Butterfly Effect - ressourcesfeministes

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1 sea. Bonnie Zimmerman’s literary analysis of mostly American lesbian fiction puts
the sea at the centre. The Safe Sea of Women: Lesbian Fiction 1969-1989 (1990).
2 takatapui. This is a word used by some Maori lesbians to describe their sexuality.
3 on islands lesbians thrive. Monique Wittig and Sande Zeig refer to the migrations to
islands by lesbians. They write: “In large numbers the companion lovers of the
Glorious Age have started looking for islands. Most have chosen islands where the
great tropical rainforests continue to grow. These islands form a belt on both sides of
the equator.” Lesbian Peoples. (1979), p. 85. In the Author’s Note to The Lesbian Body,
1975, Wittig writes: “We already have our islets, our islands.” p. 9.
4 Lesbos. Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos in the seventh century BCE. “… all the
lesbians or companion lovers go there one day.” Lesbian Peoples (1979), p. 97.
5 Capri. Wealthy lesbians of the 1920s holidayed on Capri. Among them, artist
Romaine Brooks, who in 1918 bought Villa Cercola. Faith Compton Mackenzie
wrote of her: “A heat wave, hot even for Capri in August, sent temperatures up.
Feverish bouquets of exhausted blooms lay about the big studio, letters and invites
strewed her desk, ignored for the most part, while she, wrapped in her cloak, would
wander down to the town as the evening cooled and sit in the darkest corner of
Morgano’s Café terrace, maddeningly remote and provocative.” Meryle Secrest.
1976. Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks, p. 285.
6 Malta. Around 4500 years ago huge temples were built on the island of Malta. The
Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni has been hewn from the soft limestone and descends
several stories below ground. A place of burial and worship, with some 7000 bodies
found there, the shape of the Hypogeum resembles ancient figurines of women. For
this reason, it is a place of pilgrimage for some lesbians. Cristina Biaggi. 1994.
Habitations of the Great Goddess.
7 Crete. The home of the ancient Minoan civilisation, Crete has become a favoured
destination for many lesbians in search of a culture in which women were at least
equal with men. Of great appeal to many lesbians are the stories of the labyrinth and
the bull leapers. Dorothy Porter writes of the athleticism and sexuality of
bull-leaping. Dorothy Porter. 1996. Crete, p. 26. The word labyrinth is related to
labrys, the double axe, a powerful lesbian symbol of the 1970s. As noted previously,
Mussolini’s Fascists also used the double axe as their symbol, resulting in an
understandably ambivalent attitude towards the labrys in some quarters.
8 St Croix. Not in the image of the Mediterranean islands, St Croix in the Caribbean
became the island retreat of Audre Lorde. She died there in 1992. See Alexis de
Veaux. 2004. Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde. The sad irony is that in many
Caribbean islands – including the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and
Barbuda, Barbados – it is illegal to be a lesbian. I wonder how many tourist lesbians
are arrested and jailed, or is it only aimed at locals
9 Fiji. Lesbian travel agencies, such as Silke’s operating out of Sydney, have organised
lesbian weeks at a resort in Fiji. Like the Caribbean, the Fiji and Pacific islands are
running the risk of becoming exoticised islands for rich western lesbians.
10 Isla Mujeres. Off the coast of Mexico, these islands of women inspire lesbians to
travel in the hope of finding paradise. Of course paradise is never that easy to find
even in a name as promising as this.