Moreover,
lesbians face double oppression from society; first because they are women and
second because of their sexual orientation. A variety of efforts is focusing on
lesbian and human rights in order to obtain the right to get married and protected
by law as heterosexual people do. The efforts come in the form of campaigns,
demonstrations, discussions and seminars, festivals. Also lesbian groups are
widespread on facebook and other internet sites, such as SepociKopi and
ReadTheseLips. These lesbian websites have become one of the objects of
research for this study.
However, many activists find their struggle has not been successful
enough because there is no immediate impact on lesbians and their rights. Thus a
new revolution of promoting this struggle is done through published literature.
3
Sri Agustine, “Rahasia Sunyi; Gerakan Lesbian Di Indonesia” , Jurnal Perempuan 58, (2008) :
63
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Literature is being used as medium to express this struggle. All these ways are not
done simply to show their rebellion to societal norms but because the lesbians
desire to be accepted and treated equally. They dream of a society where they are
protected from any kind of violence and discrimination against them due to their
sexual orientation.
In the frame of literature, as commonly literary piece being functioned,
many lesbian authors or even non-lesbian authors also use literature as medium to
express their experiences about lesbianism and its world. These authors use
literary work to bring forth the issue of homosexual. There are many literary
works written to express their feelings mostly focused on the emotion of sadness,
anger, hope and dream. Their literature also demonstrates the problems and
conflicts they experienced in their social environment. Their writing is in various
forms such as poetry, short story, and complete novels. Some of their central
themes are related to identity, feminism, politics, culture, and abuse.
Their bigger dream of these authors is to bring this ‘marginalzied world’
and its issues to the surface and view of main stream society. Their purposes are
to end the injustices and discrimination through the writing of literary works.
Their mission is to fight the rights of homosexuals in order that they may be
treated equally and considered "normal", both socially and politically. As stated
by Manaf4 that the option of being "silence", which is expected to provide
security and comfort for lesbian women turn out to provide no protection. It can
be seen from the attitudes and discriminatory actions against lesbians, such as
4
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, (Yogyakarta:
Institut Pelangi Perempuan, 2008), p. 8.
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beatings, forced to marry the opposite sex, even to the extreme of raping which all
in the pretext of bringing their sexual orientation back to "normal". In contrast,
World Health Organization has stated that being a homosexual (gay and lesbian)
is a normal and natural way of sexual expression.5
Then Manaf continued to say that to the young Indonesian lesbians these
bitter experiences and injustices are the reasons why they prefer to ‘stay in the
closet’. Thus, voicing the sexual rights of lesbian should be equal with the rest of
society so that they can have hope for a better life will not be stopped. Heroic
activists usually do demonstrations through peaceful protesting. Some come to the
House of Representatives to have dialogue with the government to gain support
politically. Unlike the effort done by these activists, Institut Pelangi Perempuan
(Indonesian Youth Lesbian Centre), SepociKopi and ReadTheseLips use another
strategy. It is by voicing those issues through the publishing of creative writings in
the forms of poetry and short fictions written by young and adult lesbians.
As mentioned earlier, the stories published in SepociKopi and
ReadTheseLips as well as Institut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth Lesbian
Centre) are the object of this study. SepociKopi is an Indonesian independent
online lesbian magazine. It was founded by two women who are concerned with
the movement of lesbians, Alex and Laskmi. In January 2007, they based a web
blog www.sepocikopi.blogspot.com. Early writings were merely personal
opinions written in their spare time. But it developed until the ideas that were
spawned critical and revolutionary to the Indonesian lesbian movement. These
5
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, p. 8.
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two women and their blog are now very influential. Their writings are followed by
other lesbian writers who continually broaden the breadth of topics ranging from
culture, lifestyle, and humanities. Their vision and mission is to inspire, reach out,
educate, move the hearts of the general public to possitive feelings especially
towards lesbians in order to improve their quality of life. They also have the
desire to create a broad and boundless virtual world lesbian community; in order
to inform like minded people of events, exchange of professional and acedemic
knowledge. SepociKopi wants to kindle more interest and education through
reading and writing trends, in the quality of the fields of information presented in
this lesbian magazine. Meanwhile Institut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth
Lesbian Centre) collected the young lesbians’ writings and published it on 17 Mei
2008 in IDAHO celebration day (International Day Againts Homophobia). These
collections of poems and short stories were published to show the Indonesian
young lesbians’ struggle to fight against homophobia and all discriminative
actions done toward lesbians in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Read These Lips is different in that it is a collection of lesbian
short writings and creative works that are published into e-anthologies. It is
provided free of charge to all readers around the world. It is distributed via the
internet rather than through brick-and-mortar stores because the internet is a
medium that connects them more than any other in history and has the potential
to reach places that traditional print media may not. They want their readers to be
able to access their books anywhere and anytime. In spite of the availability of
new media and the world wide web, lesbians in more than half the world are still
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hard pressed to find affirming representations of their sexuality and their
lifestyles. Read These Lips is part of a growing group of queer publishers and
supporters who provide safe spaces for lesbians through literature.
The presence of these writings as explained by Manaf is expected to be a
media campaign. And at the same time to enrich Indonesian literature on lesbian
issues which are still very few in number. These published works function not
only as medium for them to deliver their daily life experience which usually
create problems either within themselves, their family and society, but also to gain
sympathy from the readers.
It is also expected to be a better form of
communication with their family: father, mother, brother, sister, Indonesian
society and states; “Last but not least… our silence is not protecting us, and then
we choose to speak up.”6
Lesbian literature became a new issue in the 1990s. Popular lesbianthemed literature itself has appeared in Indonesia 25 years ago. Since that era there
have been efforts by Indonesian authors to introduce the lesbian through literature.
The effort of those Indonesian writers in introducing and voicing this sensitive
world seems to be successful, if it is viewed from the response of Indonesian
society. For example, the production of some lesbian films which are adopted
from Indonesian novels which lesbians and their life become the themed centered.
Also a lesbian main character won an award Adikarya IKAPI and the Jakarta Arts
Council. The third champion Jakarta Arts Council in 2003, “Tabula Rasa”, set a
lesbian character as one of the main characters. In 2005, the novel of lesbian’s
6
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, p. 8.
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love story as the main element, “Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”
((Don’t Give Me Drugs (Last Seconds)) by Alberthiene Endah, was chosen by
IKAPI Adikarya as the best teenage book.7 Then the response to lesbian literature
can also be said to have 'awakened' the world of Indonesian cinema through the
movie entitled “Detik Terakhir” was also created based on the novel “Jangan
Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”.
In Indonesian literary world, there are some works in which lesbians and
the issues of lesbians face appear in the form of short stories, for example a story
written by Seno Gumira Ajidarma which was published in 1997, Dua Perempuan
Dengan Hp-nya, and novels Kembang Kertas Ijinkan Aku Menjadi Lesbian
(2007)” by Eni Martini, Tabula Rasa (2003), Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (2004),
Garis Tepi Seorang Lesbian by HerlienaTiesn (2002), Suara Perih Perempuan
Lesbian dan Kawin Bule by Putri Kartini (2003), Gerhana Kembar by Clara Ng
(2007), Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen and Puisi Lesbian Muda Indonesia
by Institut Pelangi Perempuan (2008) and among others.
Short stories dealing with lesbian theme are interesting to be analyzed due
to the fact that lesbians and gay have become controversial issues in many
countries. Especially after knowing the real conditions of lesbians, it is interesting
to do research on how lesbians are portrayed in the literary works. It is important
to see what issues are pursued, how they struggle, how the lesbian are portrayed
7
Alex, “Wajah Novel-novel Lesbian di Indonesia”, 16 Agustus 2008
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through literature, how they are focalized, etc. Homosexual, especially lesbian
literary pieces, have different and unique features compare to other literary works.
Lesbian literature is different because it usually shows the sexual orientation,
injustice and discrimination issues they get from their environment. Besides, in
English language short stories the authors openly reveal their identity even give
their photo. It is different in Indonesian stories where some of the authors usually
hide their true identity, by using pseudo name with no picture.
However, the homosexual literature, especially lesbian literary writings,
seem to be untouchable in the academic world. Neither in daily lives, such as
seminars, schools, academic institutions, even in universities these literature
works are not discussed. I personally have experienced the absence of our
professors and lecturers in pursuing homosexual literary works. During my own
studies in the undergraduate even in postgraduate, no gay or lesbian writings, such
as novels, short stories, or poems are used in a class discussion. The similar
situation also happens in America. Tyson tells us about uncomfortable atmosphere
in her class when lesbian and gay writings are conducted, since the stigma
attached to being thought as gay or lesbian is still quite strong in America today.
Thus, some of her students may be unwilling to express anything on the subject
until they see how the rest of their classmates respond. “As one of student told
me, after signing out a number of books on lesbian and gay theory form the
university library for a paper she was writing for my class, she wondered if the
students who waited on her at the circulation desk thought she were non-straight,
and to her embarrassment she found herself waiting to shout, “Hey, wait a minute;
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I’m not a lesbian!”8 The situation experienced by this girl also happened to me as
I have narrated at the very beginning of this chapter. Then, Tyson continues to
explain that clearly in her college classrooms today, homosexuality is still
considered as an uncomfortable topic of discussion. And there are some literature
professors who simply avoid addressing lesbian and gay issues in college by not
specifically devoting a study on lesbian and gay writers. Moreover, at many
colleges, courses on gay and lesbian writers can be offered as “special topics”, but
they do not always occur as regular courses offering for English department
student.9 Homosexual writing is also part of literary world and it is a reflection of
society and cultural product, yet it is rarely discussed and therefore often
neglected.
Thus, the absence of some literary classes on the subject of
homosexual or lesbian writers or themes reflects that this kind of literary piece
directly or indirectly has been ignored by the practitioners of literature.
Based on the reasons mentioned above, the reality of lesbians in the real
world and also their appearance in literature, I decided to examine the portraits of
lesbian in literary works. The idea of conducting this comparative study came
after several readings on lesbian literary works. Therefore, using the Indonesian
and English language short stories as the object of study was meant to find the
portrayal of lesbians not only in Indonesia but also in the Western countries which
are presented in the English language short stories. I analyze Indonesian lesbian
short stories taken from Institut Pelangi Perempuan and SepociKopi, while the
8
Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, (New York: Routledge. Taylor&Francis Group: 2006),
p.317.
9
Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, p. 318.
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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
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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
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.
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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):
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“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
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
TITLE
AUTHOR
“Bilik Religius” (BR)
Lez Moslem
”Religious Chamber”
“Bunga Sakura Dihati Nia” (BSDN)
Sakura
”Sakura in Nia’s Heart”
“Gak Penting Banget Gitu Loch”
Little Dyke
(GPBGL)
” Not That Important”
“Ketika Langit Senja” (KLS)/
Alvi. H
“The Twilight”
“Menggapai Langit Ke-7” (MLK-7)
Estha Vadose
“Reaching the Seventh Heaven”
“Putus” (P)
NV
“Break”
“Hari ini, Esok dan Kemar
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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF
LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M. Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
TIRA MARIANA
Student Number: 096332018
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2014
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ii
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iii
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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PORTRAYAL OF
LESBIANS IN THIRTY SELECTED INDONESIAN AND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated,
are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands
the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s
ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta,
January 23, 2014
TIRA MARIANA
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama
: Tira Mariana
Nomor Mahasiswa
: 096332018
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty Selected
Indonesian and English Language Short Stories
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada).
Dengan demikian saya memberikan hak kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata
Dharma untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya
dalam
bentuk
pangkalan
data,
mendistribusikan
secara
terbatas,
dan
mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis
tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya
selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
Pada Tanggal: 23 Januari 2014
Yang menyatakan,
Tira Mariana
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DEDICATION
It is true that together somebody else success there are other hands hold you up.
It is true that we all need our friends
And it is completely true without love we are hopeless
Thus, here I would like to dedicate my deepest appreciation:
My beloved mother, and my very understanding and supportive husband for love,
praying, support, tolerance and sacrifices to provide me with amount of patience to stay
far away in different island for more than one thousand two hundreds and ninety days
during my study
Ibu Dr. Katrin Bandel and Ibu Dr. Novita Dewi, you are not simply supervisor and
lecturer but also inspiring figures for me. I really can’t count how much I have learnt
from you.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people who have helped me during my study.
First of all, to my lecturers Dr. Mukarto, M.S, Prof. Dr. Bakdi Soemanto, Prof. Dr.
Soepomo.P, Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Dr. Alb. Budi Susanto, S.J.
and Pasca Sarjana Staff especially, Bu Lely and Pak Mul, thank you so much for
your help.
I am grateful first and foremost to my supervisor, Dr. Katrin Bandel, and Miss
Alathea Rael Gore, my proof reader a Bilingual Teacher from Austin, Texas for
their constant support, correction, motivation, enthusiasm, and encouragement
during the long process of writing this thesis. They do not only read the entire
work a number of times but also provide crucial critical ideas and support for this
writing.
A Moslem brother, Muhammad Taha Billah (Lesotho), Eva Busch and Oliver
Kontny (German), Bazil Bumahiga (Tanzania) and my examiners Dra. Sri
Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D and Mutiara Andalas, S.J, B.Th., S.T.D. deserve special
thanks for critical discussion and suggestion to enrich this writing, as well as Dr.
G. Budi Subanar, S.J (Religion and Culture Program of Sanata Dharma
University) for his explanations about lesbianism in Bible.
My special thanks go to my colleagues and friends who have helped and
supported me intellectually and emotionally during my study and as I wrote this
thesis: Mba’ Ana (Yuliana Tri Nirmayanti, Malang) and Mba’ Ema (UGM) for
the ideas and discussion, encouragement, sources, books and the very helpful
lesbians and queer movies. Mba’ Lelly Sepniwati (Palangkaraya) for support and
help, Kak Novianti Taweru (Papua) for a very critical discussion in the last
minutes of the thesis accomplishment, Kak Uda (Mudalifa Mahmud, Gorontalo)
for books and support, Sr. Marylin and Sr. Suzan Ningfa for praying, Mas Yayan
(Lombok) and East Timor sister Nia Ximenes for being there when I was sick.
My deepest Gratitude to Uni (Noor Chairani, Yogyakarta) and her parents Bapak
Drs. Psi. H. Hasyim Abdullah, MSi and Ibu Hj. Siti Nur Isnaini, BAA, for all their
generosity for giving me a very comfortable and safe dwelling stay during the late
11 months in their home. Uni, thank you so much for taking me into your family. I
can feel the real spirit of having complete family which I have never had before
entering your home. And Bapak Sadino and Ibu Munti (Yogyakarta) family for
their kindness in providing help, care and support.
For endless academic support from Islamic Institute of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin
Jambi: Bapak Prof. Dr. H. Adrianus Chatib (Jambi), Kak Diana Rozelin, M.Hum
(Jambi) and Kak Minsakutra, M.Hum (Jambi) for encouragement to continue and
finish my study.
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ABSTRACT
Tira Mariana. 2014. A Comparative Study on the Portrayal of Lesbians in Thirty
Selected Indonesian and English Language Short Stories. Yogyakarta: English
Language Studies, Graduate Program. Sanata Dharma University.
The existence of lesbians and their rights in many countries remains a
controversial issue. Lesbians are labeled by the society as being abnormal,
sinners, mentally ill, etc. The discrimination, injustice and even violence toward
lesbians keep happening. As a response to these facts, literature is used as part of
lesbians’ struggle as a media to communicate, promote and campaign to this issue.
The purpose of this study is, first to reveal the portrayal of lesbians in Indonesian
and English language stories, starting from the way they perceive their feelings,
sexual desire or orientation and relationship up to the background in becoming a
lesbian. The second purpose is to find out the conflicts and the discriminations
experienced by the lesbians in their life. There are 30 selected Indonesian and
English short stories used in this study, taken from the lesbian websites and other
published short stories collections.
This study uses Comparative Literature Approach in analyzing the similarity and
the diversity of the way lesbians are portrayed. Lesbian Criticism and Queer
Theory are applied to examine the issue of lesbian and lesbianism as an identity,
as well as to reveal the complexity and the fluidity of sexuality represented
through the lesbian characters, their conflicts and discriminations experienced in
life.
The first finding of this study shows several similarities and differences. The
differences are in Indonesian stories some lesbians perceive their feelings, sexual
desire and relationship as predestination and others perceive it as a forbidden love,
a mistake and a sin. While in English stories, lesbians perceive it as being
different. The similarities are that they perceive it as something natural, normal,
and unchangeable and not a mistake.
The second finding reveals that long term interactions, spontaneous or accidental
feelings, environmental factors and early exposure to homosexuality, unhappy
heterosexual married life, exploration and experiencing new sexual practice and
personal choice are the reasons why women become lesbians.
The last finding show that the similar internal conflicts experienced by lesbians:
are the feeling of confused in understanding and accepting their condition, being
happy but, guilty to live as a lesbian, and no courage to disclose their true
feelings. The external conflicts founded are the conflicts between lesbian and her
partner and her family. Meanwhile, lesbians are socially discriminated against but
at the same time their existence is tolerated. The discriminations are mostly
imposed on them because of religions, holy books and certain religious
institutions. Therefore, lesbians are often attacked and discriminated against based
on religious doctrines.
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ABSTRAK
Tira Mariana. 2014. Studi Banding Tentang Potret Lesbian dalam Tiga Puluh
Cerpen Berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris,
Program Pasca-Sarjana Universitas Sanata Dharma
Keberadaan lesbian dan hak-hak mereka merupakan isu yang kontroversial di
banyak negara. Lesbian dicap oleh masyarakat sebagai orang yang abnormal,
pendosa, sakit, dll. Diskriminasi, ketidakadilan dan bahkan kekerasan terus
dilakukan terhadap lesbian. Sebagai respon pada fakta-fakta ini, sastra digunakan
sebagai bagian dari perjuangan lesbian untuk mengkomunikasikan,
mempromosikan dan mengkampanyekan isu tersebut.
Tujuan pertama penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkapkan potret lesbian dalam
cerpen-cerpen berbahasa Indonesia dan Inggris. Mulai dari cara mereka
memandang perasaan, hasrat atau orientasi seksual, dan hubungan yang mereka
bangun sampai latar belakang yang menyebabkan mereka bisa menjadi lesbian.
Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk menemukan konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi
yang dialami lesbian dalam kehidupan mereka. Ada 30 cerpen berbahasa
Indonesia dan Inggris yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Cerpen-cerpen
tersebut diambil dari website lesbian dan kumpulan-kumpulan cerpen yang sudah
diterbitkan.
Penelitian ini menggunakan Pendekatan Sastra Bandingan dalam menganalisis
persamaan dan perbedaan tentang cara lesbian dipotret dalam cerpen-cerpen
tersebut. Kritik Lesbian dan Teori Queer digunakan untuk melihat isu lesbian dan
lesbianisme sebagai sebuah identitas, juga untuk mengungkapkan
kekompleksitasan dan kecairan sexualitas yang direpresentasikan lewat tokohtokoh lesbian, konflik-konflik dan diskriminasi yang mereka alami dalam
kehidupan.
Hasil temuan pertama dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan beberapa persamaan dan
perbedaan. Perbedaannya yaitu dalam cerpen berbahasa Indonesia beberapa
lesbian mamandang perasaan, hasrat sexual and hubungan sesama jenis mereka
sebagai sebuah takdir sementara lesbian yang lainnya memandang itu sebagai
cinta terlarang, kesalahan dan dosa. Sedangkan dalam cerpen berbahasa Inggris,
lesbian memandangnya sebagai sesuatu yang membuat mereka berbeda.
Persamaannya adalah mereka sama-sama memandang perasaan dan orientasi
sexual sebagai hal yang alami, normal, tidak dapat berubah dan bukanlah sebuah
kesalahan.
Hasil temuan kedua mengungkapkan bahwa penyebab yang menjadikan
perempuan menjadi lesbian adalah dikarenakan hasil interaksi jangka panjang,
perasaan yang spontan dan kebetulan terjadi, faktor lingkungan dan pengalaman
homosexual diusia dini, kehidupan penikahan hetero yang tidak bahagia, ingin
mengeksplor dan merasakan praktek seksual yang baru dan memang persoalan
pilihan pribadi.
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Hasil temuan terakhir menunjukkan bahwa lesbian merasakan konflik internal
yang sama. Yaitu perasaan bingung dalam memahami dan menerima kondisi
mereka, bahagia tapi juga merasa bersalah dan tidak berani mengungkapkan
perasaan mereka. Konflik eksternal yang ditemukan yaitu konflik yang terjadi
antara lesbian dan pasangan dan keluarga mereka. Sedangkan secara sosial lesbian
didiskriminasi, tetapi diwaktu yang bersamaan keberadaan mereka tetap
ditoleransi. Diskriminasi yang ditujukan kepada mereka sebagian besar karena
agama, kitab suci dan institusi-institusi keagamaan tertentu menentang mereka.
Karena itu lesbian sering diserang dan didiskriminasi berdasarkan doktrin-doktrin
keagamaan.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF TITLE ......................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................... ii
DEFENSE PAGE ........................................................................................ iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ........................................................... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA
ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ……………………...v
DEDICATION ………………………………………………………….... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………….... vii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................viii
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................... ix
TABLE OF CONTENT.............................................................................. xi
CHAPTER I
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL
RESTLESSNESS VS LESBIANS’ STORIES
Background of the Study
Scope of Study
Research Questions
Significance of the Study
Research Method
CHAPTER II
1
1
14
15
15
17
THEORITICAL REVIEW
22
A. Review on Related Theories
1. Lesbian and Herstory
2. Lesbian Criticism
3. Queer Theory
4. Lesbians in Indonesia and in West
a. Lesbians in Indonesia: Movement and How They Are
Treated in Terms of Law
b. Lesbian in the West
B. Review on Related Studies
C. Theoretical Framework
22
22
23
29
34
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34
38
43
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CHAPTER III
LESBIANS’ PORTRAYAL IN INDONESIAN
AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SHORT STORIES
A. The Ways Lesbians Perceive and Define Their Feeling,
Sexual Orientation and Relationship
1. Becoming a Lesbian as Something Predestined
2. Becoming a Lesbian as Natural, Normal,
Unchangeable and Not a Mistake
3. Being a Lesbian is Viewed as Forbidden Love
(Cinta Terlarang) and Sin
4. Being a Lesbian is Being Different
B. The Root of Herstory in Becoming a Lesbian
1. Becoming a Lesbian as a Choice
2. Becoming a Lesbian Purely because of
Spontaneous or Accidental Feelings
3. Becoming a Lesbian as a Result of
Long Term Interaction
4. Becoming a Lesbian because of Early Exposure to
Homosexuality and Environmental Factor
5. Becoming a Lesbian to Explore and Experience
New Sexual Practices
6. Becoming a Lesbian because of Unhappy
and Unharmonious Marriage Life
CHAPTER IV
LESBIAN’S EXPERIENCES:
CONFLICTS AND DISCRIMINATIONS
47
48
49
51
58
60
62
62
67
72
75
79
81
94
A. Lesbian’s Internal Conflicts
1. Feeling Confused with Her Own
Feelings and Sexual Orientation
2. No Courage to Disclose Her Feelings
3. Happy but Guilty
94
B. Lesbian’s External Conflicts
104
1. The Problems Between a Lesbian and Her Partner
a. A Very Busy Partner
b. Butch and Femme Gender Role
among Lesbians and Their Partners
c. Between Dating and Serious Lifelong
Commitment in Lesbian’s Relationship
d. Social Gap and Jealousy
2. The Steps Taken by Lesbians to Overcome Problems
Due to Their Sexual Orientation and Relationship
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102
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105
111
114
119
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a. “Coming Out” or “In the Closet”?
b. Pretending to Love Man and Getting Married Heterosexually
c. Lesbian vs Heterosexual Marriage:
Bisexual Not Merely the Answer
3. Lesbian and Family: Solutions Taken by the Family to
Overcome Lesbian’s Sexual Orientation and Relationship
a. Separating the Lesbian and Her Partner
b. “Cure” the Lesbian in Religious Institution
c. Forcing to Marry a Man
d. “Cure” Lesbian by Doing Corrective Rape
C. Lesbian vs Social Environment
124
131
135
145
148
149
150
151
156
1) Being Treated Badly or Unfriendly
2) Lack of Legal Responsibility and
Legitimate Rights for Each Other
157
160
D. Lesbian vs Religion: Being Attacked or
Discriminated Based on Religion and Holy Books
162
E. Lesbian vs Country and Legal Law Protection:
How Lesbians are Treated before Law
180
CHAPTER V
184
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAHY
APPENDICES
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1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL RESTLESSNESS
VS LESBIANS’ STORIES
A. Background of the Study
“Hey, what are you going to research for your thesis?”
“I am doing research on lesbian in Indonesian and Western Literature.”
“Why do you bother conducting research on lesbian literature?Who is actually
the lesbian? The object of research or you yourself, as the researcher?”
I was shocked when someone asked me those questions. I was so surprised
at listening and responding to these comments. Should I also be considered as
lesbian because of my interest in studying lesbian literature? I opened this
paragraph by delivering a personal story of what happened to me when someone
asked me about the topic of my thesis. He automatically thought that I was a
lesbian, because I chose lesbian literature for my thesis topic. Why is it that when
someone does not know all the facts, they easily make unwise judgment without
confirming the information first? This example I personally experienced shows
that if we do not understand we will be mistaken.
Thus, we should seek
information, try to understand others to avoid misunderstanding among each
others and try to understand so that others will not mistake us too.
In October 2009, I was sitting in fear because of my decision to join a
Queer Film Festival. A shorter name for the Queer Film Festival is Q-Film. QFilm is a film festival organized by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) activists to communicate their way of life to others outside of their
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community. We were in a large comfortable building in one of universities in
Yogyakarta. It was around 8 pm. When we were ready to watch the film
scheduled by the committee, one of the committee members stood up be fore us.
She delivered a short speech to remind the audiences that this festival could be
under attack due to its content. Thus, she pointed out the location of the
emergency exits in case any sign of danger were to appear. The committee had
already been informed that the militant group; Islamic Defenders Front (FPI =
Front Pembela Islam), the Islamic fundamentalist group in Indonesia would come
to stop this program. And there could be a possibility they could use violence and
attack any of us who were at that place at that time. How ironic it is to live around
people and a majority society who are quick to label and judge somebody else,
without truly knowing what the essential issues are. At that time, I was
questioning myself. What if that night I had gotten injured or perhaps even died
only because of watching a QLGBT movie for the sake of my research? I know
that the FPI is notorious for its violence and anarchies actions.
We were watching the movie when suddenly one of the committee
interrupted to announce and apologize that we could not continue the program,
since the FPI was about to come. For this reason, the committee decided to end
the Q-Film Festival earlier to avoid being attacked by the FPI, which could harm
all of us. So, the Q-Film Festival ended abruptly without a closing statement or
ceremony, with the exception of a word of thank from the MC for coming that
night. Then, the audiences left the room through the emergency exits in a rush, but
calmly. The doors led to the ground floor and on to the parking area. I can still
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feel my fear from that night. The last information I got in that night was that after
all those in the audiences left the university, the committee members had to hide
themselves in a hotel. The FPI’s attack was failed because they could not find
either the participants or the committees of this festival.
I grew up in the environment which people consider and label themselves
as “normal.”
During my 22 years, I personally have had no homosexual
experience. However, since I have been here in Yogyakarta and far away from my
family and my “normal” life environment in Jambi, I have met homosexual
people, interacted with them and even made friends with them. I try to learn about
them so that I can understand them and their way of life. Many of them have had a
more difficult life than most heterosexuals. Moreover, I propose it is not sufficient
information to only know lesbian and the issue of lesbianism only from their daily
life. I choose to learn them from other mediums, thus from literary perspective, as
well. Literature gives a space for people to voice out their true options and ideas
when they do not feel they can voice it due to societal norms in their daily lives.
Through literature we can speak unspoken things without any fear.
It was in 2010 when I was introduced to lesbian literature. In those days
when I began to research lesbian literary work, many questions came into my
mind, because it was really new experience for me. What does it actually mean to
be a lesbian? How can a woman fall in love with another woman? Why are there
women who love women, as if there are no more men to love? Why do so many
people hate lesbians? Should lesbian sexual desire be denied? Why are they
considered to be people who are mentally handicapped, abnormal, evil, immoral,
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etc? Why are they not accepted in their society or even among their own family?
Why should lesbians get married with men if they love women emotionally and
sexually? How can a married woman with children still be able to have sexual
experiences with another woman? Why is love and sexual desire to the same sex
considered to be evil and sinful? Is it wrong and a mistake if a woman loves
another woman? Then, if it is so, should they be punished? Who should punish
them? God? Society? The State? Nature? Or who? So, the only idea that came
into my mind then was: “Wow! Human sexuality is not as simple as I thought. It
is really complex”.
The existence of homosexual people in many countries remains a
controversial issue. They remain a minority community due to their sexual
orientation, not belonging to the common or majority sexual orientation
(heterosexual), they automatically get classified with negative images and
stereotypes. They are treated with injustice by society and even from the political
powers. Their tendency to have and express emotional and biological desire
toward the same sex is considered as abnormal. Society labels them with a variety
of stigmata or labels, such as abnormal, ill, sinful, dirty, evil, dangerous and other
labels. It is sad to see such discrimination, since all people, regardless of their
sexual orientation, or gender identity, should be able to enjoy the full range of
human rights without exception or exclusion from society. Yet, until today
homosexual people, especially lesbians, often get discrimination, such as social,
law, political, and cultural even religious discrimination.
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For example, in Indonesia there is no law that exists to protect Indonesia
citizens from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation
or gender identity. LGBT people often suffer cruelty by the hands of the police
but it is hard to document due to victims refusing to give statements because of
their sexuality. Many LGBT people are often arrested, detained or charged due to
their sexual orientation and sometimes without clear reasons. In addition gays in
jails are sexually abused due to their sexual orientation, and often do not report it
due to being traumatized and fear of being sent back to prison to suffer further
abuse.1 In America, gay and lesbian still face many kinds of discrimination until
today, for example in military, in obtaining jobs and housing, in using public
facilities (hotels and taverns), in areas of family law (right to marry, retain
custody of their children, adopt children, or provide foster care), as victims of
police harassment and violent hate crimes, and in AIDS-related discrimination.2
Lesbians are under attack through violent crimes, physical and
psychological abuse, sexual violence. These can occur at homes, schools,
workplaces, in places of worship or in the neighborhood. We can see from the
media that this is a global issue. Sexual orientation or gender identity that is
outside of mainstream society leads to the discrimination of these individuals in
the form of bias, abuse, violence, imprisonment, torture, or even execution. It is
shocking to know that people are being killed because of their sexual orientation
or gender expression.
1
Laurent Erick, "Sexuality and Human Rights", Journal of Homosexuality 40. 3&4 (2001): 163–
225.
2
Laurent Erick, “Sexuality and Human Rights”: 163-225.
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In Indonesia, lesbianism seems to become public. At first, lesbians tried as
much as possible to hide their true identity, but now they come together in a
forum or organizations so that everyone is able to know about their existence. On
April 19, 1981 a lesbian couple, Jessie (25) and Bonnie (22) ‘came out of the
closet’ by holding their marriage in a Pub located in Blok M district, Kebayoran
Baru, South Jakarta and their ceremony was attended by 120 guests.3 Today there
are more than 30 LGBT organizations that spread over 21 big cities in Indonesia,
such as Jakarta, Manado, Makasar, Balik Papan, Pekan Baru, Lampung, Medan,
Banda Aceh, etc.
Therefore, many activists, not only homosexuals but also heterosexual
activists are still attempting to get equal rights for homosexuals. Moreover,
lesbians face double oppression from society; first because they are women and
second because of their sexual orientation. A variety of efforts is focusing on
lesbian and human rights in order to obtain the right to get married and protected
by law as heterosexual people do. The efforts come in the form of campaigns,
demonstrations, discussions and seminars, festivals. Also lesbian groups are
widespread on facebook and other internet sites, such as SepociKopi and
ReadTheseLips. These lesbian websites have become one of the objects of
research for this study.
However, many activists find their struggle has not been successful
enough because there is no immediate impact on lesbians and their rights. Thus a
new revolution of promoting this struggle is done through published literature.
3
Sri Agustine, “Rahasia Sunyi; Gerakan Lesbian Di Indonesia” , Jurnal Perempuan 58, (2008) :
63
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Literature is being used as medium to express this struggle. All these ways are not
done simply to show their rebellion to societal norms but because the lesbians
desire to be accepted and treated equally. They dream of a society where they are
protected from any kind of violence and discrimination against them due to their
sexual orientation.
In the frame of literature, as commonly literary piece being functioned,
many lesbian authors or even non-lesbian authors also use literature as medium to
express their experiences about lesbianism and its world. These authors use
literary work to bring forth the issue of homosexual. There are many literary
works written to express their feelings mostly focused on the emotion of sadness,
anger, hope and dream. Their literature also demonstrates the problems and
conflicts they experienced in their social environment. Their writing is in various
forms such as poetry, short story, and complete novels. Some of their central
themes are related to identity, feminism, politics, culture, and abuse.
Their bigger dream of these authors is to bring this ‘marginalzied world’
and its issues to the surface and view of main stream society. Their purposes are
to end the injustices and discrimination through the writing of literary works.
Their mission is to fight the rights of homosexuals in order that they may be
treated equally and considered "normal", both socially and politically. As stated
by Manaf4 that the option of being "silence", which is expected to provide
security and comfort for lesbian women turn out to provide no protection. It can
be seen from the attitudes and discriminatory actions against lesbians, such as
4
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, (Yogyakarta:
Institut Pelangi Perempuan, 2008), p. 8.
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beatings, forced to marry the opposite sex, even to the extreme of raping which all
in the pretext of bringing their sexual orientation back to "normal". In contrast,
World Health Organization has stated that being a homosexual (gay and lesbian)
is a normal and natural way of sexual expression.5
Then Manaf continued to say that to the young Indonesian lesbians these
bitter experiences and injustices are the reasons why they prefer to ‘stay in the
closet’. Thus, voicing the sexual rights of lesbian should be equal with the rest of
society so that they can have hope for a better life will not be stopped. Heroic
activists usually do demonstrations through peaceful protesting. Some come to the
House of Representatives to have dialogue with the government to gain support
politically. Unlike the effort done by these activists, Institut Pelangi Perempuan
(Indonesian Youth Lesbian Centre), SepociKopi and ReadTheseLips use another
strategy. It is by voicing those issues through the publishing of creative writings in
the forms of poetry and short fictions written by young and adult lesbians.
As mentioned earlier, the stories published in SepociKopi and
ReadTheseLips as well as Institut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth Lesbian
Centre) are the object of this study. SepociKopi is an Indonesian independent
online lesbian magazine. It was founded by two women who are concerned with
the movement of lesbians, Alex and Laskmi. In January 2007, they based a web
blog www.sepocikopi.blogspot.com. Early writings were merely personal
opinions written in their spare time. But it developed until the ideas that were
spawned critical and revolutionary to the Indonesian lesbian movement. These
5
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, p. 8.
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two women and their blog are now very influential. Their writings are followed by
other lesbian writers who continually broaden the breadth of topics ranging from
culture, lifestyle, and humanities. Their vision and mission is to inspire, reach out,
educate, move the hearts of the general public to possitive feelings especially
towards lesbians in order to improve their quality of life. They also have the
desire to create a broad and boundless virtual world lesbian community; in order
to inform like minded people of events, exchange of professional and acedemic
knowledge. SepociKopi wants to kindle more interest and education through
reading and writing trends, in the quality of the fields of information presented in
this lesbian magazine. Meanwhile Institut Pelangi Perempuan (Indonesian Youth
Lesbian Centre) collected the young lesbians’ writings and published it on 17 Mei
2008 in IDAHO celebration day (International Day Againts Homophobia). These
collections of poems and short stories were published to show the Indonesian
young lesbians’ struggle to fight against homophobia and all discriminative
actions done toward lesbians in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Read These Lips is different in that it is a collection of lesbian
short writings and creative works that are published into e-anthologies. It is
provided free of charge to all readers around the world. It is distributed via the
internet rather than through brick-and-mortar stores because the internet is a
medium that connects them more than any other in history and has the potential
to reach places that traditional print media may not. They want their readers to be
able to access their books anywhere and anytime. In spite of the availability of
new media and the world wide web, lesbians in more than half the world are still
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hard pressed to find affirming representations of their sexuality and their
lifestyles. Read These Lips is part of a growing group of queer publishers and
supporters who provide safe spaces for lesbians through literature.
The presence of these writings as explained by Manaf is expected to be a
media campaign. And at the same time to enrich Indonesian literature on lesbian
issues which are still very few in number. These published works function not
only as medium for them to deliver their daily life experience which usually
create problems either within themselves, their family and society, but also to gain
sympathy from the readers.
It is also expected to be a better form of
communication with their family: father, mother, brother, sister, Indonesian
society and states; “Last but not least… our silence is not protecting us, and then
we choose to speak up.”6
Lesbian literature became a new issue in the 1990s. Popular lesbianthemed literature itself has appeared in Indonesia 25 years ago. Since that era there
have been efforts by Indonesian authors to introduce the lesbian through literature.
The effort of those Indonesian writers in introducing and voicing this sensitive
world seems to be successful, if it is viewed from the response of Indonesian
society. For example, the production of some lesbian films which are adopted
from Indonesian novels which lesbians and their life become the themed centered.
Also a lesbian main character won an award Adikarya IKAPI and the Jakarta Arts
Council. The third champion Jakarta Arts Council in 2003, “Tabula Rasa”, set a
lesbian character as one of the main characters. In 2005, the novel of lesbian’s
6
Kamila Manaf, Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen dan Puisi Lesbian Muda, p. 8.
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love story as the main element, “Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”
((Don’t Give Me Drugs (Last Seconds)) by Alberthiene Endah, was chosen by
IKAPI Adikarya as the best teenage book.7 Then the response to lesbian literature
can also be said to have 'awakened' the world of Indonesian cinema through the
movie entitled “Detik Terakhir” was also created based on the novel “Jangan
Beri Aku Narkoba (Detik Terakhir)”.
In Indonesian literary world, there are some works in which lesbians and
the issues of lesbians face appear in the form of short stories, for example a story
written by Seno Gumira Ajidarma which was published in 1997, Dua Perempuan
Dengan Hp-nya, and novels Kembang Kertas Ijinkan Aku Menjadi Lesbian
(2007)” by Eni Martini, Tabula Rasa (2003), Jangan Beri Aku Narkoba (2004),
Garis Tepi Seorang Lesbian by HerlienaTiesn (2002), Suara Perih Perempuan
Lesbian dan Kawin Bule by Putri Kartini (2003), Gerhana Kembar by Clara Ng
(2007), Pelangi Perempuan Kumpulan Cerpen and Puisi Lesbian Muda Indonesia
by Institut Pelangi Perempuan (2008) and among others.
Short stories dealing with lesbian theme are interesting to be analyzed due
to the fact that lesbians and gay have become controversial issues in many
countries. Especially after knowing the real conditions of lesbians, it is interesting
to do research on how lesbians are portrayed in the literary works. It is important
to see what issues are pursued, how they struggle, how the lesbian are portrayed
7
Alex, “Wajah Novel-novel Lesbian di Indonesia”, 16 Agustus 2008
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through literature, how they are focalized, etc. Homosexual, especially lesbian
literary pieces, have different and unique features compare to other literary works.
Lesbian literature is different because it usually shows the sexual orientation,
injustice and discrimination issues they get from their environment. Besides, in
English language short stories the authors openly reveal their identity even give
their photo. It is different in Indonesian stories where some of the authors usually
hide their true identity, by using pseudo name with no picture.
However, the homosexual literature, especially lesbian literary writings,
seem to be untouchable in the academic world. Neither in daily lives, such as
seminars, schools, academic institutions, even in universities these literature
works are not discussed. I personally have experienced the absence of our
professors and lecturers in pursuing homosexual literary works. During my own
studies in the undergraduate even in postgraduate, no gay or lesbian writings, such
as novels, short stories, or poems are used in a class discussion. The similar
situation also happens in America. Tyson tells us about uncomfortable atmosphere
in her class when lesbian and gay writings are conducted, since the stigma
attached to being thought as gay or lesbian is still quite strong in America today.
Thus, some of her students may be unwilling to express anything on the subject
until they see how the rest of their classmates respond. “As one of student told
me, after signing out a number of books on lesbian and gay theory form the
university library for a paper she was writing for my class, she wondered if the
students who waited on her at the circulation desk thought she were non-straight,
and to her embarrassment she found herself waiting to shout, “Hey, wait a minute;
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I’m not a lesbian!”8 The situation experienced by this girl also happened to me as
I have narrated at the very beginning of this chapter. Then, Tyson continues to
explain that clearly in her college classrooms today, homosexuality is still
considered as an uncomfortable topic of discussion. And there are some literature
professors who simply avoid addressing lesbian and gay issues in college by not
specifically devoting a study on lesbian and gay writers. Moreover, at many
colleges, courses on gay and lesbian writers can be offered as “special topics”, but
they do not always occur as regular courses offering for English department
student.9 Homosexual writing is also part of literary world and it is a reflection of
society and cultural product, yet it is rarely discussed and therefore often
neglected.
Thus, the absence of some literary classes on the subject of
homosexual or lesbian writers or themes reflects that this kind of literary piece
directly or indirectly has been ignored by the practitioners of literature.
Based on the reasons mentioned above, the reality of lesbians in the real
world and also their appearance in literature, I decided to examine the portraits of
lesbian in literary works. The idea of conducting this comparative study came
after several readings on lesbian literary works. Therefore, using the Indonesian
and English language short stories as the object of study was meant to find the
portrayal of lesbians not only in Indonesia but also in the Western countries which
are presented in the English language short stories. I analyze Indonesian lesbian
short stories taken from Institut Pelangi Perempuan and SepociKopi, while the
8
Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, (New York: Routledge. Taylor&Francis Group: 2006),
p.317.
9
Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, p. 318.
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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
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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
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.
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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):
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“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
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
INDONESIAN LANGUAGE SHORT STORIES
TITLE
AUTHOR
“Bilik Religius” (BR)
Lez Moslem
”Religious Chamber”
“Bunga Sakura Dihati Nia” (BSDN)
Sakura
”Sakura in Nia’s Heart”
“Gak Penting Banget Gitu Loch”
Little Dyke
(GPBGL)
” Not That Important”
“Ketika Langit Senja” (KLS)/
Alvi. H
“The Twilight”
“Menggapai Langit Ke-7” (MLK-7)
Estha Vadose
“Reaching the Seventh Heaven”
“Putus” (P)
NV
“Break”
“Hari ini, Esok dan Kemar