Hlasy z ticha? Úvahy o „coming outu“ v socialistickém Československu

Region střední a východní Evropy ssse na zákaldě svých despotickýh sociálních podmínek v bývalé socialistické společnosti staly symboly nemožnosti formulovat ne-heterosexuální identity. Tato studie analyzuje data z 19 hloubkových rozhovorů s lidmi staršími než 50 let žijícími v České republice, kteří se identifikují jako lesbičky, homosexuálové nebo bisexuálové. Zaměřuje se na způsoby, kterými jejich vynucené mlčení a neschopnost mluvit o svých sexuálních touhách rezonovaly v jejich životopisných příbězích.The region of Central and Eastern Europe and oppressive social conditions in former socialist society often became symbols of the impossibility to articulate non-heterosexual identities under the conditions of a totalitarian regime. This study analyzes data from 19 in-depth interviews with people older than 50 living in the Czech Republic who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. It focuses on the ways in which their forced silence and inability to speak about their sexual desires resonated throughout their biographical narratives. The first part of this paper focuses on themes surrounding the absence of representations of non-heterosexual identities in socialist Czechoslovakia’s public sphere and the impact of this absence on participants’ perceptions of their own life experiences. The second part of the paper analyzes the ways in which participants relate to their own coming out and their reflections on their previous lives in relation to newfound opportunities to live outside of heterosexual norms. The paper strives to problematize the concept of “silence” as one of the defining features of this generation, in contrast with the concept of coming out as a sign of emancipation in younger generations