ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ambivalence in heterosexual and lesbian feminist domestic contexts. About contradictory feelings and how cartoon humour is used both to articulate and to manage such sentiments. The Andy Capp cartoons seek to articulate, whilst at the same time manage, the ambivalences which are experienced by both genders within institutionalized heterosexuality, especially marriage. The world of Andy Capp is in many ways a closed world, sealed off against the possibilities of alternative domestic relationships. However, whilst Andy Capp cartoons focus mainly inwards on a static picture of heterosexual domesticity, lesbian cartoonists typically direct their gaze in two directions. Outwards to the silencing and stigmatization of lesbianism by institutionalized heterosexism and inwards to the concerns of the diverse and ever changing lesbian communities and cultures. Lesbian and gay humour like the humour of other oppressed and marginalized groups constitutes an important and vital aspect of our cultures of resistance.
