Radical lesbianism

History

Radical or "separatist" 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.

Asia

In Asia, radical lesbianism lagged a decade behind Europe, Latin America and North America, with the movement not starting until the 1980s. It was in this period that activists starting forming their own groups and creating their own publications.

Europe

European radical lesbianism developed during the 1970s in response to specific situations in different European countries. International Lesbian Front was created in 1974 in Frankfurt, Germany. ILIS (International Lesbian Information System) was created in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1977.

France

Following the 1970s Canadian movement, a radical lesbian movement in France began to take shape in 1981. Front des Lesbiennes Radicales was proposed as an organization in June 1981. In a way similar to the American and Canadian movements, these radical, French lesbians sought to carve out space for themselves within feminism and within politics as a whole. They focused on the representation of lesbians and excluded heterosexual women, although they differentiated themselves from lesbian separatists.

The Front des Lesbiennes Radicales were inspired by the words and writings of French philosopher Monique Wittig, and their philosophic inquiries began through a Paris-based group including Wittig and Simone de Beauvoir who published the journal Questions féministes. Wittig's 1981 essay, One is not Born a Woman, titled after Simone de Beauvoir's observation, posits that "Lesbians are not women," as "what makes a woman is a specific social relation to a man, a relation that we have previously called servitude, a relation which implies personal and physical obligation as well as economic obligation, ... a relation which lesbians escape by refusing to become or to stay heterosexual". Wittig also believed that "lesbianism provides ...the only social form in which (lesbians) can live freely".

In the encyclopedia Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing, editor Gabriele Griffin calls Wittig's writing "part of a larger debate about how heteropatriarchy and women's oppression within it might be resisted."

Latin America

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 Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Brazil began working more closely together on shared goals.

North America

Canada

After gaining momentum in the U.S., radical lesbianism made its way to Canada in the 1970s. Quebec and Toronto were the predominant cities in which the Canadian movement took place. Lesbian organizations in Canada focused on building up lesbian culture and making service available to the Canadian lesbian community. The Lesbian Organization of Toronto, for example, established Amethyst, which provided services for lesbians who were struggling with addiction.

United States

Second-wave feminism was influential in the development of radical lesbianism, and the number of radical lesbian organizations in the U.S. grew from the 1960s through the early 1980s. Moreover, the creation of radical lesbianism was directly linked to other left-wing social movements such as the New Left, the Vietnam-era Antiwar movement, and the American civil rights movement.