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129-599: Samois was a lesbian feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983. It was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States. It took its name from Samois-sur-Seine , the location of the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian dominatrix character in Pauline Réage 's erotic novel Story of O , who pierces and brands O. The co-founders were writer Pat Califia , who identified as

258-468: A New Value , lesbian philosopher Sarah Lucia Hoagland alludes to lesbian separatism's potential to encourage lesbians to develop healthy community ethics based on shared values. Hoagland articulates a distinction (originally noted by Lesbian Separatist author and anthologist Julia Penelope ) between a lesbian subculture and a lesbian community ; membership in the subculture being "defined in negative terms by an external, hostile culture", and membership in

387-627: A book distribution run by lesbians snowballed feminist knowledge from 1974 on. Two feminist monthlies - Courage and EMMA - spread the new ideas. The women's camp on Femø organized by the Red Stocking Movement (Denmark) facilitated international exchange too. In 1974 this gathering in the sun gave birth to the first International Tribunal on Crimes against Women held in Brussels 1976. Books like Die Klosterschule (The Convent School, 1968) by Barbara Frischmuth , which evaluated patriarchy in

516-616: A bride, a housewife and a sex symbol, marching in Eduardo VII Park . Reacting on two killings of women in the streets, on 1 March 1977 women in West Berlin started demonstrating at night – later to be repeated as Walpurgis Night every year on May Day eve. [1] Women in England, Scotland and Wales took up the idea of Reclaim the Night marches to challenge the notion that women's behavior caused

645-631: A bus sit-in, where they demanded lower fares than male passengers to demonstrate their wage gap. Swedish members of Grupp 8 heckled politicians at campaign rallies, demanding to know why women were only allowed part-time jobs and thus were ineligible for pensions. To address the objectification of women, Belgian liberationists protested at beauty pageants, Dolle Minas in the Netherlands and Nyfeministene of Norway invaded male-only bars, Irish Women United demonstrated against male-only bathing at Forty Foot promontory and Portuguese women dressed as

774-536: A common floor. They also started a school to teach women auto and home repair so they would not be dependent on men. The newspaper lasted from January 1972 to June 1973; the commune itself ended in 1972. Charlotte Bunch , an early member of "The Furies", viewed separatist feminism as a strategy, a "first step" period, or temporary withdrawal from mainstream activism to accomplish specific goals or enhance personal growth . Other lesbians, such as Lambda Award winning author Elana Dykewomon , have chosen separatism as

903-726: A communal housing project or been affiliated with youth movements made liberationists targets and their meeting places were searched and materials were confiscated. The women's liberation movement created a global awareness of patriarchy and sexism. By bringing matters that had long been considered private issues into the public view and linking those issues to deepen understanding about how systemic suppression of women's rights in society are interrelated, liberationists made innovative contributions to feminist theory. Desiring to know about women's historic contributions but often being thwarted in their search due to centuries of censoring and blocking of women's intellectual work, liberationists brought

1032-521: A conference resolution stating that forcing lesbian mothers to stay in marriages or to live a secret existence in an effort to keep their children was unjust. That year, NOW also committed to offering legal and moral support in a test case involving child custody rights of lesbian mothers. In 1973, the NOW Task Force on Sexuality and Lesbianism was established. Del Martin was the first open lesbian elected to NOW, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were

1161-498: A fundamental category of gendered inquiry and its treatment of lesbianism as a separate issue. In this respect, Adrienne Rich 's 1980 classic text " Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence " is instructive and one of the landmarks in lesbian feminism. Lesbians have been active in the mainstream American feminist movement. The first time lesbian concerns were introduced into the National Organization for Women (NOW)

1290-408: A fundamental difference in fighting oppression. Combating sexism had an internal component, whereby one could change the basic power structures within family units and personal spheres to eliminate the inequality. Class struggle and the fight against racism are solely external challenges, requiring public action to eradicate inequality. There was criticism of the movement not only from factions within

1419-545: A funeral procession through Albert Park to demonstrate lack of progress on issues which were of concern to women. Liberationists developed multiple publications such as Broadsheet , Liberaction , MeJane , The Circle and Women's Liberation Newsletter to address issues and concerns;. They founded women's shelters and women's centers for meetings and child care services, which were open to all women, be they socialists, lesbians, indigenous women, students, workers or homemakers. The diversity of adherents fractured

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1548-725: A global sisterhood of support working to eliminate inequality without acknowledging that women were not united; other factors, such as age, class, ethnicity, and opportunity (or lack thereof) created spheres wherein women's interests diverged, and some women felt underrepresented by the WLM. While many women gained an awareness of how sexism permeated their lives, they did not become radicalized and were uninterested in overthrowing society. They made changes in their lives to address their individual needs and social arrangements, but were unwilling to take action on issues that might threaten their socio-economic status. Liberationist theory also failed to recognize

1677-480: A lawsuit against the lesbian feminist magazine Common Lives/Lesbian Lives , alleging discrimination against bisexuals when her submission was not published. A number of women who were at one time involved in lesbian feminist activism came out as bisexual after realizing their attractions to men. A widely studied example of lesbian-bisexual conflict within feminism was the Northampton Pride March during

1806-465: A leading Canadian journalist and feminist activist, lesbians were and always have been "the heart of the women's movement ", while their issues were "invisible" in the same movement. Lesbian feminism of color emerged as a response to lesbian feminism thought that failed to incorporate the issues of class and race as sources of oppression along with heterosexuality . Lesbian feminism, much like feminism, lesbian and gay studies , and queer theory ,

1935-462: A lesbian at the time, Gayle Rubin , and sixteen others. The roots of Samois were in a group called Cardea, a women's discussion group within the mixed-gender BDSM group called the Society of Janus . Cardea existed from 1977 to 1978 before discontinuing, but a core of lesbian members, including Califia and Rubin, were inspired to start Samois on June 13, 1978, as an exclusively lesbian BDSM group. Samois

2064-468: A lifelong practice. In addition to advocating withdrawal from working, personal or casual relationships with men, "The Furies" recommended that Lesbian Separatists relate "only (with) women who cut their ties to male privilege " and suggested 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". This

2193-453: A mainstream thing and have explored the mythology surrounding it. Marilyn Frye 's (1978) essay Notes on Separatism and Power is one such example. She posits female separatism as a strategy practiced by all women, at some point, and present in many feminist projects (one might cite women's refuges, electoral quotas or women's studies programmes). She argues that it is only when women practice it, self-consciously as separation from men, that it

2322-432: A male chaperone . Married women from Commonwealth countries and thus with a common law legal code were legally bound to have sex with their husbands upon demand. At the time, marital rape was not a concept in common law, as it was legally considered that women had given consent to regular intercourse upon marrying. The state and church placed enormous pressure on young women to retain their virginity. Introduction of

2451-472: A movement which sought to create societal transformation in the way people thought about others by infusing the disenfranchised with political power to change the power structures. The Black Power movement and global student movements protested the apparent double standards of the age and the authoritarian nature of social institutions. From Czechoslovakia to Mexico , in diverse locations like Germany, France, Italy, and Japan, among others, students protested

2580-539: A rational result of alienation and dissatisfaction with these institutions. Sheila Jeffreys defines lesbian feminism as having seven key themes: Lesbian feminist literary critic Bonnie Zimmerman frequently analyzes the language used by writers from within the movement, often drawing from autobiographical narratives and the use of personal testimony. According to Zimmerman, lesbian feminist texts tend to be expressly non-linear, poetic and even obscure. Lesbian feminists of color argue for intersectionality , in particular

2709-493: A recreation of the male-oriented Gay Liberation Front that lesbian feminists initially sought refuge from. Queer theorists have countered by pointing out that the majority of the most prominent queer theorists are feminists and many (including Judith Butler , Jack Halberstam , and Gayle Rubin ) are, or have at one point identified as lesbians. Barry (2002) suggests that in choosing between these possible alignments (lesbian feminism and/or queer theory) one must answer whether it

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2838-450: A second language, sexism had little to do with the ability to protect herself or utilize existing systems. The focus on personal freedom was another divergence between white women and women of color. Some did not see the intrinsic connection between the liberation of women and the liberation of men that was advocated for by the Women's Liberation Movement and felt that feminists did not care about

2967-404: A series of bills designed to restrict abortion rights. In Italy, 50,000 women marched through the streets of Rome demanding their right to control their own bodies, but as was typically the result throughout Europe, compromise reform to existing law was passed by the government, limiting the decision by gestation or requiring preliminary medical authorization. Throughout the period, publishing

3096-417: Is Woman Identification she stated: If Lesbian separatism fails it will be because women are so together that we will just exude woman identification wherever we go. But since sexism is much older than racism, it seems that we must for now embrace separatism, at least psychically, for health and consciousness sake. This is a revolution, not a public relations campaign, we must keep reminding ourselves. Some of

3225-439: Is a choice based on the institutionalized heterosexuality were appropriating the term 'lesbian' and not experiencing or speaking out against the oppression that those women experience. Additionally, some feminists argue that " political lesbianism ," which reduces lesbianism as a political choice to reject men and the penises , overlooks the deeply personal nature of lesbianism as an expression of attraction between women and erases

3354-438: Is characterized by the ideas of contestation and revision. At the same time, one of the key themes of lesbian feminism is the analysis of heterosexuality as an institution . Lesbian feminist texts work to denaturalise heterosexuality and, based on this denaturalization, to explore heterosexuality's "roots" in institutions such as patriarchy , capitalism , and colonialism . Additionally, lesbian feminism advocates lesbianism as

3483-774: Is gender or sexuality that is the more "fundamental in personal identity." Some lesbian feminists have argued that butch–femme is a replication of heterosexual relations, while other commentators argue that, while it resonates with heterosexual patterns of relating, butch–femme simultaneously challenges it. In the 1970s, the development of lesbian feminism pushed butch–femme roles out of popularity. Lesbian separatists such as Sheila Jeffreys argued that all forms of masculinity, including masculine butch women, were negative and harmful to women. The group of radical lesbians often credited with sparking lesbian feminism, Radicalesbians , called butch culture "male-identified role-playing among lesbians" While butch–femme roles had previously been

3612-432: Is one of the principal areas in which lesbian feminism differs from queer theory, perhaps best summarized by Judith Halberstam 's quip that "If Sheila Jeffreys didn't exist, Camille Paglia would have had to invent her." " Womyn " along with "wimmin" and "womin" were terms created by alliances within the lesbian feminist movement to distinguish them from men and masculine (or " phallogocentric ") language. The term "women"

3741-668: Is still extant and carries on in the tradition of Samois and The Outcasts. In 2012, The Exiles in San Francisco received the Small Club of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. In 1996, Califia and Robin Sweeney published an anthology titled The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader that also contained historical information on The Outcasts, as well as other lesbian BDSM groups such as

3870-726: Is treated with controversy (or as she suggests hysteria ). On the other hand, male separatism (one might cite gentleman's clubs, labour unions, sports teams, the military and, more arguably, decision-making positions in general) is seen as quite a normal, even expedient phenomenon. Still, other lesbian feminists put forward a notion of "tactical separatism" from men, arguing for and investing in things like women's sanctuaries and consciousness-raising groups, but also exploring everyday practices to which women may temporarily retreat or practice solitude from men and masculinity . Margaret Sloan-Hunter compared lesbian separatism to black separatism. In her work Making Separatist Connections: The Issue

3999-754: The African National Congress Women's League , the Irish Housewives Association , the League of Women Voters , the Townswomen's Guilds and the Women's Institutes supported women and tried to educate them on how to use their new rights to incorporate themselves into the established political system. Still other organizations, involved in the mass movement of women into the workforce during World War I and World War II and their subsequent exit at

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4128-929: The Lesbian Sex Mafia and Briar Rose. In 2007 the National Leather Association International inaugurated awards for excellence in SM/fetish/leather writing. The categories include the Samois award for anthology. In 2019 Samois was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame. Lesbian feminist Some key thinkers and activists include Charlotte Bunch , Rita Mae Brown , Adrienne Rich , Audre Lorde , Marilyn Frye , Mary Daly , Sheila Jeffreys , Barbara Smith , Pat Parker , Margaret Sloan-Hunter , Cheryl Clarke , Gloria E. Anzaldúa , Cherríe Moraga , Monique Wittig , and Sara Ahmed (although

4257-607: The Manifesto of the 343 , admitting to having had abortions, as did German activists who signed the Manifesto of the 374 . Irish activists took the train and crossed into Northern Ireland to secure prohibited contraception devices and upon their return flouted authorities bypassing the contraband to the public. In the UK, an uneasy alliance formed between liberationists, the National Abortion Campaign and trade unionists to fight

4386-755: The Native Rights Movement and the New Left student movement of the 1960s. Between 1965 and 1966, papers presented at meetings of the Students for a Democratic Society and articles published in journals, such as the Canadian Random began advocating for women to embark on a path of self-discovery free from male scrutiny. In 1967, the first Women's Liberation organizations formed in major cities like Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, New York City and Toronto. Quickly organizations spread across both countries. In Mexico,

4515-584: The Second Congress to Unite Women , a women's conference in New York City . Uninvited, they lined up on stage wearing matching T-shirts inscribed with the words " Lavender Menace ", and demanded the microphone to read aloud their manifesto , " The Woman-Identified Woman ", which laid out the main precepts of their movement. Later on, Adrienne Rich incorporated this concept in her essay " Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence ", in which she unpacks

4644-838: The University of the South Pacific in Fiji and in Guam . As in the US and other places where the movement flourished, small consciousness-raising groups with a limited organizational structure were the norm and the focus was on changing societal perception rather than legislation. Involved in public protests, liberationists demonstrated at beauty pageants to protest women's objectification, and invaded male-only pubs. In Australia they ran petition drives and protests in favor of legalizing abortion and in Auckland led

4773-427: The birth control pill gave many men a sense that as women could not get pregnant, they could not say no to intercourse. Though by the 1960s the pill was widely available, prescription was tightly controlled and in many countries, dissemination of information about birth control was illegal. Even after the pill was legalized, contraception remained banned in numerous countries, like Ireland where condoms were banned and

4902-410: The equality of women , the WLM questioned the cultural and legal validity of patriarchy and the practical validity of the social and sexual hierarchies used to control and limit the legal and physical independence of women in society. Women's liberationists proposed that sexism —legalized formal and informal sex-based discrimination predicated on the existence of the social construction of gender—was

5031-923: The parochial schools of Austria, The Female Eunuch (Paladin, 1970) by Germaine Greer and The Descent of Woman (1972) by Welsh author and feminist Elaine Morgan , brought women into the movement who thought that their lives differed from those of women in large urban settings where the movement originated. Other influential publications included the British edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves (1971) edited by Angela Phillips and Jill Rakusen ; Frauenhandbuch Nr. 1: Abtreibung und Verhütungsmittel (Women's Guide # 1: Abortion and Contraceptives, 1971) produced in Germany by Helke Sander and Verena Stefan and Skylla sig själv (Self-blame, 1976) by Swede Maria-Pia Boëthius , which evaluated rape culture applied analysis and solutions to local areas. In some cases, books themselves became

5160-611: The 1970s, as some lesbians doubted whether mainstream society or even the gay rights movement had anything to offer them. In 1970, seven women, including Del Martin , confronted the North Conference of Homophile [meaning homosexual] Organizations about the relevance of the gay rights movement to the women within it. The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women's liberation, but Martin felt they had not done enough and wrote "If That's All There Is", an influential 1970 essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist. In

5289-413: The 1970s. Despite the criticism from both middle-class lesbians and lesbian feminists, butch and femme roles reemerged in the 1980s and 1990s, but were no longer relegated to only working-class lesbians. Because of its focus on equality in sexual relationships, lesbian feminism has traditionally been opposed to any form of BDSM that involve perpetuation of gender stereotypes. This view was challenged in

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5418-584: The 1980s, initially saw the state overtaking the role of radical feminists. For example, in Egypt, the 1956 Constitution eliminated gender barriers to labor, political access, and education through provisions for gender equality. Women in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Nicaragua and other Latin American countries had worked for an end to dictatorships in their countries. As those governments turned to socialist policies,

5547-527: The 1990s, as bisexual women have become more accepted within the feminist community. Nevertheless, some lesbian feminists such as Julie Bindel are still critical of bisexuality. Bindel has described female bisexuality as a "fashionable trend" being promoted due to "sexual hedonism " and questioned whether bisexuality even exists. She has also made tongue-in-cheek comparisons of bisexuals to cat fanciers and devil worshippers . Women%27s liberation movement The women's liberation movement ( WLM )

5676-686: The Battle), Greece's Gia tin Apeleftherosi ton Gynaikon (For the Liberation of Women), Italy's Sottosopra (Upside Down), the Scottish The Tayside Women's Liberation Newsletter or the British Spare Rib , among many others. In the UK, a news service called the Women's Information and Referral Service (WIRES) distributed news of WLM groups throughout the nation. In West Germany

5805-548: The Monument to the Mother on Mother's Day to challenge the idea that all women were destined to be mothers. Challenging gender definitions and the sexual relationship to power drew lesbians into the movement in both the United States and Canada. Because liberationists believed that sisterhood was a uniting component to women's oppression, lesbians were not seen as a threat to other women. Another important aspect for North American women

5934-587: The Samois group and published in 1981, was a founding work of the lesbian BDSM movement. In the 1982 anthology Against Sadomasochism , American philosopher Judith Butler , credited as "Judy Butler", criticizes Samois in her essay "Lesbian S&M: The Politics of Dis-Illusion". Several other essays in the work also criticize it. Samois split up in 1983 amid personal infighting; however, in 1984, Rubin went on to help form another organization called The Outcasts . The Outcasts lasted until 1997, until they too split due to infighting. A breakaway group called The Exiles

6063-521: The Scandinavian countries. Though influenced by leftist politics, liberationists in general were resistant to any political order which ignored women entirely or relegated their issues to the sidelines. Women's liberation groups in Europe were distinguished from other feminist activists by their focus on women's rights to control their own bodies and sexuality, as well as their direct actions aimed at provoking

6192-423: The United States, brought liberationist ideas to Taiwan, when she returned and began publishing in the mid-1970s. In Singapore and other Asian countries, conscious effort was made to distinguish their movement from decadent, " free sex " Western feminist ideals, while simultaneously addressing issues that were experienced worldwide by women. In India, the struggle for women's autonomy was rarely separated from

6321-467: The United States, in the polarized Cold War climate, racism in U.S. policy became a stumbling block to the foreign policy objective to become the dominant superpower . Black leaders were aware of the favorable climate for securing change and pushed forward the Civil Rights Movement to address racial inequalities . They sought to eliminate the damage of oppression, using liberation theory and

6450-703: The ban on serving women drinks in public bars in Queensland , is recognised as a defining moment in the women's liberation movement in Australia. In 1970 the law was changed to allow women to be served drinks in public bars in Queensland. The first women’s liberation organizations in Australia were formed in Sydney in 1969, and by 1970 such organizations had reached Adelaide and Melbourne , as well as Wellington and Auckland . The following year, organizations were formed at

6579-495: The best way black women could help themselves was to help their men gain equality. Regarding the "sex-positive" sect that broke away from the women's liberation movement, extending personal freedom to sexual freedom, the meaning of being free to have relations with whoever one wanted, was lost on black women who had been sexually assaulted and raped with impunity for centuries or Native Women who were routinely sterilized. Their issues were not about limiting their families but having

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6708-644: The broader fight against dictatorship, whereas in Taiwan, theories of respect for women and eliminating double standards were promoted by weaving in Confucianist philosophy . In Europe, the women's liberation movement started in the late 1960s and continued through the 1980s. Inspired by events in North America and triggered by the growing presence of women in the labor market, the movement soon gained momentum in Britain and

6837-601: The civil, economic and political inequalities, as well as involvement in the Vietnam War . Many of the activists participating in these causes would go on to participate in the feminist movement. Socially, the baby boom experienced after the Second World War , the relative worldwide economic growth in the post-war years, the expansion of the television industry sparking improved communications, as well as access to higher education for both women and men led to an awareness of

6966-695: The community being based on "the values we believe we can enact here". Bette Tallen believes that lesbian separatism, unlike some other separatist movements, is "not about the establishment of an independent state , it is about the development of an autonomous self-identity and the creation of a strong solid lesbian community". Lesbian historian Lillian Faderman describes the separatist impulses of lesbian feminism which created culture and cultural artifacts as "giving love between women greater visibility" in broader culture. Faderman also believes that lesbian feminists who acted to create separatist institutions did so to "bring their ideals about integrity, nurturing

7095-526: The country; when spurred by liberationists, 90% of them took Women's Day Off and refused to participate in household duties or work, instead of attending a protest rally. In almost all Western European countries liberationists fought for elimination of barriers to free and unrestricted access to contraception and abortion. In Austria, to advocate for the abolition of section 144 of their criminal code, activists used street theater performance. Prominent French activists declared their criminal actions signing

7224-748: The critique of compulsory heterosexuality, the understanding of gender as defined in part by heterosexuality, and the understanding of sexuality as institutional instead of personal. Despite this, queer theory is largely set in opposition to traditional lesbian feminism. Whereas lesbian feminism is traditionally critical of BDSM , butch/femme identities and relationships , transgender and transsexual people, pornography , and prostitution , queer theory tends to embrace them. Queer theorists embrace gender fluidity and subsequently have critiqued lesbian feminism as having an essentialist understanding of gender that runs counter to their stated aims. Lesbian feminists have critiqued queer theory as implicitly male-oriented and

7353-833: The crossings of gender , sex , class, and race, emphasizing that most research and data about sexual orientation is provided by white cis males. As outlined above, lesbian feminism typically situates lesbianism as a form of resistance to "man-made" institutions. Cheryl Clarke writes in her essay New Notes on Lesbianism : I name myself "lesbian" because this culture oppresses, silences, and destroys lesbians, even lesbians who don't call themselves "lesbians." I name myself "lesbian" because I want to be visible to other black lesbians. I name myself "lesbian" because I do not subscribe to predatory/institutionalized heterosexuality. However, according to A Dictionary of Gender Studies , some lesbians who believed themselves to be 'born that way' considered political lesbians or those who believe lesbianism

7482-465: The development of Cold War polarization, took their inspiration from Maoist theory . Slogans such as " workers of the world unite " turned into "women of the world unite" and key features like consciousness-raising and egalitarian consensus-based policies "were inspired by similar techniques used in China". Into this backdrop of world events, Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex in 1949, which

7611-424: The early movement. Meaghan Morris , an Australian scholar of popular culture stated that later feminists could not associate themselves with the ideas and politics of the period and maintain their respect. And yet, liberationists succeeded in pushing the dominant liberal feminists far to the left of their original aims and forced them to include goals that address sexual discrimination. Jean Curthoys argued that in

7740-503: The emphasis on consciousness-raising and carving out new (arguably) " gynocentric " cultures. Salsa Soul Sisters, Third World Wimmin Inc organization united lesbian feminists and womanists of color. As a critical perspective, lesbian feminism is perhaps best defined in opposition to mainstream feminism and queer theory. It has certainly been argued that mainstream feminism has been guilty of homophobia in its failure to integrate sexuality as

7869-554: The end of the war with concerted official efforts to return to family life, turned their efforts to labor issues. The World YWCA and Zonta International , were leaders in these efforts, mobilizing women to gather information on the situation of working women and organize assistance programs. Increasingly, radical organizations, like the American National Women's Party , were marginalized by media which denounced feminism and its proponents as "severe neurotics responsible for

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7998-549: The experiences of trans women and their lesbian partners. Lesbian separatism is a form of separatist feminism specific to lesbians. Separatism has been considered by lesbians as both a temporary strategy and as a lifelong practice, but mostly the latter. In separatist feminism, lesbianism is posited as a key feminist strategy that enables women to invest their energies in other women, creating new space and dialogue about women's relationships, and typically, limits their dealings with men. Lesbian separatism became popular in

8127-419: The expulsion of lesbians, including Ivy Bottini, from NOW's New York chapter. In response, on the first evening, when four hundred feminists were assembled in the auditorium at the 1970 Congress to Unite Women, a group of twenty women wearing T-shirts that read "Lavender Menace" came to the front of the room and faced the audience. One of the women then read the group's declaration, The Woman-Identified Woman ,

8256-439: The fact that women had been denied the vote was something few university students were aware of in the era. To understand the wider implications of women's experiences, WLM groups launched women's studies programs introducing feminist history, sociology and psychology to higher education and adult education curricula to counter gender biases in teaching these subjects. Writing women back into history became extremely important in

8385-443: The first group of liberationists formed in 1970, inspired by the student movement and US women's liberationists. Organizations were loosely organized, without a hierarchical power structure and favored all-women participation to eliminate defining women or their autonomy by their association with men. Groups featured consciousness-raising discussions on a wide variety of issues, the importance of having freedom to make choices, and

8514-411: The first lesbian couple to join the organization. In 2014, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) issued an "Anti-Sexism Statement" which states: Men run the world and women are supposed to serve according to the belief that men are superior to women, which is patriarchy. Patriarchy is the system by which men's universal power is maintained and enforced. OLOC works toward the end of patriarchy and

8643-423: The first major lesbian feminist statement. The group, who later named themselves "Radicalesbians", were among the first to challenge the heterosexism of heterosexual feminists and to describe lesbian experience in positive terms. In 1971, NOW passed a resolution that proclaimed "a woman's right to her own person includes the right to define and express her own sexuality and to choose her own lifestyle", as well as

8772-648: The focus of liberationists' protests over censorship, as in the case of the Norwegian demonstration at the publishing house Aschehoug , which was forced to publish a translation of the Swedish text Frihet, jämlikhet och systerskap  [ sv ] (Freedom, Equality and Sisterhood, 1970), or the international outcry which resulted from the ban and arrest of Portuguese authors Maria Teresa Horta , Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa over their book Novas Cartas Portuguesas ( New Portuguese Letters , 1972). As

8901-480: The freedom to form families. It had very little meaning in the traditional Chicana culture wherein women were required to be virgins until marriage and remain naïve in her marriage. Though invited to participate within the Women's Liberation Movement, many women of color cautioned against the single focus on sexism, finding it to be an incomplete analysis without the consideration of racism. Likewise, though many lesbians saw commonalities with Women's Liberation through

9030-685: The goals of eponymous liberation from sex-based oppression, which included fighting against homophobia, others believed that the focus was too narrow to confront the issues they faced. Differences in the understanding of gender and how it relates to and informs sex-based oppression and systemic sexism called attention to differences in issues. For example, many liberationists rejected the performance of femininity as positive behavior, which meant that white lesbians who actively chose to perform femininity had to decide between their desire to be feminine-presenting and their rejection of sexual objectification. Jackie Anderson, an activist, and philosopher observed that in

9159-458: The haste to distance themselves from the more radical elements, liberal feminists attempted to erase their success and rebrand the movement as the Women's Movement. By the 1970s, the movement had spread to Asia with women's liberation organizations forming in Japan in 1970. The Yom Kippur War raised awareness of the subordinate status of Israeli women, fostering the growth of the WLM. In India, 1974

9288-478: The idea of challenging sexism gained wide acceptance. Literature on sex, such as the Kinsey Reports , and the development and distribution of the birth control pill, created a climate wherein women began to question the authority others wielded over their decisions regarding their bodies and their morality. Many of the women who participated in the movement, were aligned with leftist politics and after 1960, with

9417-431: The idea of women's freedom gained mainstream approval, governments and more reformist minded women's groups adopted liberationists' ideas and began incorporating them into compromise solutions. By the early 1980s, most activists in the Women's Liberation Movements in Europe moved on to other single focus causes or transitioned into organizations which were political. The Regatta Hotel protest in 1965, which challenged

9546-500: The idea that patriarchy dictates women to be focused on men or to be "men-identified women. Becoming women-identified women, i.e. changing the focus of attention and energy from men to women, is a way to resist the patriarchal oppression". Contrary to some popular beliefs about " man-hating butch dykes ", lesbian feminist theory does not support the concept of female masculinity. Proponents like Sheila Jeffreys (2003:13) have argued that "all forms of masculinity are problematic". This

9675-493: The importance of changing societal attitudes and perceptions of women's roles. Canadian women's lib groups typically incorporated a class-based component into their theory of oppression which was mostly missing from US liberation theory, which focused almost exclusively on sexism and a belief that women's oppression stemmed from their gender and not as a result of their economic or social class. In Quebec, women's and Quebec's autonomy were entwined issues with women struggling for

9804-487: The inequalities suffered by men; they felt that the liberation of women without the liberation of men from policies that keep men of color from obtaining jobs and limit their civil rights, further preventing them from being able to protect their families, neither improved humanity as a whole nor improved the plight experienced by families. Dorothy Height , president of the National Council of Negro Women , expressed that

9933-438: The intense period fighting for women's suffrage , the common interest which had united international feminists left the women's movement without a single focus upon which all could agree. Ideological differences between radicals and moderates, led to a split and a period of deradicalization, with the largest group of women's activists spearheading movements to educate women on their new responsibilities as voters. Organizations like

10062-421: The kind of feminist sexuality advocated by WAVPM was conservative and puritanical. Samois openly confronted WAVPM with their position, and the exchanges between the two groups were among the earliest battles of what later became known as the feminist sex wars , with Samois being among the very earliest advocates of what came to be known as sex-positive feminism . The book Coming to Power , edited by members of

10191-475: The last two are more commonly associated with the emergence of queer theory ). As stated by lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys, "Lesbian feminism emerged as a result of two developments: lesbians within the Women's liberation movement began to create a new, distinctively feminist lesbian politics , and lesbians in the Gay Liberation Front left to join up with their sisters". According to Judy Rebick ,

10320-536: The late 1970s, most notably by the Samois group, a San Francisco-based lesbian-feminist organization focused on BDSM. Samois members felt strongly that their way of practicing BDSM was entirely compatible with feminism, and held that the kind of feminist sexuality advocated by Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media was conservative and puritanical. In contrast, many black lesbian feminists have spoken out against

10449-485: The lens of sexism without pairing it with racism and classism, liberationists often poorly represented women of color in their analyses. While women of color recognized that sexism was an issue, some did not see how it could be separated from the issue of race or class, which compounds to impact their access to education, health care, housing, jobs, legal justice, and the poverty and violence which permeates their lives. For women who did not speak English, or spoke it as

10578-532: The lesbian feminist groups, however, were skeptical of separatism. As such, a prominent black lesbian feminist group, the Combahee River Collective , stated that separatism is not a viable political strategy for them. If the founding of the lesbian feminist movement could be pinpointed to a specific moment, it would probably be May 1970, when Radicalesbians , a radical feminist activist group of 20 lesbians, including novelist Rita Mae Brown , took over

10707-475: The liberation of all women. In November 1977 the National Women's Conference issued a National Plan of Action , which stated in part: Congress, State, and local legislatures should enact legislation to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual and affectional preference in areas including, but not limited to, employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, public facilities, government funding, and

10836-427: The male population as a whole, men, in general, were not oppressors of women either. Instead, social constructs and the difficulty of removing systems which had long served their purpose exploited both men and women. Women's liberationists acknowledged that patriarchy affects both men and women, with the former receiving many privileges from it, but focused on the impact of systemic sexism and misogyny on women throughout

10965-464: The merits of which party is the better parent, without regard to that person's sexual and affectional orientation. American photographer Deborah Bright created a series called Dream Girls which challenged mainstream gender-sex identities that the Hollywood industry in the 1980s chose to propagate. The emergence of queer theory in the 1990s built upon certain principles of lesbian feminism, including

11094-404: The military. State legislatures should reform their penal codes or repeal State laws that restrict private sexual behavior between consenting adults. State legislatures should enact legislation that would prohibit consideration of sexual or affectional orientation as a factor in any judicial determination of child custody or visitation rights. Rather, child custody cases should be evaluated solely on

11223-501: The movement by the early 1980s, as groups began focusing on specific interests rather than solely on sexism. The FBI kept records on numerous participants in the WLM as well as spying on them and infiltrating their organizations. Roberta Sapler, a participant in the movement between 1968 and 1973 in Pittsburgh, wrote an article regarding her attempts to obtain the FBI file kept on her during

11352-623: The movement itself, but from outsiders, like Hugh Hefner , Playboy founder, who launched a campaign to expose all the "highly irrational, emotional, kookie trends" of feminism in an effort to tear apart feminist ideas that were "unalterably opposed to the romantic boy-girl society" promoted by his magazine. "Women's libbers" were widely characterized as "man-haters" who viewed men as enemies, advocated for all-women societies , and encouraged women to leave their families behind. Semanticist Nat Kolodney argued that while women were oppressed by social structures and rarely served in tyrannical roles over

11481-442: The movement. Challenging patriarchy and the hierarchical organization of society which defined women as subordinate in both public and private spheres, liberationists believed that women should be free to define their own individual identity as part of human society. One of the reasons that women who supported the movement chose not to create a single approach to addressing the problem of women being treated as second-class citizens

11610-575: The needy, self-determination and equality of labor and rewards into all aspects of institution-building and economics". The practice of Lesbian separatism sometimes incorporates concepts related to queer nationalism and political lesbianism . Some individuals who identify as Lesbian separatists are also associated with the practice of Dianic paganism . A womyn's land is a women-only intentional community predominantly created, populated, and maintained by lesbian separatists. Elsewhere, lesbian feminists have situated female separatism as quite

11739-720: The period with attention to the differences of experiences based on class, ethnic background, race and sexual orientation. The courses became widespread by the end of the decade in Britain, Canada, and the United States, and were also introduced in such places as Italy and Norway. Thousands of countries joined the movement which began in the United States and spread to Canada and Mexico. In Europe, movements developed in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. The liberationist movement also

11868-699: The period. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police spied upon liberationists in Canada, as did the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation surveil WLM groups and participants in Australia. In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( German : Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz ) kept tabs on activists participating in women's center activities. Having lived in

11997-424: The pill could only be prescribed to control menstrual cycles. The Catholic Church issued the encyclical Humanae vitae in 1968, reiterating the ban on artificial contraception . Abortion often required the consent of a spouse, or approval by a board, as in Canada, wherein the decisions often revolved around whether pregnancy posed a threat to the woman's health or life. As women became more educated and joined

12126-481: The practice of BDSM as racist. According to scholars Darlene Pagano , Karen Sims , and Rose Mason , sadomasochism, in particular, is a practice that often lacks sensitivity to the black female experience as it can be historically linked to similar forms of sexual violence and dominance enacted against black female slaves. Bisexuality is rejected by some lesbian feminists as being a reactionary and anti-feminist backlash to lesbian feminism. A bisexual woman filed

12255-425: The primary way of identifying lesbians and quantifying lesbian relationships in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, lesbian feminist ideology had turned these roles into a "perversion of lesbian identity". Lesbian feminism was publicly represented though white feminism , and often excluded and alienated working class lesbians and lesbians of color. In these excluded communities, butch–femme roles persisted and grew throughout

12384-415: The principal political problem with the power dynamics of their societies. In general, the WLM proposed socio-economic change from the political left , rejected the idea that piecemeal equality, within and according to social class , would eliminate sexual discrimination against women, and fostered the tenets of humanism , especially the respect for human rights of all people. In the decades during which

12513-525: The problems of" society. Those who were still attached to the radical themes of equality were typically unmarried, employed, socially and economically advantaged and seemed to the larger society to be deviant. In countries throughout Africa , Asia , the Caribbean, the Middle East and South America, efforts to decolonize and replace authoritarian regimes, which largely began in the 1950s and stretched through

12642-568: The public and making society aware of the issues faced by women. There were robust women's liberation movements in Western European countries, including developments in Greece, Portugal and Spain, which in the period were emerging from dictatorships. Many different types of actions were held throughout Europe. To increase public awareness of the problems of equal pay, liberationists in Denmark staged

12771-499: The realignment of international politics into Cold War camps after the end of World War II, usurped the drive for women's enfranchisement, as universal suffrage and nationhood became the goal for activists. A Pan-African awareness and global recognition of blackness as a unifying point for struggle, led to a recognition by numerous marginalized groups that there was potential to politicize their oppression. In their attempt to influence these newly independent countries to align with

12900-524: The right to serve as jurors. Advocating public self-expression by participating in protests and sit-ins, liberationists demonstrated against discriminatory hiring and wage practices in Canada, while in the US liberationists protested the Miss America Beauty Pageant for objectifying women. In both countries women's liberation groups were involved protesting their legislators for abortion rights for women. In Mexico liberationists protested at

13029-455: The rush to distance themselves from liberationists, unconscious amnesia rewrote the history of their movement, and failed to grasp the achievement that, without a religious connotation, the movement created an "ethic of the irreducible value of human beings." Phrases that were used in the movement, like "consciousness-raising" and "male chauvinism", became keywords associated with the movement. The philosophy practiced by liberationists assumed

13158-424: The service industries, such as bookkeeping, domestic labor, nursing, secretarial and clerical work, retail sales, or school teaching. They were expected to work for lower wages than men and upon marriage, terminate their employment. Women were unable to obtain bank accounts or credit, making renting housing impossible, without a man's consent. In many countries they were not allowed to go into public spaces without

13287-399: The social problems women faced and the need for a cultural change. At the time, women were economically dependent on men and neither the concept of patriarchy nor a coherent theory about the power relationships between men and women in society existed. If they worked, positions available to women were typically in light manufacturing or agricultural work and a limited segment of positions in

13416-461: The state aimed to eliminate gender inequality through state action. As ideology in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean shifted left, women in newly independent and still colonized countries saw a common goal in opposing imperialism . They focused their efforts to address gendered power imbalances in their quest for respect of human rights and nationalist goals. This worldwide movement towards decolonization and

13545-412: The state should have the power to limit women's complete control of their own bodies. They favored abolishing laws which limited women's rights over their reproduction, believing such control was an individual right, not subject to moralistic majority views. Most liberationists banned the participation of men in their organizations. Though often depicted in media as a sign of "man-hating", the separation

13674-465: The struggle against the caste system and in Israel, though their movement more closely resembled the WLM in the US and Europe, the oppression of Palestinian women was a focal area. In Japan, the movement focused on freeing women from societal perceptions of limitations because of their sex, rather than on a stand for equality. In South Korea, women workers' concerns merged with liberationist ideas within

13803-590: The struggle for civil rights. Though challenging patriarchy and the anti-patriarchal message of the women's liberation movement was considered radical, it was not the only, nor the first, radical movement in the early period of second-wave feminism . Rather than simply desiring legal equality, those participating in the movement believed that the moral and social climate which perceived women as second-class citizens needed to change. Though most groups operated independently—there were no national umbrella organizations—there were unifying philosophies of women participating in

13932-470: The student movement. The work started a trend in Japan of feminist works which challenged the opportunities available to women and mocked conventional power dynamics in Japanese society. In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique , voicing the discontent felt by American women. As the women's suffrage movement emerged from the abolition movement , the women's liberation movement grew out of

14061-469: The study of power relationships, including those of sex and diversity, into the social sciences. They launched women's studies programs and publishing houses to ensure that a more culturally comprehensive history of the complex nature of society was developed. In an effort to distance themselves from the politics and ideas of women in the liberation movement, as well as the personal politics which emerged, many second-wave feminists distanced themselves from

14190-404: The summer of 1971, a lesbian group calling themselves " The Furies " formed a commune open to lesbians only, where they put out a monthly newspaper. "The Furies" consisted of twelve women, aged eighteen to twenty-eight, all feminists, all lesbians, all white, with three children among them. They shared chores and clothes, lived together, held some of their money in common, and slept on mattresses on

14319-558: The violence perpetrated against them. Spanish liberationists from the Colectivo Feminista Pelvis (Pelvis Feminist Collective), Grup per l'Alliberament de la Dona (Group for Women's Liberation) and Mujeres Independientes (Independent Women) carried funeral wreaths through the streets of Mallorca calling for an end to sexual abuse and a judicial system which allowed men to use alcohol or passion as mitigating factors for sexual violence. In Iceland, women virtually shut down

14448-471: The women's liberation movement flourished, liberationists successfully changed how women were perceived in their cultures, redefined the socio-economic and the political roles of women in society, and transformed mainstream society. The wave theory of social development holds that intense periods of social activity are followed by periods of remission, in which the activists involved intensely in mobilization are systematically marginalized and isolated. After

14577-415: The workforce, their home responsibilities remained largely unchanged. Though families increasingly depended on dual incomes, women carried most of the responsibility for domestic work and care of children. There had long been recognized by society in general of the inequalities in civil, socio-economic, and political agency between women and men. However, the women's liberation movement was the first time that

14706-440: The workplace, peace, and redefining familial roles, as well as gay and lesbian liberation . A dilemma faced by movement members was how they could challenge the definition of femininity without compromising the principles of feminism. Women's historical participation in the world was virtually unknown, even to trained historians. Women's roles in historic events were not covered in academic texts and not taught in schools. Even

14835-513: The world. To many women activists in the American Indian Movement , black Civil Rights Movement, Chicana Movement , as well as Asians and other minorities, the activities of the primarily white, middle-class women in the women's liberation movement were focused specifically on sex-based violence and the social construction of gender as a tool of sex-based oppression. By evaluating all economic, socio-cultural, and political issues through

14964-499: The years between 1989 and 1993, where many feminists involved debated over whether bisexuals should be included and whether or not bisexuality was compatible with feminism. Common lesbian feminist critiques leveled at bisexuality were that bisexuality was anti-feminist , that bisexuality was a form of false consciousness , and that bisexual women who pursue relationships with men were "deluded and desperate." However, tensions between bisexual feminists and lesbian feminists have eased since

15093-456: Was a focused attempt to eliminate defining women via their relationship to men. Since women's inequality within their employment, family and society were commonly experienced by all women, separation meant unity of purpose to evaluate their second-class status. In Canada and the United States, the movement developed out of the Civil Rights Movement , Anti-War sentiment toward the Vietnam War,

15222-597: Was a pivotal year when activists from the Navnirman Movement against corruption and the economic crisis, encouraged women to organize direct actions to challenge traditional leadership. In 1975, liberationist ideas in South Korea were introduced by Lee Hyo-jae a professor at Ewha Woman's University after she had read western texts on the movement which were first translated into Korean in 1973. Similarly, Hsiu-lien Annette Lu , who had completed her graduate courses in

15351-639: Was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism . It emerged in the late 1960s and continued til the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world , which resulted in great change (political, intellectual, cultural) throughout the world. The WLM branch of radical feminism , based in contemporary philosophy , comprised women of racially and culturally diverse backgrounds who proposed that economic, psychological, and social freedom were necessary for women to progress from being second-class citizens in their societies. Towards achieving

15480-507: Was active in Australia, Fiji, Guam, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Key components of the movement were consciousness-raising sessions aimed at politicizing personal issues, small group and limited organizational structure and a focus on changing societal perception rather than reforming legislation. For example, liberationists did not support reforming family codes to allow abortion, instead, they believed that neither medical professionals nor

15609-577: Was crucial for disseminating the theory and ideas of liberation and other feminist schools of thought. Initially many activists relied on translations of material from the US, but increasingly the focus was on producing country-specific editions, or local journals to allow activists to adapt the movement slogan the "personal is political" to reflect their own experiences. Journals and newspapers founded by liberationists included Belgium's Le Petit livre rouge des femmes (The Little Red Book of Women), France's Le torchon brûle  [ fr ] (Waging

15738-414: Was developing spaces for women to meet with other women, offer counseling and referral services, provide access to feminist materials, and establish women's shelters for women who were in abusive relationships. Increasingly mainstream media portrayed liberationists as man-haters or deranged outcasts. To gain legitimacy for the recognition of sexual discrimination, the media discourse on women's issues

15867-471: Was in 1969, when Ivy Bottini , an open lesbian who was then president of the New York chapter of NOW, held a public forum titled "Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?". However, NOW president Betty Friedan was against lesbian participation in the movement. In 1969, she referred to growing lesbian visibility as a "lavender menace" and fired openly lesbian newsletter editor Rita Mae Brown , and in 1970, she engineered

15996-414: Was increasingly shaped by the liberal feminist 's reformist aims. As liberationists were marginalized, they increasingly became involved in single focus issues, such as violence against women. By the mid-1970s, the women's liberation movement had been effective in changing the worldwide perception of women, bringing sexism to light and moving reformists far to the left in their policy aims for women, but in

16125-489: Was part of a larger idea that Bunch articulated in Learning from Lesbian Separatism , that "in a male-supremacist society, heterosexuality is a political institution" and the practice of separatism is a way to escape its domination. For The Furies, lesbianism was the only path towards liberation from male supremacy and was seen as more of a political tool rather than a sexual preference. In her 1988 book, Lesbian Ethics: Towards

16254-494: Was seen as derivative of men and ultimately symbolized the prescriptive nature of women's oppression. A new vocabulary emerged more generally, sometimes referencing lost or unspoken matriarchal civilizations, Amazonian warriors , ancient – especially Greek – goddesses, sometimes parts of the female anatomy and often references to the natural world. It was frequently remarked that the movement had nothing to go on, no knowledge of its roots, nor histories of lesbianism to draw on. Hence

16383-418: Was strongly rebuked (and sometimes picketed) by Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM), an early anti-pornography feminist group. WAVPM, like later anti-pornography feminists, was very strongly opposed to sadomasochism , seeing it as ritualized violence against women . Samois members felt strongly that their way of practicing sadomasochism was entirely compatible with feminism, and held that

16512-533: Was that they did not want to foster an idea that anyone was an expert or that any one group or idea could address all of the societal problems women faced. They also wanted women, whose voices had been silenced to be able to express their own views on solutions. Rejecting authority and espousing participatory democracy as well as direct action, they promoted a wide agenda including civil rights, eliminating objectification of women, ethnic empowerment, granting women reproductive rights, increasing opportunities for women in

16641-805: Was translated into English in 1952. In the book, de Beauvoir put forward the idea that equality did not require women be masculine to become empowered. With her famous statement, "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman", she laid the groundwork for the concept of gender as a social construct , as opposed to a biological trait. The same year, Margaret Mead published Male and Female , which though it analyzed primitive societies of New Guinea, showed that gendered activities varied between cultures and that biology had no role in defining which tasks were performed by men or women. By 1965, de Beauvoir and Mead's works had been translated into Danish and became widely influential with feminists. Kurahashi Yumiko published her debut Partei in 1960, which critically examined

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