ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Chinese translations of lesbianism in The Second Sex (TSS) and The Vagina Monologues (TVM). Lesbianism has played an important part in feminism, because to some extent it represents women's sexual autonomy and hence freedom from patriarchal sexual oppression. The subject of lesbianism appears in two monologues: The Little Coochi Snorcher that Could, and The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy. Homosexuality is regarded as abnormal and unacceptable by most Chinese people, and is typically represented in the Chinese media as an abnormality or a perversion. Female same-sex love in TVM is one of the ways for women to appreciate their bodies and enjoy sexual pleasure, representing a women-cantered pleasure. In several cases, the men's translations make little sense or fail to express the source text meaning. Sometimes, the men's translations contain negative connotations. Mistranslation and misunderstanding appear in a few cases in the men's translations.
