LESBOPHOBIA IN FAMILY AS A STATE APPARATUS: LESBOPHOBIC EFFECTS OF MEANING WITHIN FOUR WALLS
Familial lesbophobia; effects of meaning; Materialistic Discourse Analysis
This thesis analyzes the effects of meaning produced within lesbophobic discourse in family conceived as ideological state apparatus. In addition, we aimed at analyzing i. what memories are evoked in this discourse in the family; ii. what are the specificities of this discourse in the familial ideological state apparatus; iii. what are the forms of silencing and resistance produced within this discourse. We were based upon Materialistic Discourse Analysis, and analyzed the short movie Sair do armário (coming out of the closet), filmed by Marina Pontes, in which she herself records her mother’s reaction when discovering about her daughter’s deviant sexuality. The research also analyzes nine comments made about the video and posted in the youtube channel Kinox, where the video was publicized. Our research identified a struggle of meanings concerning the lesbian sexuality in the familial apparatus when lesbian sexually is revealed or confirmed in members of the family. In the discourse of the lesbian subject, this sexuality constitutes the subject’s very existence, while in the discourse of the one to whom this is revealed, this sexuality is not considered natural. Lesbian homosexuality is, within discourse, a taboo which is frequently not named as such. The research also identifies different forms of silencing within the family and the close relationship among the notion of “closet”, the regulation of bodies and their invisibility in society in general. Lastly, we find it essential to approach family as an ideological apparatus linked to the State and to consider how lesbophobia works as one of the underpinnings of the capitalist system.