Chile's First Lesbian Magazine Hits Newstands

by Roxanne Klaassen
The Patagonia Times

Chile’s first lesbian magazine, ‘Rompiendo el Silencio’ (Breaking the Silence), will make its nationwide debut next week. Magazine organizer Erika Montecinos Urrea described its release as a historic moment for Chile.

‘‘It’s been a long struggle, but, finally the social conditions seem to allow space for a printed lesbian magazine,’’ Montecinos told the Santiago Times.

Erika said discrimination and ‘lesbiafobia’ are strong in Chile, even more among women than men, who mostly like to associate lesbians with their sexual fantasies. In some public places, women or men may not kiss or even hold hands because such gestures conflict with social standards. During the dictatorship, she added, it was unthinkable to be an out of the closet lesbian.

“That’s why it is important to offer a real magazine,” Montecinos said. “We want to reach out to woman who don’t use Internet, mostly older women and women in the countryside, and also make a visible statement to the outside world.”

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