The final frontier? Lesbians' health, leisure and space

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of lesbian leisure spaces and lesbian social support systems, for lesbians aged 25 or over in Christchurch, New Zealand. The author used a feminist, qualitative research design which purposely restricted the study to 15 women, and interviewed participants using unstructured interviews. The results of this study suggest that lesbian safe leisure space and social support systems are important in fostering and maintaining high level well-being for lesbians. Future research should concentrate on how the status of being out has positive implications for lesbian health, and on the structural oppressions in society that discriminate against lesbians.