Lesbian: Encyclopedia II - Lesbian - Feminism

Lesbian - Feminism

Historically, lesbians have been involved in womens' rights. Late in the 19th Century, the term Boston marriage was used to describe romantic unions between women living together while contributing to the suffrage movement. Continuing a tradition of inclusive acceptance, in 2004 Massachusetts became the first American state to legalize same-sex marriages.[1]

During the 1970s and 80s, with the emergence of modern feminism and the radical feminism movement, lesbian separatism became popular, and groups of lesbian women came together to live in communal societies. Some women found this kind of society liberating. Others, like Kathy Rudy in Radical Feminism, Lesbian Separatism, and Queer Theory, remarked that in her experience, stereotypes (along with the hierarchies to reinforce them) developed in the lesbian separatist collective she lived in, ultimately leading her to leave the group.

During the 1990s, dozens of chapters of Lesbian Avengers were formed to press for lesbian visibility and rights.

Lesbian - Transwomen and trans-inclusion

The relationship between lesbianism and lesbian-identified transgender or transsexual women who identify as lesbian has been a turbulent one, with historically negative attitudes, but this seemed to be changing by the close of the twentieth century.

Some lesbian groups openly welcome transsexual women and may even welcome any member who identifies as lesbian, but a few groups still do not welcome transwomen. The Lesbian Avengers have historically had a very inclusive policy.

Disputes in defining the term lesbian along with enforced exclusions from lesbian events and spaces have been numerous. Some who hold a non-inclusionist attitude often make reference to strong, typically second-wave feminist ideas such as those of Mary Daly, who has described post-operative transsexuals as constructed women. They may attribute transsexualism to mechanisms of patriarchy or do not recognize a transsexual's identification as female and lesbian. By defining lesbian through these views, they subsequently defend the non-inclusion of women with transsexual or transgender-backgrounds.

Inclusionists claim these attitudes are inaccurate and derive from fear and distrust, or that the motivations and attitudes of transgender or transsexual lesbians are not well understood, and so they defend the inclusion of transwomen into lesbianism and lesbian spaces.

Both views are common. One incident due to this divisiveness arose during the early 1990s in Australia, when the wider lesbian community raised money to purchase a building devoted to lesbian women along with a uniquely lesbian-only space called The Lesbian Space Project. After the organisation successfully bought the building, a debate over the inclusion of transwomen polarised the lesbian community, the building was later closed and the funds were moved to help support the Pride Centre, a lesbian and gay community centre in Sydney.

An example often cited among the transgender and transsexual communities is the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a well-known and primarily lesbian event restricted to womyn-born womyn. Camp Trans, an organization oriented towards transwomen, was started as a result.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Feminism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki