Romantic Friendships
Posted by Cassia on October 31, 1997 at 13:41:42:
In response to i agree, written by Kate on October 30, 1997 at 23:17:24
I agree with Kate that there are definite indications that there is a sexual relationship between C and B. I've always understood (maybe wrongly?) that it has always been more acceptable for women to live together in a sexual relationship (admittedly often hidden), than it has been for gay men. Isn't their attempt to be financially and emotionally independent from the wider world the shocking and difficult aspect of C and B's relationship, not their lesbianism?
I don't think it was ever really more acceptable for women to live together in a sexual unoin than men. In fact, in many cultures it was considered to be worse. Woman until this century were seen, in large part, in terms of their fertility. Until medicine became advanced enough to insure that most children would not die, their fertility was needed. In some cultures it was okay for men for many different reasons: a son didn't need the protection of marriage and family to the same extent, in polygamous societies it could be seen as a way to use the 'extra' men, or simply that an independant male could do as he pleases.
]
] I feel ambivalent about Chasing Amy. I liked aspects of it - but not others. And one of my freinds, who's a lesbian, really didn't like it - and having discussed it with her I can see why.
]
I read part of a book a couple of years ago about Victorian Romantic friendships. I don't recall the name of it and for that reason I never got to finish it. One of the points the author made was that in a time before Freud and definitions people who were tended that why could be much more fluid in their sexuality. And that it wasn't uncommon for both young women and men to have what the author termed romatic friendships that could last throughout their lives. S/he chose several different case studies but the one I recall most clearly were a couple of Ladies who met at school, married, then went back to each other after their husbands had died.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
