Political lesbianism
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Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within
History
Political lesbianism originated in the late 1960s among "second-wave" radical feminists as a way to fight sexism and compulsory heterosexuality. Sheila Jeffreys helped to develop the concept when she co-wrote in 1981 "Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism"[3] with the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group. They argued that women should abandon support of heterosexuality and stop sleeping with men, while encouraging women to rid men "from your beds and your heads".[4] While the main idea of political lesbianism is to be separate from men, this does not necessarily mean that political lesbians have to sleep with women.[5] The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group definition of a political lesbian is "a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men". They proclaimed men the enemy and women who were in relationships with them collaborators and complicit in their own oppression.[5] Heterosexual behavior is seen as the basic unit of the patriarchy's political structure, lesbians who reject heterosexual behavior therefore disrupt the established political system.[6]
Ti-Grace Atkinson, a radical feminist who helped to found the group The Feminists, is credited with the phrase that came to embody the movement: "Feminism is the theory; lesbianism is the practice."[7][8]
Feminism provided a platform for some women to come out of a perceived suffocating shell of
In a broad sense,
Though there was discrimination against lesbians within the feminist movement, it ended up providing a needed political platform for them. In its wake, it also expanded and introduced divergent views of sexuality.[10]
Lesbian separatism
Charlotte Bunch, an early member of The Furies Collective, viewed lesbian separatism as a strategy, a "first step" period, or temporary withdrawal from mainstream activism to accomplish specific goals or enhance personal growth.[15] The Furies recommended that lesbian separatists relate "only (with) women who cut their ties to male privilege"[16] and suggest that "as long as women still benefit from heterosexuality, receive its privileges and security, they will at some point have to betray their sisters, especially Lesbian sisters who do not receive those benefits".[16]
Social constructs of sexuality and criticism
Some feminist theory on sexuality evaded
See also
- Proponents
References
- ^ Bindel, Julie (27 March 2004). "Location, location, orientation". The Guardian.
- ^ ProQuest 197156630.
- ^ Jeffreys, Sheila. "Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism".
- ^ Bindel, Julie (30 January 2009). "My sexual revolution". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
- ^ ISBN 0906500087.)
We do think that all feminists can and should be political lesbians. Our definition of a political lesbian is a woman-identified woman who does not fuck men. It does not mean compulsory sexual activity with women.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link - ^ Bunch, Charlotte. "Lesbians in Revolt". The Furies: Lesbian/Feminist Monthly. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ Koedt, Anne. "Lesbianism and Feminism". Archived from the original on 2015-04-29.
- ^ "Feminism is the theory, lesbianism is the practice." (Chicago Women's Liberation Union pamphlet, Lesbianism and Feminism, 1971; Stevi Jackson, Sue Scott, Feminism and Sexuality: A Reader, Columbia University Press, 1996, p. 282)
- ^ Krebs, Paula M. (1987). "Lesbianism as a Political Strategy". off our backs. 17 (6) – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b Ramazanoglu; Routledge, Feminism and the Contradictions of Oppression, Routledge, 1989. pp 84–86
- ISBN 978-0-415-45510-7 p. 104.
- ^ Sarah Hoagland, Lesbian Ethics: toward new value, p. 60, 154, 294.
- ^ "Lesbian Feminism, 1960s and 1970s · Lesbians in the Twentieth Century, 1900-1999, by Esther Newton and Her Students · OutHistory". outhistory.org. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ISSN 1086-0266.
- ISBN 0-252-06782-7, p271
- ^ a b Bunch, Charlotte/The Furies Collective, "Lesbians in Revolt", in The Furies: Lesbian/Feminist Monthly, vol. 1, January 1972, pp.8–9
- ^ "Answers to Your Questions For a Better Understanding of sexual orientation & Homosexuality". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ^ "Psychiatry and LGB People". Royal College of Psychiatrists. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
Further reading
- Allison, Ruth (1967). "Lesbian by choice". Lesbianism: Its Secrets and Practices. Los Angeles: Medco Books. OCLC 7965371.
- OCLC 1479270.
- Barnes, J.J. (July 8, 2017). "Lesbianism is under attack, though not by the usual suspects". Feminist Current. Archivedfrom the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
- Gottschalk, Lorene (1999). Genderations of Women Choosing to Become Lesbian: Questioning the Essentialist Link. [S.I. : s.n.] OCLC 320880086.
- Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group; Onlywomen Press (1981). "Afterwords From Leeds Revolutionary Feminists". Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism. London: ISBN 0906500087.
- Kitzinger, Celia; Wilkinson, Sue (1987). The Social Construction of Lesbianism. London; Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications. OCLC 18388282.
- Morris, Bonnie J. (2016). The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture (1st ed.). ISBN 978-1-4384-6177-9.
- Rich, Adrienne (1986). "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (1980)". Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. ISBN 978-0-393-31162-4. (Originally published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Summer 1980, 5, no. 4, pp. 631–660.)
- Robertson, Michelle (1984). The Politics of Sexual Identity: The Case of Political Lesbianism. Nathan, Qld.: Griffith University. OCLC 222860038.
- Thompson, Denise (1991). Reading Between the Lines: a Lesbian Feminist Critique of Feminist Accounts of Sexuality. Chicago: Spinifex Press. OCLC 782877206.
