Sexual Repression vs. Sexual Openness in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home

Abstract

The African-American Civil Rights Revolution during the 60s unleashed a period of general awakening where fundamental rights started to beclaimed for marginal collectives, especially for the LGBTQcommunity. Homosexual rights became a public issue when some movements, such as the Gay Liberation movement, appeared after the Stonewall Riots during the summer of 1969.As a consequence, literature was influenced by the emergence of these new and powerful social changes, a period of time where many novelists startedwritingabout their own experiences. This is the case of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, A Family Tragicomic, an autobiography that deals openly with issues concerning sexuality and gender roles, and in which the concepts of “sexual repression” and “sexual openness” can be clearly identified. The aim of this paper istwofold. Firstly, toanalyse these two characters in terms of the crucial role that sexual orientation plays in their lives, both physically and psychologically. Secondly, to provide a comparison between how homosexuality was seen in America before and after the decade of theseventies through the main characters of Fun Home. Bruce grew up in rural Pennsylvania, where same-sex relationships were not legalised, whereas Alison came out as a lesbian during a decade of abundant changes and liberalism. This further analysis has revealed a better understanding of the American society towards the LGBTQcommunity in two different decades.