ABSTRACT
The first question is whether or not postmodern theories actually do challenge the sameness/difference oppositions that underlie fixed notions of identity. If we look at the concept of transgression, which is one that I have mentioned as being part of the construction of bisexuality within lesbian feminist discourses-and also one that is frequently used by postmodern theorists as a positive idea-some of the problems with an exclusive focus on difference emerge. Transgression is a mutable term taken up by fascists and left-wing militants alike (Wilson 1993). Its primary function, however, seems to be the crossing of existing boundaries, the deliberate reversal of the status quo. Transgression is, of course, also associated with the avant-garde, and often with decadence. But does transgression really challenge dominant discourses? Elizabeth Wilson paraphrases Michel Foucault, who defines transgression as a ‘going further’ which then sets up new boundaries that need to be transgressed in their turn:
What you then have is a transgressive spiral which at least in theory is interminable. From that point of view, transgression can define no final goal and there can never be any final mastery; it is rather a process of continuously shifting boundaries, the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, the boundaries of what may be shown in terms of sexually explicit representa-tions for example.
