Searching for a lesbian voice: Non-heterosexual women’s activism in Montenegro

Abstract

This chapter looks at KvirA, a recently established non-heterosexual women’s group, to examine the extent to which lesbian voices are audible and lesbian women visible in Montenegro. We engage with the reasons for KvirA’s creation and discuss the key challenges its foundresses and activists face in their struggle for women’s sexual emancipation in a still highly patriarchal context. For the time being, none of our respondents feels ready to take the helm of the country’s nascent lesbian movement that still does not recognise the potential of feminism to help weaken rigid and deeply entrenched heteronormative regime. Our chapter draws attention to the ambivalences inbuilt in KvirA’s appropriation of the concept of “queer”, which serves the purpose of spreading its membership and protecting its activist from homophobic violence.