Women on Women: Lesbian Identity, Lesbian Community, and Lesbian Comics

Abstract

Decades of communication research have shown that the stories we humans tell ourselves about ourselves reflect and shape our identities as members of our particular culture(s). By creating texts that portray a group rarely made visible, lesbian comic artists both represent and define lesbian identity and community. This textual analysis of the work of four comic artists, Alison Bechdel, Diane DiMassa, Justine Shaw, and Ariel Schrag, demonstrates how lesbian comic book artists draw on and contribute to the notions of lesbian identity and community. This study of the comics and secondary sources reveals three interconnected themes: visibility, self-reflexivity, and the complex interrelation of and process of defining identity and community.