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. Lesbian feminism was most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in North America and Western Europe, but began in the late 1960s 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. 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.
Monique Wittig was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled The Straight Mind and Other Essays. She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964. Her second novel, Les Guérillères (1969), was a landmark in lesbian feminism.
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men. Much of the theorizing is based in lesbian feminism.
Les Guérillères is a 1969 novel by Monique Wittig. It was translated to English in 1971.
Radical lesbianism is a lesbian movement that challenges the status quo of heterosexuality and mainstream feminism. It arose in part because mainstream feminism did not actively include or fight for lesbian rights. The movement was started by lesbian feminist groups in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. A Canadian movement followed in the 1970s, which added momentum. As it continued to gain popularity, radical lesbianism spread throughout Canada, the United States, and France. The French-based movement, Front des Lesbiennes Radicales, or FLR, organized in 1981 under the name Front des Lesbiennes Radicales. Other movements, such as Radicalesbians, have also stemmed off of the larger radical lesbianism movement. In addition to being associated with social movements, radical lesbianism also offers its own ideology, similar to how feminism functions in both capacities.
Michèle Causse was a French activist, translator, author, and self-described radical lesbian.
Julie and Me is a Canadian lesbian romantic comedy film, directed by Jeanne Crépeau and released in 1998. The film's French title translates literally as "See Julie Again".
Rosemary Hennessy is an American academic and socialist feminist. She is a Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University. She has been a part of the faculty at Rice since 2006.
Thomas Waugh is a Canadian critic, lecturer, author, actor, and activist, best known for his extensive work on documentary film and eroticism in the history of LGBT cinema and art. A professor emeritus at Concordia University, he taught 41 years in the film studies program of the School of Cinema and held a research chair in documentary film and sexual representation. He was also the director of the Concordia HIV/AIDS Project, 1993-2017, a program providing a platform for research and conversations involving HIV/AIDS in the Montréal area.
Claudia Morgado Escanilla is a Latino-Canadian filmmaker, writer, script supervisor, producer and curator. She has worked on the festival circuit and commercially. Morgado was the script supervisor of film or television shows including The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), Hyena Road and Legends of Tomorrow.
Diane Lamoureux is a Canadian professor, essayist, and writer. She serves as Professor of Sociology in the Political Science Department of Laval University in Quebec. Her research focuses on the intersection of politics, sociology, and feminism.
Dennis Day is a Canadian artist known for his video works.
Lorna Boschman (1955) is a Canadian Queer media artist, film maker, curator, educator, editor, and camera operator working with themes such as sexual identity, body image, social justice, (dis)ability, cancer, abuse, health, and self-advocacy.
Jeanne Crépeau is a Canadian film director and screenwriter from Montreal, Quebec, best known for her film Julie and Me .
Hey, Happy! is a Canadian science fiction comedy film, directed by Noam Gonick and released in 2001.
Laugh in the Dark is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Justine Pimlott and released in 1999. The film profiles a group of gay men who, in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis of the early 1980s, moved to the faded resort town of Crystal Beach, Ontario with an eye to reviving it as a gay resort comparable to Provincetown or Fire Island; spearheaded by Gary Colwell and Don Morden, the group launched a bed and breakfast, a restaurant and a drag cabaret.
Danielle Charest was a Quebecois writer, a major figure in the Canadian radical lesbianism movement.
I Know a Place is a Canadian short documentary film, directed by Roy Mitchell and released in 1999. A reflection on gay life in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the film profiles Bob Goderre, a retired steelworker who hosted regular parties for gay residents of the region in his home in the 1960s and 1970s.
