From the Male Gaze to the Female Gays: Universalizing Lesbian Experiences in Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For

Hayward-Fitch, Cassia (2026) From the Male Gaze to the Female Gays: Universalizing Lesbian Experiences in Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For. Journal of Lesbian Studies. ISSN 1089-4160

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Abstract

This article argues that Alison Bechdel envisioned a new way of looking at lesbians in her long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008). Through simultaneously universalizing lesbian experiences while celebrating the ways in which her characters’ sexualities rendered them different from each other and from the so-called ‘universal’ white male protagonists of much mainstream media, Bechdel created what I term a ‘universalizing’ gaze. This gaze usurped Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ through presenting lesbian characters, not as sexual objects drawn for the reader’s pleasure, but as aligned with readers: as the sexual subjects of the comic. This technique allowed Bechdel to portray lesbians as sexual people without hyper-sexualizing them, enabling a diverse group of readers to see themselves represented in the strip.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	alison bechdel,male gaze,laura mulvey,comics,dykes to watch out for
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2026 14:30
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2026 06:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102677
DOI:	10.1080/10894160.2026.2649964

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