What happened to political lesbianism?

August 4, 2022 7:59 PM

Political lesbianism, as a movement pretty clearly failed and died out around the same time second-wave feminism did, in general. Are there any good retrospectives from people who were involved in political lesbianism (and potentially also lesbian separatism) in 70s and 80s?

I'm curious mostly how those people's goals have changed over time (or stayed the same), if they would have done things differently if they were to repeat it, etc. My preference would be to read a lot of short pieces from a lot of different authors.

posted by wesleyac to Society & Culture (3 answers total)

Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz This department faculty should have a bibliography for this era. Also, the History of Consciousness Program at UC Santa Cruz as well.
posted by effluvia at 8:24 PM on August 4, 2022

I enjoyed this New Yorker piece by Ariel Levy from 2009.
posted by derrinyet at 9:04 PM on August 4, 2022

Here's a New York Times piece on womyn's land.

Here's a book about the Women's Peace Encampment at the Seneca Army Depot. I haven't read it but I was very involved at the beginning until it got taken over by separatists, some of whom were my friends, who would not let me and other women bring our male children there.

Archives of Dyke Quarterly from the 1970s, with reminiscences by at least one of the original writers.
posted by mareli at 1:20 AM on August 5, 2022