Lesbians Living in South Africa

There is much violence and discrimination against black Lesbians living in South Africa, to this day. Even with all the protection services that have been promised and the advances that have been made by the constitution. These problems are all very real within the country, despite the end of the Apartheid period and the alterations of the constitution, where homosexual people are now able to legally gain adoption rights, gain custody of a child, immigrate, have access to medical aid, make alterations to sex descriptions and status and marry another person of the same sex (Human Rights Watch, 2011). However, Surveys conducted by the Human Rights Watch (2011) have gathered that many attitudes of the post apartheid South Africa, in response to these individuals, are negative. These negative attitudes of the public towards homosexuality, are obviously linked to greater problems such as discrimination prejudice and abuse towards those frowned upon. Cases of discrimination, abuse and prejudice against black lesbian females have been reported to take place in a variety of places, ranging from being inflicted by people on the streets, to places which are meant to provide a secure environment for people, such as; schools, churches and homes (Human Rights Watch, 2011). There are a number of different identity strategies that black lesbian's can, and are likely to adopt, in order to improve their social and emotional well-beings and could in turn cause an overall social change for current, as well as future black lesbians in South African societies (Human Rights Watch, 2011). These key strategies are made up of absorption into the superior group, redefining ones character, creativity in finding new positives aspects about the identity group and direct challenging of the superior group (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1987). These strategies may lead to the improvement of key aspects in intergroup behavior, the first being social mobility; where a social structure/system is seen as subjective, flexible and permeable and allows the individuals, that it consists of, to move around freely (Tajfel, 1974), The second being social change: when one feels it is not possible to better their lifestyle or change their current conditions by moving out of their current social group and into another, but rather to remain a part of their current group where one can, with the help of the peers in the group, resist or change these conditions (Tajfel, 1974).

The first strategy that black South African lesbians may adopt is absorption, where the inadequate social identity may infiltrate and begin to form part of the dominant group, willingly choosing to lose their initial identity and completely transforming in order to look like the norm of the new dominant group (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1987), in this case, the inferior social group or the inadequate social identity would be a group of black lesbians or a single black lesbian. The dominant group, of which most South Africans admit to be, is heterosexual. Absorption into the dominant social group, would involve a black lesbian portending to be a heterosexual and abandoning his/her sexual orientation. In essence, it involves publicly giving up one's homosexuality. This, in turn, requires fundamental cultural and psychological change (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1987).

The second strategy that one may adopt would be redefinition of ones character or a groups characteristics. This is to redefine characteristics that are viewed as negative, so that they are changed and later viewed as positive (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1987). An example of redefinition would be the involvement of black lesbians in gay pride festivals, which are held around South Africa, where homosexuality, bisexuality and other sexual orientations are celebrated throughout the streets of certain cities. These joyous events may change the outlooks of people who once viewed homosexuality as something that was negative, to a positive thing. This is an example of a social change, due to people celebrating their sexual orientations in groups with others of the same sexual orientations. Redefining of a black lesbian could also be the altering of gender, from female to male, where relationships that this female once had were initially viewed as homosexual and 'abnormal' to many in South African society, are now seen as 'normal' and heterosexual relationships due to what is seen on the surface (a male and a female in a relationship). This is an example of social mobility, as someone, who was once seen as a black lesbian female, is moving freely into the category of being classified as a male and is no longer seen as a black lesbian, but rather a heterosexual male.

The third identity strategy that may be used by black lesbians in South Africa, in order to improve on their social identity, is the formation and utilization of new dimensions that have been overseen, that may form a strong argument which supports the social identities of a group that is seen as the superior out-group (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1987). An example of this would be for a group of black lesbians to do ancient historical research on the topic of homosexuality and prove the point that