Resilience and Vulnerability: Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Women Managing LGBTphobia in Rural Israel

Neoliberal discourses associate resilience with active stances and independence. Conceptualizing the relationship between vulnerability and resilience, this paper discusses lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) women’s experiences of LGBTphobia in Israeli rural space. Addressing the 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) challenge to describe intersectional issues, this paper reveals alternative negotiations of LBT women’s vulnerabilities. Using a theory of vulnerability, we claim that LBT women express resilience even in situations of marginalization and vulnerability. The paper shows how resilience, embedded within vulnerability, is constructed through the management of LGBTphobia via three strategies: construction of alternative spaces, advocacy, and direct resistance to acts of violence.