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when nancy nangeroni said I have to remember that oppression is not based on what I am but rather on what I am presumed to be. Oppression does not ask how you wish to be identified. It takes one look, nails a label to you, and proceeds to dispense perverse justice upon your body

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[“To be a lesbian can mean erotic desire, sex acts, and political identity. However, I flounder at what this or any other identity means when applied to myself. Identity seems to be a guide to performance, the very thing I have at long last escaped— at least for a time— in my relationships. “Lesbian,” which cannot hope to define all the complexities of my identity, nonetheless may serve as a type of shorthand to represent an aspect of my public performance of self.

As I enter into a relationship with a new woman friend, I begin to experience what it means to be a lesbian— not because I am a lesbian, but because I am performing what passes for lesbian. I am a woman being with another woman in an intimate relationship. As I walk down the street in Albuquerque with my lover, I begin to feel the heat of public scorn, I begin to feel the consequences of simply walking down the street with an arm around my lover. I begin to experience what it is to be a lesbian. I begin to know the real risk of imminent danger to myself and my lover. I begin to know the oppression of presumed immorality, of a hostility that poisons casual encounters for no reason, with no warning.

I could walk down that same street, the one that brought me fear yesterday, by myself, and escape the oppression. The difference is not in who or what I am but in my performance. Yesterday I performed a lesbian act, and for it I am damned. Today my lover and I are less publicly demonstrative, and we are presumed to be simply two women. There is no hostility in sight. The lesson of identity as performance is vivid.

At the same time, calling myself lesbian is a decision I make— a political decision— about how I will associate with others. It’s about what role I choose to play. Will I assert my belonging with others who call themselves lesbians? Will I expect admission to spaces closed to all but those calling themselves lesbian? Will I expect to be treated in the same manner as those who call themselves lesbian? Will I defend this identity against all who challenge my right to claim it for myself? And will I present myself as an object of attraction to lesbians, and will we love, touch, play, sleep with, suck, and fuck each other?

[...] As I move into tomorrow and consider my politics and where to place my activist effort, I have to remember that oppression is not based on what I am but rather on what I am presumed to be. Oppression does not ask how you wish to be identified. It takes one look, nails a label to you, and proceeds to dispense perverse justice upon your body. I don’t have to feel like a lesbian to suffer the consequences of being presumed one. I just have to look like one.

Identity serves a crucial role in the emergence of any liberatory movement. It provides a haven for those seeking liberation along the dimension being challenged. By claiming a new transgressive identity, those challenging the status quo can identify with one another for collaborative effort and mutual support. In claiming the identity, there is a presumption of some shared oppression and some common desire to stand against the imposed suffering. The new identity can be a rallying point for the formation of new alliances and coalitions.

Within a more established movement, identity too often becomes a limiting factor used to exclude others and assert control over the movement’s agenda. For years now, some within the gay liberation movement have used the term sexual orientation as an identity-defining litmus test to exclude gender queers and narrow the scope of queer activism.

Because this is such a repressed society, we find liberation through liberated identities. Once we’re free, we’re able to really grow and develop politically, and then we can learn to appreciate the pitfalls of identity and to surf identity. Identity-based movements need to grow beyond the identities that established them, because basing a movement on an identity always privileges those who sit in judgement of who gets to be included and fails to liberate those at the margins.”]

Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie, from Performing Translesbian

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It is not gender which causes problems; rather, it is the imposition of a gender on an individual by another. When the imposition is removed, polarity of masculine and feminine may remain, but as a personal preference rather than imposed imperative.

Nancy Nangeroni

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