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

This article examines how lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) women in rural Israeli spaces experience and negotiate LGBTphobia—a form of gender-based violence rooted in sexual orientation and gender identity prejudice—through the lens of vulnerability and resilience. Challenging neoliberal discourses that equate resilience with independence and invulnerability, the study uses a feminist theory of vulnerability to show that LBT women construct resilience embedded within their shared vulnerabilities by employing strategies such as creating alternative spaces, advocacy, and direct resistance. Based on 61 interviews with LBT women living in peripheral rural and small-town areas of Israel, the research reveals that these women often normalize and downplay LGBTphobic experiences as inherent to rural life, yet actively manage their vulnerability to foster belonging and empowerment. The findings suggest policy approaches that recognize vulnerability as both restrictive and transformative, emphasizing intersectional experiences and community-building to better support LBT women’s empowerment and reduce gender-based violence.