ABSTRACT
The first part of this book explored understandings and experiences of gender. While I incorporated ethnographic material, much of the information was drawn from published sources. In contrast, this chapter, along with the following two, relies primarily on ethnographic data I collected in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008. While some of the material appears in truncated form elsewhere (Davies, 2007a, 2007b; Graham, 2001), this chapter provides the space to incorporate fuller personal narratives and explore in more depth representations and experiences of calalai (masculine females). This fuller inclusion is important because, as Sinnott (2007: 126) has recently commented, female masculinity cross-culturally remains an under-researched topic. Similarly, there remains a paucity of material on female same-sex sexuality. As Boellstorff (2007b: 21) notes, ‘Weston’s (1993) observation that “particularly lacking are data on homosexuality and homoeroticism among women outside the United States” (p. 345) remains accurate.’ Blackwood (2000: 223) makes clear the need for more such research by noting that, ‘Anthropological studies of female same-sex relations in non-Western societies provide an important source for theorizing women’s sexuality because they allow us to go beyond a narrow focus on Western cultures and concepts.’ This dedicated chapter on female masculinity and female same-sex desire is additionally significant as it provides a site where female experiences can be examined in their own right rather than being subsumed under male experiences or conflated with gay men. For instance, Valocchi’s (2005) review of Seidman (2002) assumes that the experiences of lesbians are the same as for gay men.
