“Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia
Date
2023-11-24
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Abstract
Doktoritöös „„Kas ikka veel oleme ebanormaalsed?!“ Uurimus Eesti normivälise soolisuse ja seksuaalsuse kohta käivate diskursuste ajaloost“ uurin, kuidas on möödunud saja aasta jooksul Eestis kujutatud seksuaalseid ja soolisi norme. Uurisin, kuidas kujutati avalikkuses (meedias, seadustes ja seksuaalkasvatuses) seksuaal- ja soovähemusrühmi. Lisaks avalikes materjalides levinud kujutamisviisile uurisin inimeste isiklikke kogemusi, mis on talletatud mitmesugustesse arhiivimaterjalidesse, intervjuudesse, memuaaridesse ja osalusvaatluste märkmetesse. Iga artiklit raamistab üks uuritav periood, kus keskendun domineerivate diskursuste välja joonistamisele, vastavalt sellele, kuidas on kujutatud seksuaalsete ja sooliste normidega vastuolus olevaid inimesi sõdadevahelises Eesti Vabariigis, Nõukogude Eestis, taasiseseisvusajal ning 21. sajandil.
Toetudes feministliku teoreetiku Karen Baradi agentse realismi analüüsisüsteemile, pakun doktoritöös välja analüüsimudeli, mille abil kõrvutada avalikke diskursuseid ja isiklikke lugusid, neid üksteise kaudu lugeda ja tähenduste võrgustikuna seostada. Analüüsist selgub, et igal uuritud perioodil on normivälist seksuaalsust ja soolisust mõtestatud erimoodi, mis omakorda on loonud erinevaid kogemusi ja subjektsuseid. Domineerivat diskursust on omakorda kujundanud seadused, mis reguleerivad soolist väljendust ja seksuaalset käitumist, ja teadus, mis just 20. sajandil seksuaalsuse ja soolisusega seotud norme korduvalt ümber mõtestas.
Kõige tugevamat mõju avaldas seksuaal- ja soovähemuste kuvandile Nõukogude aeg, kui meeste homoseksuaalsed suhted olid kriminaliseeritud ja seostatud seksuaalse ärakasutamisega, samas kui naiste homoseksuaalsus ja sooline mitmekesisus olid üldiselt maha vaikitud. Trans-inimesed, kes leidsid võimaluse sooliseks üleminekuks, pidid seda varjama. Nõukogude võimu püüe seksuaal- ja soovähemused kui nähtus ühiskonnast kaotada, vaigistas – nagu muudegi teemade puhul – pikaks ajaks ka sõdadevahelise perioodi vähemuste lood ning mõjutab veel 21. sajandil paljude inimeste arusaama normatiivsusest seksuaalsuse ja soolisuse küsimustes. Samas on Eestis levinud arusaamasid seksuaalsusest ja soolisusest kujundanud uuritava saja aasta vältel rahvusvahelised suundumused ja poliitika, nagu selgub iga perioodi analüüsist.
Dissertation ““Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia” analyses how notions of homosexuality and transgender identities have been conceptualised and changed over the past one hundred years. I study the representations of sex-gender minorities in public discourse (print media, laws and sexual education handbooks). In addition to public materials I studied individual accounts, which I found through a diverse set of archival sources, interviews, memoirs and participant observations. Each article focuses on a distinct period – interwar Estonia, Soviet Estonia, during the transition period of independence and in the twenty-first century – in the case of which I outline and examine dominant discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects. Drawing on feminist theorist Karen Barad's agential realism, I propose an analytic model for diffractive reading of public discourses and personal stories, by juxtaposing and reading them through one another to study their entangled meanings. The analysis shows that in each studied period, the non-normative sex-gender subject has been constructed in a particular way, which in turn has created different experiences and subjectivities. The dominant discourse is mostly shaped by the laws and science regulating gender expression and sexual behaviour, which repeatedly reinterpreted the norms of sexuality and sexuality over the twentieth century. The Soviet era had a most extensive impact on the representation of non-normative sex-gender subjects. In Soviet Estonia male homosexuality was criminalised and conflated with sexual abuse, while female homosexuality and gender diversity were generally silenced. Trans-people who found ways to transition were required to hide it. The Soviet regime attempted to erase non-normative sex-gender subjects from its society, similarly to several other topics, and it succeeded in marginalising the history of sex-gender minorities’ lives from the interwar period, and continues to shape the twenty-first century discourses on sex-gender normativity for many. At the same time, the analysis shows that the discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects have been shaped by international developments and politics throughout the 1920s–2020s.
Dissertation ““Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia” analyses how notions of homosexuality and transgender identities have been conceptualised and changed over the past one hundred years. I study the representations of sex-gender minorities in public discourse (print media, laws and sexual education handbooks). In addition to public materials I studied individual accounts, which I found through a diverse set of archival sources, interviews, memoirs and participant observations. Each article focuses on a distinct period – interwar Estonia, Soviet Estonia, during the transition period of independence and in the twenty-first century – in the case of which I outline and examine dominant discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects. Drawing on feminist theorist Karen Barad's agential realism, I propose an analytic model for diffractive reading of public discourses and personal stories, by juxtaposing and reading them through one another to study their entangled meanings. The analysis shows that in each studied period, the non-normative sex-gender subject has been constructed in a particular way, which in turn has created different experiences and subjectivities. The dominant discourse is mostly shaped by the laws and science regulating gender expression and sexual behaviour, which repeatedly reinterpreted the norms of sexuality and sexuality over the twentieth century. The Soviet era had a most extensive impact on the representation of non-normative sex-gender subjects. In Soviet Estonia male homosexuality was criminalised and conflated with sexual abuse, while female homosexuality and gender diversity were generally silenced. Trans-people who found ways to transition were required to hide it. The Soviet regime attempted to erase non-normative sex-gender subjects from its society, similarly to several other topics, and it succeeded in marginalising the history of sex-gender minorities’ lives from the interwar period, and continues to shape the twenty-first century discourses on sex-gender normativity for many. At the same time, the analysis shows that the discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects have been shaped by international developments and politics throughout the 1920s–2020s.
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Keywords
Estonia, gender identity, homosexuality, transsexuality, sexuality, discourse analysis, gender studies, queer theory, history