Since the late 1970s, the labrys has been used as a symbolic representation of lesbian and feminist strength and self-sufficiency.Lesbian feminist pride flag. A labrys superimposed on the black triangle, set against a lavender-purple background.Lesbian pride flag with double-Venus symbol (in biology and botany, the Venus symbol represents the female sex[1])
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 logical result of feminism.[2] Lesbian feminism was most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in North America and Western Europe,[3] but began in the late 1960s[4] and arose out of dissatisfaction with the New Left, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, sexism within the gay liberation movement, and homophobia within popular women's movements at the time.[5][6][3][4] Many of the supporters of Lesbianism were actually women involved in gay liberation who were tired of the sexism and centering of gay men within the community and lesbian women in the mainstream women's movement who were tired of the homophobia involved in it.[4]
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 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".[7] According to Judy Rebick, 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.[8]
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.
^Stearn, William T. (17 August 1961). "The Male and Female Symbols of Biology". New Scientist. 11 (248): 412–413. LCCN 59030638.
^Rich, Adrienne (1986). "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (1980)". Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-393-31162-4.
^ abFaderman, Lillian (1981). "The Rise of Lesbian-Feminism". Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present (1st ed.). New York: William Morrow and Company. pp. 377–391. ISBN 0-68803733X. LCCN 80024482.
^ abcMcCammon, Holly J.; Taylor, Verta; Reger, Jo; Einwohner, Rachel L., eds. (2017). "The Turn toward Socialist, Radical, and Lesbian Feminisms". The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Women's Social Movement Activism. Oxford University Press. pp. 89–108. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190204204.013.4. ISBN 978-0190204204.
^DuBois, Ellen. "Feminism Old Wave and New Wave". The Feminist eZine. Lilith Press Magazine. Retrieved 28 May 2007.
^DuBois, Ellen (September 22, 2016). "Feminism Old Wave and New Wave (1971)". Chicago Women's Liberation Union.
^Jeffreys, Sheila (2003). Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity. p. 19. ISBN 978-0745628370.
^Rebick, Judy. "Feminism in a neo-liberal age". Research Initiative on International Activism. University of Technology Sydney. Archived from the original on May 26, 2005. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
Lesbianfeminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities...
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social...
Black feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses on the African-American woman's experiences and recognizes the intersectionality of racism and sexism...
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism...
through women's separation from men. Much of the theorizing is based in lesbianfeminism. Author Marilyn Frye describes feminist separatism as "separation of...
" Lesbianfeminism saw a rejection of the butch-femme dynamic and therefore femme identity. During the emergence of lesbianfeminism, femme lesbians were...
second-wave feminism and the growth of scholarship in women's history and sexuality in the late 20th century, the definition of lesbian broadened, leading...
flag attracted more use as a general lesbian pride flag. LGBT portal Butch and femme Girly girl Lipstick feminism Soft butch das Nair, Roshan; Butler,...
generally excluded from first wave feminism as were lesbians and people considered "queer." Second wave feminism saw greater level of acceptance amongst...
Cultural feminism is a term used to describe a variety of feminism that attempts to revalue and redefine attributes culturally ascribed to femaleness...
Various lesbian flags have been used to symbolise the lesbian community. Since 1999, many designs have been proposed and used. Although personal preferences...
also generated new feminisms such as black feminism and Chicana feminism in addition to making large contributions to lesbianfeminism and other integrations...
primary focus of their political aims should be feminism or gay rights led to the dissolution of some lesbian organizations, including Daughters of Bilitis...
whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, lesbianfeminism, queer theory, affect theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism...
first open lesbian elected to NOW's board of directors, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were the first lesbian couple to join NOW. Lesbianfeminism is a cultural...
gay men and lonely lesbian women". The urban myth that lesbians are likely to have cats at home took hold within early lesbianfeminism; cats were said to...
Foote commented on the importance of lesbian pulp novels to the lesbian identity prior to the rise of organized feminism: "Pulps have been understood as signs...
Radical lesbianism is a lesbian movement that challenges the status quo of heterosexuality and mainstream feminism. It arose in part because mainstream...
1964. Her second novel, Les Guérillères (1969), was a landmark in lesbianfeminism. Monique Wittig was born in 1935 in Dannemarie, Haut-Rhin, France....
Companeras: Latina Lesbians, Latina Lesbian History Project, 1987, ISBN 978-0-415-90926-6 Rodriguez, Samantha M. (2014). "Carving Spaces for Feminism and Nationalism:...
1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, lesbian feminist ideology had turned these roles into a "perversion of lesbian identity". Lesbianfeminism was publicly represented...
Jeffreys, Sheila (2018). "Postcript: The erasure of lesbians". The Lesbian Revolution: LesbianFeminism in the UK 1970-1990. Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 978-1138096561...
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