Feminist separatism is the theory that
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
opposition to
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
can be achieved through women's
separation from men.
[Christine Skelton, ]Becky Francis
Rebecca Jane Francis (born 7 November 1969) is a British educationalist and academic, who specialises in educational inequalities. Since January 2020, she has been Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Before joining the EE ...
, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,
p. 104
Because much of the theorizing is based in
lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
, feminist separatism is often thought of as simply lesbian separatism, but at least 55% of the
feminist movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...
and feminism in general utilize or
have been influenced by feminist separatism.
Author
Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye (born 1941) is an American philosopher and radical feminist theorist. She is known for her theories on sexism, racism, oppression, and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as: white supremacy, male pri ...
describes feminist separatism as "separation of various sorts or modes from men and from institutions, relationships, roles and activities that are male-defined, male-dominated, and operating for the benefit of males and the maintenance of male privilege – this separation being initiated or maintained, at will, ''by women''."
Background
Cultural critic
Alice Echols
Alice Echols is Professor of History, and the Barbra Streisand Chair of Contemporary Gender Studies at the University of Southern California. Retrieved March 17, 2013
Education
Echols received her bachelor's degree from Macalester College, Minne ...
describes the emergence of a lesbian separatist movement as a response to
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
sentiments expressed by feminist organizations like the
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
. Echols argues that "...the introduction of (homo)sex troubled many heterosexual feminists who had found in the women's movement a welcome respite from sexuality". Echols considered separatism as a lesbian strategy to untie lesbianism from sex so heterosexual women in the feminist movement felt more comfortable.
Cell 16, which was founded in 1968 by
Roxanne Dunbar, has been cited as the first organization to advance the concept of separatist feminism.
[Echols, Alice. ''Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-75'', University of Minnesota Press, 1990, , p164] Cultural historian
Alice Echols
Alice Echols is Professor of History, and the Barbra Streisand Chair of Contemporary Gender Studies at the University of Southern California. Retrieved March 17, 2013
Education
Echols received her bachelor's degree from Macalester College, Minne ...
credits Cell 16's work for "helping establishing the theoretical foundation for lesbian separatism."
[Echols, Alice. ''Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967–75'', University of Minnesota Press, 1990, , p.164] Echols cites Cell 16 as an example of heterosexual feminist separatism, as the group never advocated
lesbianism
A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fema ...
as a political strategy.
In ''No More Fun and Games'', the organization's
radical feminist
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
periodical, members Roxanne Dunbar and Lisa Leghorn advised women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation."
[Dunbar, Leghorn. "The Man's Problem", from ''No More Fun and Games'', Nov 1969, quoted in Echols, 165] Instead, they advised periods of celibacy, rather than lesbian relationships, which they considered to be "nothing more than a personal solution".
Meaning and purpose
Proponents of feminist separatism have varied opinions on the meaning of feminist and lesbian separatism; major debates include the degree to which women should separate from men, whether it is a strict ideology or a strategy, and how it works to benefit women.
General feminist separatism
In a tract on
socialist feminism
Socialist feminism rose in the 1960s and 1970s as an offshoot of the feminist movement and New Left that focuses upon the interconnectivity of the patriarchy and capitalism. However, the ways in which women's private, domestic, and public roles ...
published in 1972, the Hyde Park Chapter of the
Chicago Women's Liberation Union
The Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) was an American feminist organization founded in 1969 at a conference in Palatine, Illinois.
The main goal of the organization was to end gender inequality and sexism, which the CWLU defined as "the sy ...
differentiated between separatism as an "ideological position" and as a "tactical position".
Chicago Women's Liberation Union
The Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) was an American feminist organization founded in 1969 at a conference in Palatine, Illinois.
The main goal of the organization was to end gender inequality and sexism, which the CWLU defined as "the sy ...
, Hyde Park Chapter. ''Socialist Feminism: A Strategy for the Women's Movement'', 1972 (booklet). In the same document, they further distinguished between separatism as "personal practice" and as "political position".
In lesbian feminist
Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye (born 1941) is an American philosopher and radical feminist theorist. She is known for her theories on sexism, racism, oppression, and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as: white supremacy, male pri ...
's (1978) essay ''Notes on Separatism and Power'' 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 is treated with controversy (or as she suggests hysteria). Male separatism on the other hand (one might cite gentleman's clubs, labor unions, sports teams, the military and, more arguably, decision-making positions in general) is seen as quite a normal, even expedient phenomenon.
Some feminist separatists believe that men cannot make positive contributions to the feminist movement and that even well-intentioned men replicate the dynamics of
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
.
Lesbian separatism
Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch (born October 13, 1944) is an American feminist author and organizer in women's rights and human rights movements. Bunch is currently the founding director and senior scholar at the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers ...
, an early member of
The Furies Collective
The Furies Collective was a short-lived commune of twelve young lesbian separatists in Washington, D.C., in 1971 and 1972. They viewed lesbianism as more political than sexual, and declared heterosexual women to be an obstacle to the world revolu ...
, viewed separatism as a strategy, a "first step" period, or temporary withdrawal from mainstream activism to accomplish specific goals or enhance
personal growth.
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"
[Bunch, Charlotte/The Furies Collective, "Lesbians in Revolt", in ''The Furies: Lesbian/Feminist Monthly'', vol. 1, January 1972, pp.8–9] 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."
This was part of a larger idea that Bunch articulated in ''Learning from Lesbian Separatism'' (1976), that "in a male-supremacist society, heterosexuality is a political institution," and the practice of separatism is a way to escape its domination.
Separatism has been considered by lesbians as both a temporary strategy and as a lifelong practice.
Lambda Award
Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...
winning author
Elana Dykewomon
Elana Dykewomon (; October 11, 1949 – August 7, 2022) was an American lesbian activist, author, editor, and teacher. She was a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.
Early life and education
Dykewomon was born Elana Mich ...
has chosen separatism as a lifelong practice.
In her 1988 book, ''Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value'', lesbian philosopher
Sarah Lucia Hoagland
Sarah Lucia Hoagland (born 4 June 1945 in Denver, Colorado) is the Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor and Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
Biography
She authored ' ...
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
Julia Penelope (June 19, 1941 – January 19, 2013) was an American linguist, author, and philosopher. She was part of an international movement of critical thinkers on lesbian and feminist issues. A self-described "white, working-class, fat but ...
) 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 the community being based on "the values we believe we can enact here". Bette Tallen believes that lesbian separatism, unlike some other
separatist
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...
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
Lillian Faderman (born July 18, 1940) is an American historian whose books on lesbian history and LGBT history have earned critical praise and awards. ''The New York Times'' named three of her books on its "Notable Books of the Year" list. In addi ...
describes the separatist impulses of
lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
which created culture and cultural artifacts as "giving love between women greater visibility" in broader culture.
[Faderman, Lillian. ''Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers'', Columbia University Press, , p220] Faderman also believes that lesbian feminists who acted to create separatist institutions did so to "bring their ideals about integrity, nurturing the needy, self-determination and equality of labor and rewards into all aspects of institution-building and economics".
Lesbian separatism and radical lesbianism
Separatist lesbianism is a type of feminist separatism specific to
lesbians
A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fem ...
.
Many lesbian separatists bought land so they could live separately from men and heterosexual women.
Radical lesbianism and other similar movements represent a rupture with the broader feminist movements. They offer an attempt by some feminists and lesbians to try to reconcile what they see as inherent conflicts with the stated goals of feminism. Many of these conflicts and ruptures are a result of issues arising from broader and nationally specifically cultural narratives around women. Some of them are created independently in response to these needs, while others draw inspiration from radical movements in other countries. This results in no single history of radical lesbianism, but of separate national struggles.
Internationally, radical lesbians often took advantage of convergent international spaces to create their own events to increase the visibility of lesbianism. Examples of this include the 1994 lesbian march in New York on the 25th anniversary of
Stonewall. Another example was at the 1995 Beijing hosted World Women's Conference. A third example took place during the 1997 Amsterdam hosted Gay Games.
In the United States, the movement started in 1970, when seven women (including lesbian activist
Del Martin
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists.
Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...
) confronted the North Conference of
Homophile
Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, g ...
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 Del 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.
The Furies
The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes ...
formed a commune in 1971 open to lesbians only, where they put out a monthly newspaper called ''The Furies''. The Furies consisted of twelve women, aged eighteen to twenty-eight, all feminists, all lesbians, all white, with three children among them.
[Dudley Clendinen, Adam Nagourne]
Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America
Simon & Schuster, 2001 , p. 104 These activities continued into the early part of the decade.
Other well known lesbian separatists groups include The Gutter Dykes, The Gorgons, and The
Radicalesbians
This article addresses the history of lesbianism in the United States. Unless otherwise noted, the members of same-sex female couples discussed here are not known to be lesbian (rather than, for example, bisexual), but they are mentioned as part ...
.
In a United States context, the practice of lesbian separatism sometimes incorporates concepts related to queer nationalism and
political lesbianism
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism asserts that sexual orientation is a political and feminist ...
. Some individuals who identify as lesbian separatists are also associated with the practice of
Dianic paganism.
In Francophone countries, the term
radical lesbian movement is used instead of lesbian separatism. It is roughly analogous to
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
lesbian separatism. Inspired by the writings of philosopher
Monique Wittig
Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...
,
[Turcotte, Louise. (foreword) ''The Straight Mind and Other Essays'', Monique Wittig, Beacon Press, 1992, , p ix] the movement originated in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in the early 1980s, spreading soon after to the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
.
Wittig, referencing the ideas of
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
, challenges concepts of
biological determinism
Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether i ...
, arguing that those in power construct sex difference and race difference for the purpose of masking conflicts of interest and maintaining domination. She and her allies saw
heterosociality
In sociology, heterosociality describes social relations with persons of the opposite sex or a preference for such relations, often excluding relationships of a romantic and sexual nature. The opposite of heterosociality is homosociality.
At an ...
as well as heterosexuality as aspects of hetero-power, strongly to be resisted.
Latin American radical lesbianism developed during the 1970s, and like other parts of the movement, resulted from specific national conditions. Radical lesbianism began to develop in Mexico in 1977, led by the group
Mujeres guerreras que abren caminos y esparcen flores (Oikabeth). Radical lesbianism arose in Chile in 1984 in response to national conditions resulting from the dictatorship. Costa Rica developed a radical lesbianism movement in 1986.
During the 1980s and 1990s, life for lesbians in Latin America was difficult because of lesbophobic repression across the region. Consequently, the communities in Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Brazil began working more closely together on shared goals.
Culture and community
Lesbian and feminist separatism have inspired the creation of art and culture reflective of its visions of female-centered societies. An important and sustaining aspect of lesbian separatism was the building of alternative community through "creating organizations, institutions and social spaces ... women's bookstores, restaurants, publishing collectives, and softball leagues fostered a flourishing lesbian culture."
Writing
During the
second-wave of feminism, women created a network of publications, presses, magazines, and periodicals, known as the women in print movement. Some designated their periodicals and books "for women only", or "for lesbians only".
Literature
One historical example is
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist novel ''
Herland'' (1915)''.'' Contemporary examples include
Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as w ...
's ''
The Female Man
''The Female Man'' is a feminist science fiction novel by American writer Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975 by Bantam Books. Russ was an ardent feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her ...
'' (1975) and
Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith (; born 30 September 1960) is a British-American novelist, essayist, and teacher. She has won the Washington State Book Award, Nebula Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, World Fantasy Award and six Lambda Literary Awards.
Persona ...
's ''
Ammonite
Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...
'' (1993).
''The'' ''Wanderground'' (Persephone Press, 1978), is a separatist utopian novel written from author
Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart (April 15, 1931 – July 14, 2021) was an American teacher, feminist, science-fiction writer, and political activist. In 1973, she became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hire ...
's personal experience in rural lesbian-separatist collectives.
''Wild Mares: My Lesbian Back-to-the-Land Life'' (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) documents author Dianna Hunter's experiences in a lesbian separatist collective.
''Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution'' (Simon & Schuster, 1973) is a collection of essays written by
Jill Johnston
Jill Johnston (May 17, 1929 – September 18, 2010) was a British-born American feminist author and cultural critic who wrote '' Lesbian Nation'' in 1973 and was a longtime writer for ''The Village Voice''. She was also a leader of the lesbian ...
, that were originally printed in ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', where Johnston discusses elements of breaking off from the male-dominated institutions.
Non-fiction
''For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology'' (Onlywomen Press, 1988), edited by
Julia Penelope
Julia Penelope (June 19, 1941 – January 19, 2013) was an American linguist, author, and philosopher. She was part of an international movement of critical thinkers on lesbian and feminist issues. A self-described "white, working-class, fat but ...
and
Sarah Lucia Hoagland
Sarah Lucia Hoagland (born 4 June 1945 in Denver, Colorado) is the Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor and Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
Biography
She authored ' ...
, is a collection of writings on lesbian separatism.
Periodicals
Notable US lesbian separatist periodicals include ''
Common Lives/Lesbian Lives'' (Iowa, 1980–1996), ''
Lesbian Connection
''Lesbian Connection'' (''LC'') is an American grassroots network forum publication "for, by and about lesbians". Founded in 1974 by the Lesbian feminism, lesbian-feminist collective Ambitious Amazons, the magazine is run by the Elsie Publishing I ...
'' (Michigan, 1974–present), ''
Sinister Wisdom
''Sinister Wisdom'' is an American lesbian literary, theory, and art journal published quarterly in Berkeley, California. Started in 1976 by Catherine Nicholson and Harriet Ellenberger (Desmoines) in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is the longest ...
'' (California, 1976–present), ''
Lesbian Tide
The ''Lesbian Tide'' (1971-1980) was a lesbian periodical published in the United States by the Los Angeles chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. It was the first lesbian periodical in the US to reach a national audience and the first US magazine t ...
'' (California, 1971–1980), ''
WomanSpirit
''WomanSpirit'' (Fall 1974 - Summer 1984) was a lesbian feminist quarterly founded by Ruth and Jean Mountaingrove and produced collectively near Wolf Creek, Oregon. It was the first American lesbian/ feminist periodical to be dedicated to both fe ...
'' (Oregon, 1974–1984)
''Conditions'' (New York, 1976–1990), ''
Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians'' (New York, 1971–1980)
Other examples are the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
lesbian magazine ''Gossip: A Journal of Lesbian Feminist Ethics'', ''
Lesbian Feminist Circle
''The Circle'' was a lesbian journal collectively produced by the Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE) in Wellington, New Zealand between December 1973 and 1986. The magazine was renamed ''Lesbian Feminist Circle'' in 1977, and continued to publ ...
'', a lesbian only journal collectively produced in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, New Zealand, the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n periodical ''Sage: The Separatist Age,'' ''
Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui'', produced for lesbians only in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, and the ''Killer Dyke'' a magazine by the "Flippies" (Feminist Lesbian Intergalactic Party), based in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. ''The Furies'' was an American newspaper by The Furies Collective which intended to give a voice to lesbian separatism, and ran from January 1972 until mid-1973.
Music
The early 1970s was an active period in
womyn's music, a genre mostly originated and supported by lesbian separatists.
Maxine Feldman's ''
Angry Atthis
Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.
A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...
'' and
Alix Dobkin's ''
Lavender Jane Loves Women'' were two early examples of this phenomenon.
The
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The L ...
, or "Michfest", was a yearly music festival that took place every summer until 2015. Michfest was established in 1976 and was active supporter in the need for women to be separated at times from the "politics, institution, and culture of men. Michfest offered women not only the chance to 'live' feminism, but, as the quotes above testify, also acted as a way of educating women about feminist forms, in ways that can challenge the vilification of 'radical lesbian separatism'."
Olivia Records
Olivia Records is a women's music record label founded in 1973 by lesbian members of the Washington D.C. area. It was founded by Ginny Berson, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and six other women. Olivia Records sold more than one ...
was a separatist business in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
that produced women's music and concerts. Olivia Records was founded in 1973 by Jennifer Woodhul, Lee Schwing,
Ginny Berson, and Helaine Harris and was originally located in Washington, D.C.. Olivia Records sold nearly 2 million copies of albums with women performers and artists that were marketed to women.
The record company eventually shifted from music to travel, and is now a lesbian travel company called Olivia.
Community projects
Womyn's land has been used in America to describe communities of lesbian separatists, normally living on a separate plot of land.
Some lesbian lands have practiced the idea of
ecofeminism
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
on these separate plots of land, which is the connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature by men. Access to temporary free land was often found through women's music festivals, where lesbians would network and strategized their plans for lesbian land. Lesbian separatism provided opportunities to "live their lives apart from ...mainstream society", and in the 1970s, "significant numbers of lesbian feminists moved to rural communities." One of these lesbians, Joyce Cheney, interviewed
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
feminist separatists and lesbian separatists living in
intentional community
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
,
land trust
Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...
s and land
co-ops
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
. The result was her book, ''
Lesbian Land
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
'' (1976).
[Valentine, Gill. ''Contested Countryside Cultures: Otherness, Marginalisation, and Rurality'' ed.: Paul J. Cloke, Jo Little, Routledge, , pp109–110.] Cheney describes the reason for many of these separatists' move to lesbian land as a "spatial strategy of distancing ...from mainstream society".
Reception
In a 1982 published conversation about
black feminism
Black feminism is a philosophy that centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently valuable, that lack women'sliberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else's but because our need as human persons for autonomy."
Race, gen ...
and
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
activism with her sister
Beverly Smith
Beverly Smith (born November 16, 1946) in Cleveland, Ohio, is a Black feminist health advocate, writer, academic, theorist and activist who is also the twin sister of writer, publisher, activist and academic Barbara Smith. Beverly Smith is an inst ...
,
Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith (born November 16, 1946) is an American lesbian feminist and socialist who has played a significant role in Black feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s, she has been active as a scholar, activist, critic, lecturer, au ...
, co-author of the
Combahee River Collective Statement, expresses concerns that "to the extent that lesbians of color must struggle simultaneously against the
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
of white women (as against
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
), separatism impedes the building of alliances with men of color". Smith writes that race places lesbians of color in a different relation to men as white lesbians as "white women with class privilege don't share oppression with white men. They're in a critical and antagonistic position whereas Black women and other women of color definitely share oppressed situations with men of their race". Smith makes a distinction between the
theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...
of separatism and the practice of separatism, stating that it is the way separatism has been practiced which has led to "an isolated, single-issued understanding and practice of politics, which ignores the range of oppressions that women experience".
In 1983,
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
Bob Black wrote: "Separatism may be absurd as a social program and riddled with inconsistencies (scarcely any separatists separate from patriarchal society to anything like the extent that, say, survivalists do — and nobody intervenes more to mind other people's business than separatists). But semi-isolation makes it easier to indoctrinate neophytes and shut out adverse evidence and argument, an insight radical feminists share with
Moonies
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
,
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna may refer to:
* International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known Colloquialism, colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnav ...
, and other cultists".
While advocating a broadly separatist policy, feminist
Sonia Johnson
Sonia Ann Johnson, (''née'' Harris; born February 27, 1936) is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of the Chur ...
points out that feminist separatism risks defining itself by what it separates itself from, i.e. men.
Lesbian poet
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing ...
refers to her intertwined history with black men and heterosexual women in her essay ''Out of the Past'' and explains that "to break away from those who've been part of our survival is a leap that many women of color could never make".
[Gomez, Jewelle. ''Out of the Past'', in David Deitcher's ''The Question of Equality:Lesbian and Gay Politics in America Since Stonewall'', Scribner, 1995, , pp44–45.]
See also
*
Flanderization
Flanderization is the process through which a fictional character's essential traits are exaggerated over the course of a serial work. The term ''flanderization'' was coined by TV Tropes in reference to Ned Flanders of ''The Simpsons'', who was ...
*
Lesbian erasure
Lesbian erasure is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues ...
* "
Internet Activism
Internet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular infor ...
"
* ''
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', "Army Disbander") is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponne ...
''
*
Men Going Their Own Way
Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW ) is an anti-feminist, misogynistic, mostly-online community advocating for men to separate themselves from women and from a society which they believe has been corrupted by feminism. The community is a part o ...
*
Misandry
Misandry () is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men.
Men's rights activists and other masculinist groups have criticized modern laws concerning divorce, domestic violence, the draft, circumcision (known as genital mutilation ...
*
No True Scotsman
No True Scotsman, or appeal to purity, is an informal fallacy in which one attempts to protect their universal generalization from a falsifying counterexample by excluding the counterexample improperly.Antony Flew, ''God & Philosophy''p. 104 Hutc ...
*
Political lesbianism
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism asserts that sexual orientation is a political and feminist ...
*
Radicalization
Radicalization (or radicalisation) is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicalizat ...
*
Radical feminism
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
*
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...
*
Safe space
The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...
*
Single-gender world
A relatively common motif in speculative fiction is the existence of single-gender worlds or single-sex societies. These fictional societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences in scien ...
*
Who Needs Feminism
''Who Needs Feminism?'' is a social media photo campaign started by students at Duke University in 2012. The campaign attempted to shed light on misconceptions about feminism and to explore the continued need and relevance of feminism in today's ...
*
YesAllWomen
#YesAllWomen is a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign in which users share examples or stories of misogyny and violence against women. First used in online conversations about misogyny following the 2014 Isla Vista killings, the hashtag wa ...
References
Further reading
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