III. The Social Construction of Lesbianism: Resistance and Reconstruction

For many of us the appearance of Celia Kitzinger’s The Social Construction of Lesbianism (1987) was a signal event in the struggle to develop a viable alternative to traditional empiricist psychology. The work was particularly significant because of its multiple and simultaneous accomplishments. First, it went beyond many of the meta-theoretical and philosophic critiques of the empiricist paradigm by offering an alternative form of inquiry. Where others had criticized past traditions, Kitzinger was exploring new futures. Second, and equally important, Kitzinger’s book demonstrated the ways in which significant social inquiry could be coupled with political passion. Abandoning the flawed assumptions of ‘scientific neutrality’, Kitzinger set out on a responsible course of ideological critique. Finally, her book demonstrated that, even with a constructionist sensitivity to the limits of methods, it was still possible to employ methodology to add rhetorical force to one’s scholarly views. And, rendering support to many other critics of mainstream methods of experimentation, Kitzinger provided a powerful case for qualitative methodology. In her work, social constructionist inquiry began to acquire a life of its own. Her volume formed the first contribution to the Sage series in social construction, for which one of us (KJG) served as editor. The series ultimately formed a corpus of 22 books, and was abandoned only because social constructionist ideas had become so prevalent across the social sciences that a specialized publishing venue was no longer required. Yet, while the publication of Kitzinger’s volume was a pivotal contribution to post-empiricist psychology, it is also interesting to consider the vicissitudes of history since publication. Our particular concern is the case of psychology related to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues in the USA. Here we confront a decidedly mixed picture, but a context that lends special appreciation to the existence of Kitzinger’s work.