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Marginalization of GSM Women in GSM-Exclusive Spaces

Kiona Jones

University of Washington, Tacoma

Dr. Joan Bleecker & Dr. Anaid Yerena

T INTL 300 I: Foreign Study

August 18, 2016

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Marginalization of GSM Women in GSM-Exclusive Spaces

Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) who identify as women are marginalized in

GSM-exclusive spaces in Buenos Aires. They do so through a lack of support from the GSM

community when facing issues such as a lack of access to health care, a lack of protection from

discrimination for being openly GSM at work, and being excluded in GSM-exclusive bars and

clubs. LGBTQIA is an initialism for the

Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer/Intersex/Asexual community (Killermann, 2013).

GSM refers to this community of Buenos Aires in a shorter and more inclusive manner. It also

does so in a more combining manner. LGBTQIA, on the one hand, assumes that all identities of

gender and sexuality are separately. For example, the label of lesbian is separate from that of

transgender. GSM, on the other hand, allows for combined identities. For example, the label of

lesbian can describe a person’s sexuality identity and the label of transgender can describe that

same person’s gender identity. Throughout this paper, GSM is the sole manner of referring to the

LGBTQIA community of Buenos Aires.

Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) women are both cisgender and transgender

individuals that identify as women. Cisgender women—or ciswomen—do so because they agree

with the gender to which they were assigned at birth (Killermann, 2013). For example, Keisha

was called a girl at birth and currently identifies as a woman. Therefore, she is a ciswoman.

Transgender women—or transwomen—do so because they do not agree with the gender to

which they were assigned at birth (Killermann, 2013). For example, Latrice was called a boy at

birth and currently identifies as a woman. Therefore, she is a transwoman. GSM-exclusive refers

to businesses and organizations whose target demographic is the GSM community of Buenos
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Aires. While they serve anyone regardless of identity of gender or sexuality, they cater directly to

GSM individuals.

The following picture is an example of a Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM)-

exclusive space—which is called Pride Café. The flag on the right is a rainbow flag which is

symbolic of the GSM community. The flag on the left is a blue flag with a yellow equal sign. It

represents support of same-sex marriage. These flags together are a message to the GSM

community of Buenos Aires that not only are they welcome, but they are catered to in this

establishment.

GSM-exclusive spaces, much like most businesses, also provide information on other

GSM-exclusive spaces. This picture shows a table of pamphlets, business cards, and flyers for

other spaces as well as GSM-exclusive events:

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GSM-exclusive spaces are different from GSM-inclusive spaces. GSM-exclusive spaces

focus on specifically fulfilling the needs of the GSM community. GSM-inclusive spaces do not

focus specifically on the needs of the GSM community. But they do make a conscious effort to

let the GSM community know that they do not discriminate, as seen in the following picture. It

shows a building with a rainbow on the front as a sign that they practice GSM-inclusive housing:

Prejudice refers to a way of thinking about people based on an identity they share—such

as gender or sexuality. Discrimination is the result of prejudice influencing behavior. María José
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Lubertino created the “Right to be Different” clause, which was supposed to counteract

discrimination faced specifically by Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) individuals. It led

to the creation of GSM-exclusive spaces. Whether this space is a club or a resource center, they

exist to benefit GSM individuals who have been historically treated unfairly in heterosexual- and

cisgender-exclusive spaces.

Marginalization refers to “the intentional rejection of a group by multiple out-group

others” (Betts & Hinsz, 2013). In this case, it refers to discriminatory treatment of Gender and

Sexuality Minorities (GSM) women within GSM-exclusive spaces. Marginalization can manifest

in lack of physical or mental health resources, lack of protection from discrimination at work,

being excluded from communal social life, and erasure from the public image of the GSM

community of Buenos Aires. Bars and clubs in the GSM community primarily act as places for

GSM individuals to connect with one another. They are part of – and sometimes the only source

of – social support for many GSM individuals. So being excluded from that doesn’t mean just

being excluded from a party. It means being excluded from what could possibly be someone’s

only source of making any kind of emotional connection with another GSM person who

understands what it means to be GSM.

The following picture shows an excerpt image from a pamphlet that advertises various

types of business that are GSM-exclusive. While the pamphlet shows five advertisements geared

exclusively toward GSM men, it shows none geared exclusively toward GSM women. This

particular image visually reflects that disparity:

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Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) who identify as women are marginalized in

GSM-exclusive spaces of Buenos Aires. Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) who identify as

women are marginalized in GSM-exclusive spaces in Buenos Aires. They experience

marginalization through a lack of support from the GSM community when facing issues such as

a lack of access to health care, a lack of protection from discrimination for being openly GSM at

work, and being excluded in GSM-exclusive bars and clubs. This theory was researched through

conducting data collection and analysis. Three different GSM-exclusive spaces were explored

through photography, their locations will be shared through mapping, and three women shared

their professional or personal through interviewing. Originally, research focused on gauging

whether or not marginalization took place in the GSM community of Buenos Aires. Literary

research not only affirmed that it does take place, but also revealed that GSM women experience

it and so significantly despite the existence of spaces that supposedly protect all GSM individuals

from discrimination.

María José Lubertino is a feminist politician and member of the Statutory Assembly of

Buenos Aires (Lubertino, 2016). She used both positions to establish the “Right to be Different”

clause. The Statutory Assembly is a body of representatives that exists in each country to express
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“the views of the [IPU] on political issues” (Statutory Assemblies, n.d.). The assembly follows a

set of rules in accordance with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations. Both

of those organizations encourage the protection of human rights by various governments. Most

importantly, she was part of the Statutory Assembly when she helped to establish the “Right to

be Different” clause for protection and inclusivity of the Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM)

community of Buenos Aires. This clause explicitly protects GSM individuals from

discrimination based on their identities of gender and sexuality.

Ideally, the clause protects members of the Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM)

community of Buenos Aires from all forms of discrimination. However, a member of the

Gay/Lesbian Youth Group named Luciana Kerner pointed out the ineffectiveness of the clause

for GSM women (Sarda, 1998). She pointed out that since discrimination is not punished, it is

ultimately unhelpful. Laura Eiven, feminist and member of Lesbians in Sight, also pointed out

that while the clause was important, it did not address systemic issues faced by the entire GSM

community of Buenos Aires (Sarda, 1998). Legally, every member of the GSM community of

Buenos Aires is protected from discrimination based on their identities of gender and sexuality.

According to Kerner and Eiven, however, not all members are protected from discrimination

outside of the community of Buenos Aires. In this sense, discrimination faced by GSM women

becomes marginalization.

The forms of marginalization of Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) women in

GSM-exclusive spaces matters because it defeats the purpose of those spaces. Just like

Lubertino’s clause needed support in order to be passed, GSM women need support in order to

be protected by that clause. The needs of GSM women are just as valid as their male

counterparts. So understanding how these needs have been treated as invalid is necessary for
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them to be able to move forward. It can also shine a light on difficulties faced by GSM women in

similar spaces in the United States. If spaces created to combat discrimination breed their own

forms of marginalization, then that needs to be acknowledged before it can be formally

addressed.

In order to understand how marginalization manifests in GSM-exclusive spaces, research

was conducted using a select sample size. The sample size of this research includes three GSM-

exclusive spaces and three women. In order to get a balanced perspective of the issue, a business

owner, an advocate, and a GSM client were interviewed. The first part of selecting locations for

photography, mapping, and interviews was identifying all of the Gender and Sexuality Minorities

(GSM)-exclusive spaces. Three were to be selected, so they each had to provide different

services to the GSM community of Buenos Aires. Pride Café was selected because it was

nightlife-oriented. La Fulana was selected because it was community center-oriented.

DiversaMente was selected because it was advocacy-oriented. Photographs were taken of the

spaces, mapping is used to show where they are, and interviews reflect the types of perspectives

present in these spaces.

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Pride Café is a restaurant and bar in Buenos Aires that caters to the GSM community. It

serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner in addition to alcohol. It opens in the day time throughout the

week, but are busiest on weekend nights. It is located in San Telmo. The business owner was

interviewed because she has the professional perspective of someone who has observed social

habits of GSM individuals. The interview was face-to-face because day time hours are not busy

and the owner was able to make time. The language barrier between the English-speaking

interviewer and Spanish-speaking business owner/interviewee was breached through the use of

the Google Translate app on the interviewer’s phone. This picture shows the location and exterior

appearance of Pride Café:

La Fulana is a community center in Buenos Aires that caters to GSM women. It helps

GSM women build community, share experiences, and provides them with resources specific to

their needs. It is located in Plaza de Mayo. A GSM client was interviewed because she has the

personal perspective of someone who moves through various GSM-exclusive spaces. This

picture shows the location and logo of La Fulana:

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DiversaMente Psicoterapia Creativa (DiversaMente) is a counseling agency in Buenos

Aires that caters to the GSM community. It provides therapy resources in the day time

throughout the week. It is located in Palermo. A psychologist and co-founder of the agency was

interviewed because she has the professional perspective of someone who advocates within the

GSM community for marginalized individuals. The interview took place via Skype because it

was originally supposed to take place with both founders. Unfortunately, the other co-founder

was unable to uphold the commitment at the last minute. However, the language barrier was

easier to handle because the interview took place via chat and was easier to translate between

Spanish and English. This picture shows the location and logo of DiversaMente:
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Forty photographs were taken of GSM-exclusive spaces. Both the internal and external

signs and designs of Pride Café were photographed. The external design of a building in San

Telmo was photographed. La Fulana and DiversaMente could not be photographed. They had not

external signs or designs and photographs were not allowed inside of the spaces. No pictures of

people were taken. People who identify as women do not always physically present in a manner

associated with femininity. Even if it was visually obvious which individuals identify as women,

seeing more or less of them in a GSM-exclusive space at a given time does say anything

significant about how GSM women experience marginalization. While photographs revealed

information that supported research, they were not a sole source of information. Mapping is used

throughout research to provide a physical sense of the locations at which photographs were taken

and interviews were conducted.

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Three interviews were conducted of women involved with GSM-exclusive spaces by

asking the following questions:

 If you don’t mind me asking, what is your gender identity?

o Male Female Trans Agender Other

 Can you tell me a little more about *insert name of establishment*?

 In your professional experience, is there marginalization in the GSM community of

Buenos Aires of Buenos Aires?

 How does this reflect marginalization in GSM-exclusive organizations?

Translated into Spanish, the questions are:

 Si no importa que pregunte, ¿cuál es su identidad de género - masculino, femenino, las

transgender, sin género, u otro?

 ¿Me puede decir un poco más sobre *insertar el nombre de establecimiento*?

 En su experiencia profesional, ¿existe la marginación en la comunidad GSM de Buenos

Aires?

 ¿Cómo está reflejada esta marginación en las organizaciones GSM-exclusivas?

The business owner of Pride Café felt that marginalization is not an issue saying that,

“There is something for everyone (personal communication, August 6, 2016). She was unsure

about a lack of access to health care or protection from discrimination for being openly GSM at

work. But she was adamant that GSM-exclusive bars and clubs are not exclusive toward GSM

women. Due to the leading nature of the questions, however, her answers may have been

influenced by a desire to secure the interviewer as a customer, fear of bad press due to the

research, or defensiveness to perceived accusations of discrimination.

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The Gender and Sexuality Minority (GSM) client at La Fulana was unsure about a lack of

access to health care and is currently unemployed. However, she has personally experienced the

exclusive nature of GSM-exclusive bars and clubs. She said, “When I go into a bar, I go in

knowing that it’s not really a place for me. I might meet some other gay women. But that’s if I

get lucky” (personal communication, August 12, 2016). The GSM client talks about feeling

excluded from bars and clubs. She also talks about the importance of these GSM-exclusive

spaces for her as a GSM woman. For her, she is not just being excluded from a good time. She is

also being excluded from a sense of community, emotional support, and networking with other

GSM individuals.

The psychologist and co-founder of DiversaMente uses the phrase “Violencia Simbólica

(Symbolic Violence)” to refer the specific marginalization GSM women face in GSM-exclusive

spaces (Romina, personal communication, August 8, 2016). She explained that while GSM

women do not face abnormally high threats of physical violence, the marginalization they face is

significantly harmful. She suggested that GSM face marginalization through a lack of support

from the GSM community when facing issues such as a lack of access to health care, a lack of

protection from discrimination for being openly GSM at work, and being excluded in GSM-

exclusive bars and clubs. Instead, the GSM community, according to her, focuses on issues that

have been shown to predominantly effect men, such as high risk sexual behavior.

Analysis of photographs was based on how they conveyed what GSM-exclusive spaces

look like. Analysis of mapping based on how it conveyed the physical locations of these sites to

someone who is unfamiliar with them. Analysis of interviews with professional subjects such as

the ones at Pride Café and DiversaMente based on their work within GSM-exclusive spaces.

Analysis of the interview with the La Fulana client was based on her personal experience within
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the GSM community as a GSM woman. Overall analysis led to the conclusion that GSM women

experience marginalization in GSM-exclusive spaces through a lack of support from the GSM

community when facing issues such as a lack of access to health care, a lack of protection from

discrimination for being openly GSM at work, and being excluded in GSM-exclusive bars and

clubs.

Some Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) women in Buenos Aires are

simultaneously active in the GSM and women’s movement. Marginalization of GSM women in

GSM-exclusive spaces is so prevalent that they refer to it with the term lesbophobia. This term

refers to the fear of lesbians as well as the overall lack of support from the GSM community of

issues that predominantly effect GSM women (Van Dyke & McCammon, 2010). However, they

are not the only people using this term. Herek (2004) uses it in reference “hostility toward,

respectively, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, effeminate males, and heterosexuals.” It is

telling that a word has been created to refer to this specific type of marginalization. This suggests

that the problem is significant enough in conversation to need a point of reference for easy

sharing.

As a GSM woman, I have personally experienced lesbophobia in the United States GSM

community. On the one hand, I have not experienced a lack of access to health care or protection

from discrimination for being openly GSM at work. My medical access has been through work

and what I have received in GSM-exclusive spaces has been inclusive for all GSM individuals.

My experience of being openly GSM at work has been very positive. So I cannot speak to that

personal experience. However, I have experienced being excluded in GSM-exclusive bars and

clubs. The advertisements are geared more toward men. Most of the people inside identify as

men. While it is common to visit bars and clubs exclusive to men, it is rare to find those that are
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exclusive to women. In addition to feeling excluded, I have also experienced feeling harassed.

This leads to GSM women like myself decreasing our own presence in these establishments,

which also creates a lack of GSM women.

This research attempts to understand what makes this particular type of marginalization

so prevalent. A theory was created. Research was conducted using a specific sample size. A

conclusion has been drawn. It can now act as a platform for further research into what this issue

means, how Gender and Sexuality Minorities (GSM) women are affected by it, and how the issue

can be solved or alleviated. Moreover, this research reveals that marginalization is occurring in

spaces that were created to help the GSM. There is currently a significant lack of research that

specifically focuses on marginalization of GSM women in GSM-exclusive spaces in Buenos

Aires. This lack of research could be influenced by the lack of realization that it is happening. It

could also be influenced by a significant—and well-deserved—focus on the laws that have been

passed in favor of the GSM community, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Discrimination is wrong. Discrimination is also a reality. Laws—like the “Right to be

Different” clause in Buenos Aires—are passed specifically to stop discrimination. They help

those are most vulnerable to discrimination—such as the GSM community. Those laws lead to

the creation of spaces in which vulnerable individuals can receive needs fulfilled that have been

historically ignored and/or treated as trivial. Marginalization is what happens when

discrimination exists even in those spaces. This undermines why this specific clause was created.

It also undermines the work that is done to fight discrimination. GSM women being marginalized

in GSM-exclusive spaces in Buenos Aires is a very specific issue with a specific population. But

it reflects similar issues faced by GSM women in other places. This research can be used to shed

light on what those similar issues are and where they are being faced.
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References

Betts, K., & Hinsz, V. (2013). Group marginalization. Personality and Social Psychology

Review, 17(4), 355-370.

Herek, G. (2004). Beyond "Homophobia": Thinking about sexual prejudice and stigma in the

twenty-first century. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 1(2), 6-24.

Inter-Parliamentary Union (n.d.) Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved from http://www.ipu.org/

Killermann, S. (2013). Comprehensive* List of LGBTQ+ Vocabulary Definitions. Retrieved from

http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2013/01/a-comprehensive-list-of-lgbtq-term-

definitions/

Lubertino, M. J. (2016). Mi trayectoria. Retrieved from http://lubertino.org.ar/?page_id=10

Sarda, A. (1998). Lesbians and the gay movement in Argentina. NACLA Report on the Americas,

31(4), 40-41.

Van Dyke, N., & McCammon, H. J. (2010). Strategic alliances coalition building and social

movements (Social movements, protest, and contention; v. 34). Minneapolis: University

of Minnesota Press.