Fallosentrisme, feminisme en die lesbiese paradoks: Chauvinisties-getinte aantekeninge oor die erotiek in die jongere Afrikaanse poësie

Abstract

In this article the author examines aspects of recent Afrikaans erotic poetry, with particular reference to the work of Johann de Lange and Joan Hambidge. Deliberately disregarding psychological and sociological research as a basis for an analysis of gay and lesbian literature, the conclusion arrived at is that the erotic poetry of Hambidge exhibits, paradoxically, a male-oriented viewpoint regarding sexuality. This paradox is the result of language being man-made - a process which has the effect that women’s feelings and experience cannot be expressed without being 'contaminated', resulting in the undermining of the feminist ideal of the ‘woman-identified-woman’.