| The purpose of my study was to collect and analyze information about the code or the signs, signals and symbols used by white, mid-life, working class lesbians in Bloomington, Indiana from the 1950s to the present day. The main categories of the code examined are body rhetoric (walk, stance, sit), folk speech (dyke, diesel dyke, queer), folk costume (Reebok hightops, men's suits, belt buckles worn to the side), and the display of cultural artifacts (women-identified jewelry, T-shirts with sayings or symbols). The time frame chosen reflects the beginning of body coding, that is, it was the first time in history that lesbians were visible to each other. The visibility is directly related to the code. The code underwent a transformation as a result of the specific political (Stonewall or the beginning of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movement in 1969, the second wave of feminism in the 1970s) and cultural events (women's music festivals where large groups of lesbians could gather without men). Generally speaking, the code changed from one of defensive masquerading in the 1950s to one of pride in the 1980s. Both the code and its transformation reflect lesbian community values and illustrate ways in which it is tied in with other events within the larger American culture. |
