Separatist feminism
Encyclopedia
Separatist feminism is a form of radical feminism
that holds that opposition to patriarchy
is best done through focusing exclusively on women and girls. Some separatist feminists do not believe that men can make positive contributions to the feminist movement
and that even well-intentioned men replicate the dynamics of patriarchy
.
Author Marilyn Frye
describes separatist feminism 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."
In a tract on socialist feminism
published in 1972, the Hyde Park Chapter of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union differentiated between Separatism as an "ideological position", and as a "tactical position". In the same document, they further distinguished between separatism as "personal practice" and as "political position".
. Founded in 1968 by Roxanne Dunbar, Cell 16 has been cited as the first organization to advance the concept of separatist feminism. Cultural Historian Alice Echols
cites Cell 16 as an example of feminist heterosexual separatism, as the group never advocated lesbianism as a political strategy, instead promoting the idea of celibacy
or periods of celibacy in heterosexual relationships.
Echols credits Cell 16's work for "helping establishing the theoretical foundation for lesbian separatism".
In No More Fun and Games, the organization's radical feminist periodical, Cell Members Roxanne Dunbar and Lisa Leghorn advised women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation", but advised periods of celibacy, rather than lesbian relationships, which they considered to be "nothing more than a personal solution."
Charlotte Bunch
, an early member of The Furies Collective
, 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 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 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, that "in a male-supremacist society, heterosexuality is a political institution" and the practice of separatism is a way to escape its domination.
In her 1988 book, Lesbian Ethics: Towards 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.
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 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.
The term 'womyn's lands' has been used in America to describe communities of lesbian separatists.
lesbian movement roughly analogous to English-language lesbian separatism. Inspired by the writings of philosopher Monique Wittig
, the movement originated in France
in the early 1980s, spreading soon after to the Canadian province of Quebec
.
Wittig, referencing the ideas of Simone de Beauvoir
, challenges concepts of biological determinism
, arguing that those in power construct sex difference and race difference for the purpose of masking conflicts of interest and maintaining domination. Separatism was, as such, an opportunity for lesbians to diminish the impact of these constructed power differences on their lives.
SCUM Manifesto
, written in 1967, suggested that it was the job for females to rid the planet of men.
In a 1982 published conversation about black feminism
and lesbian
activism with her sister, Beverly Smith
, Barbara Smith
, co-author of the Combahee River Collective Statement expresses concerns that, "to the extent that lesbians of color must struggle simultaneously against the racism
of white women (as against sexism
), 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
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
Bob Black
wrote that "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 neophyte
s and shut out adverse evidence and argument, an insight radical feminists share with Moonies
, Hare Krishna
, and other cult
ists."
Feminist Sonia Johnson
, while advocating a broadly separatist policy, points out that feminist separatism risks defining itself by what it separates itself from, i.e. men.
Lesbian poet Jewelle Gomez
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."
Cultural critic Alice Echols
describes the emergence of a lesbian separatist movement as a response to what she sees as homophobic sentiments expressed by feminist organizations like the National Organization of Women. 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.
Feminist theorist and author bell hooks
believes that the beliefs of separatist feminists run counter to many of the original goals of feminism, and instead of seeking to create equality, attempt to establish a female-centric and female-dominated society in which men are subjugated and misandry
is brought into the mainstream.
s, eliminating the need to have men for human reproduction.
The Wanderground (Persephone Press, 1978), is a separatist utopian novel written from author Sally Miller Gearhart
's personal experience in rural lesbian-separatist collectives.
lesbian magazine Gossip: a journal of lesbian feminist ethics, Lesbian Feminist Circle
, a lesbian only journal collectively produced in Wellington, New Zealand, the Australia
n periodical Sage: the separatist age Canada
's Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui
, produced for lesbians only in Montreal
, Quebec
, and the Killer Dyke a magazine by the "Flippies" (Feminist Lesbian Intergalactic Party), based in Chicago
.
's Lavender Jane Loves Women, were two early examples of this phenomenon.
explores the idea of separatist feminism. In the film, the female vampire commited a genocide against male vampire somewhere at the end of the 1800's after many of them already had been killed by humans. The female vampires agreed among each other never to turn another man into a vampire.
separatist feminists and lesbian separatists living in intentional community
, land trust
s and land co-ops. The result was her book, Lesbian Land. Cheney describes the reason for many of these separatists' move to Lesbian Land as a "spatial strategy of distancing ...from mainstream society".
Radical feminism
Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...
that holds that opposition to patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
is best done through focusing exclusively on women and girls. Some separatist feminists do not believe that men can make positive contributions to the feminist movement
Feminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
and that even well-intentioned men replicate the dynamics of patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
.
Author Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye is a philosophy professor and feminist theorist. She earned her Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1969 and has taught feminist philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of language at Michigan State University since 1974...
describes separatist feminism 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
Male privilege
Male privilege is a sociological term that refers quite generally to the special rights or status granted to men in a society, on the basis of their sex or gender, but usually denied to women and/or transsexuals....
—this separation being initiated or maintained, at will, by women."
In a tract on socialist feminism
Socialist feminism
Socialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression...
published in 1972, the Hyde Park Chapter of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union differentiated between Separatism as an "ideological position", and as a "tactical position". In the same document, they further distinguished between separatism as "personal practice" and as "political position".
Heterosexual separatist feminism
One of the earliest, and best known examples of heterosexual separatist feminism was Cell 16Cell 16
Cell 16 was a militant feminist organization known for its program of celibacy, separation from men and self-defense training...
. Founded in 1968 by Roxanne Dunbar, Cell 16 has been cited as the first organization to advance the concept of separatist feminism. Cultural Historian Alice Echols
Alice Echols
Alice Echols is a cultural critic and historian. A specialist of the 1960s, Echols is Professor of English, Gender Studies and History at the University of Southern California.-Education:Echols received her Bachelor's degree from Macalester College in 1973...
cites Cell 16 as an example of feminist heterosexual separatism, as the group never advocated lesbianism as a political strategy, instead promoting the idea of celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
or periods of celibacy in heterosexual relationships.
Echols credits Cell 16's work for "helping establishing the theoretical foundation for lesbian separatism".
In No More Fun and Games, the organization's radical feminist periodical, Cell Members Roxanne Dunbar and Lisa Leghorn advised women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation", but advised periods of celibacy, rather than lesbian relationships, which they considered to be "nothing more than a personal solution."
Lesbian separatism
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.Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch
Charlotte Bunch is an American activist, author and organizer in women's and human rights movements.A Board of Governor’s Distinguished Service Professor in Women's and Gender Studies, Bunch founded Washington D.C...
, an early member of The Furies Collective
The Furies Collective
The Furies Collective began in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1971 to give a voice to lesbian separatism through its newspaper, The Furies. In the first issue in January 1972, contributor Ginny Berson gave voice to their view that:...
, viewed separatist feminism as a strategy, a "first step" period, or temporary withdrawal from mainstream activism to accomplish specific goals or enhance personal growth
Personal development
Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations...
. Other lesbians, such as Lambda Award winning author Elana Dykewomon
Elana Dykewomon
Elana Dykewomon is a Jewish lesbian activist, award-winning author, editor and teacher.- Childhood :...
, have chosen separatism as 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
Male privilege
Male privilege is a sociological term that refers quite generally to the special rights or status granted to men in a society, on the basis of their sex or gender, but usually denied to women and/or transsexuals....
" 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, that "in a male-supremacist society, heterosexuality is a political institution" and the practice of separatism is a way to escape its domination.
In her 1988 book, Lesbian Ethics: Towards 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.
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
Lillian Faderman
Lillian Faderman is a scholar whose books on lesbian relationships and romantic friendship in history have earned critical praise and awards. Faderman is a professor of English at California State University in Fresno, California.-Early life:...
describes the separatist impulses of lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s , that questions the position of lesbians and women in society. It particularly refutes heteronormativity, the assumption that everyone is "straight" and society should be structured to serve...
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 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
Queer nationalism
Gay nationalism is a phenomenon related both to nationalism and to the gay and lesbian liberation movement. Adherents of this movement support the notion that the LGBT community forms a distinct people due to their unique culture and customs.- Gay Nation :...
and political lesbianism
Political lesbianism
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily Second-wave feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism embraces the theory that sexual orientation is a choice, and advocates lesbianism as a positive alternative to heterosexuality for...
. Some individuals who identify as Lesbian separatists are also associated with the practice of Dianic paganism.
The term 'womyn's lands' has been used in America to describe communities of lesbian separatists.
Radical lesbianism
The radical lesbian movement is a francophoneFrancophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
lesbian movement roughly analogous to English-language lesbian separatism. Inspired by the writings of philosopher Monique Wittig
Monique Wittig
Monique Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist who wrote about overcoming socially enforced gender roles and who coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964...
, the movement originated in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the early 1980s, spreading soon after to the Canadian province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
Wittig, referencing the ideas of Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...
, challenges concepts of biological determinism
Biological determinism
Biological determination is the interpretation of humans and human life from a strictly biological point of view, and it is closely related to genetic determinism...
, arguing that those in power construct sex difference and race difference for the purpose of masking conflicts of interest and maintaining domination. Separatism was, as such, an opportunity for lesbians to diminish the impact of these constructed power differences on their lives.
Controversy
Valerie Solanas'Valerie Solanas
Valerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist writer, best known for her attempted murder of Andy Warhol in 1968. She wrote the SCUM Manifesto, which called for male gendercide and the creation of an all-female society.-Early life:Solanas was born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, to Louis...
SCUM Manifesto
SCUM Manifesto
The SCUM Manifesto is a radical feminist manifesto written in 1967 by Valerie Solanas and calling for the elimination of the male sex.-Description:...
, written in 1967, suggested that it was the job for females to rid the planet of men.
In a 1982 published conversation about black feminism
Black feminism
Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would...
and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
activism with her sister, Beverly Smith
Beverly Smith
Beverly Smith 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...
, Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith in Cleveland is an American, lesbian feminist who has played a significant role in building and sustaining Black Feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s she has been active as an innovative critic, teacher, lecturer, author, independent scholar, and publisher of Black...
, 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
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
of white women (as against sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
), 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
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
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
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
Bob Black
Bob Black
Bob Black is an American anarchist. He is the author of The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, Beneath the Underground, Friendly Fire, Anarchy After Leftism, and numerous political essays.-Writing:Some of his work from the early 1980s includes...
wrote that "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 neophyte
Neophyte
A neophyte is a beginner.In the context of Christianity, the term often refers to a:# New convert to the religion, in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches an adult convert is considered a neophyte for one year after conversion...
s and shut out adverse evidence and argument, an insight radical feminists share with Moonies
Moonies
Moonie is a nickname sometimes used to refer to members of the Unification Church. This is derived from the name of the church's founder Sun Myung Moon, and was first used in 1974 by the American media. Church members have used the word "Moonie", including Sun Myung Moon, President of the...
, Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
, and other cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
ists."
Feminist Sonia Johnson
Sonia Johnson
Sonia Johnson is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , of which she was a member, against the proposed amendment...
, while advocating a broadly separatist policy, points out that feminist separatism risks defining itself by what it separates itself from, i.e. men.
Lesbian poet Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived and worked in New York City for twenty-two years working in public television, theatre as well as philanthropy before relocating to the West Coast...
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."
Cultural critic Alice Echols
Alice Echols
Alice Echols is a cultural critic and historian. A specialist of the 1960s, Echols is Professor of English, Gender Studies and History at the University of Southern California.-Education:Echols received her Bachelor's degree from Macalester College in 1973...
describes the emergence of a lesbian separatist movement as a response to what she sees as homophobic sentiments expressed by feminist organizations like the National Organization of Women. 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.
Feminist theorist and author bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
believes that the beliefs of separatist feminists run counter to many of the original goals of feminism, and instead of seeking to create equality, attempt to establish a female-centric and female-dominated society in which men are subjugated and misandry
Misandry
Misandry is the hatred or dislike of men or boys.Misandry comes from Greek misos and anēr, andros . Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness towards men, love, or admiration of them...
is brought into the mainstream.
Separatism in literature and culture
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."Literature
Lesbian separatism and Separatist Feminism have inspired the creation of art and culture reflective of its visions of female-centered societies, including various works of lesbian science fiction where new technologies in human reproductive strategy have created Lesbian utopiaLesbian utopia
Lesbian utopia refers to a conceptual community made up entirely of biological females who are not dependent on men for anything.The concept of an all-female society is mentioned in Greek mythology through a legend of the Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors...
s, eliminating the need to have men for human reproduction.
The Wanderground (Persephone Press, 1978), is a separatist utopian novel written from author Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart is 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 hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and...
's personal experience in rural lesbian-separatist collectives.
Periodicals
In the 1970s, lesbians and feminists created a network of publications, presses, magazines, and periodicals designated "for women only" and "for lesbians only", a common sight in the 1970s through the 1990s, (see List of lesbian periodicals) including the LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
lesbian magazine Gossip: a journal of lesbian feminist ethics, Lesbian Feminist Circle
Lesbian Feminist Circle
Circle was a lesbian journal collectively produced by the Sisters for Homophile Equality in Wellington, New Zealand between December 1973 and 1977...
, a lesbian only journal collectively produced in Wellington, New Zealand, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n periodical Sage: the separatist age Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui
Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui
Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui is the name of a quarterly French language magazine published starting 1982 by a lesbian collective in Montreal, Quebec made of Louise Turcotte, Danielle Charest, Genette Bergeron and Ariane Brunet..AHLA was written from a radical lesbian perspective,...
, produced for lesbians only in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and the Killer Dyke a magazine by the "Flippies" (Feminist Lesbian Intergalactic Party), based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Music
The early 1970s was an active period in Womyn's music, a genre mostly originated and supported by separatist feminists. Maxine Feldman's Angry Atthis, and Alix DobkinAlix Dobkin
Alix Dobkin is an American folk singer-songwriter.-Biography:Alix Dobkin was born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia and Kansas City. She graduated from Germantown High School in 1958 and the Tyler School of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1962...
's Lavender Jane Loves Women, were two early examples of this phenomenon.
Film
The German vampire film We Are the NightWe Are the Night (film)
We Are the Night is a 2010 German vampire thriller film directed by Dennis Gansel, starring Karoline Herfurth and Nina Hoss. The film deals with a young woman who gets bitten by a female vampire and drawn into her world. She falls in love with a young police officer who investigates a murder case...
explores the idea of separatist feminism. In the film, the female vampire commited a genocide against male vampire somewhere at the end of the 1800's after many of them already had been killed by humans. The female vampires agreed among each other never to turn another man into a vampire.
Community projects
Separatist feminism provided lesbians 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 ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
separatist feminists and lesbian separatists living in intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
, land trust
Land trust
There are two distinct definitions of a land trust:* a private, nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisition, or by its stewardship of such land or easements; or* an agreement...
s and land co-ops. The result was her book, Lesbian Land. Cheney describes the reason for many of these separatists' move to Lesbian Land as a "spatial strategy of distancing ...from mainstream society".
Further reading
- Lucia-Hoagland, Sarah and Penelope, Julia. For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology. Onlywomen Press, Ltd. (1988) ISBN 978-0906500286