Lesbian Nation

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Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution
Lesbian Nation.jpg
Author Jill Johnston
LanguageEnglish
Subject
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date
1973
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages283
ISBN 0-671-21433-0
OCLC 627573

Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution is a 1973 book by the radical lesbian feminist author and cultural critic Jill Johnston. Originally, Johnston published the work as a series of essays in The Village Voice from 1969 to 1972. [1] In 1973, Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution was released as a book, and is considered the manifesto of the lesbian separatist movement. [2]

Contents

Thesis

In the book Johnston outlines her vision of radical lesbian feminism. She argues in favor of lesbian separatism, since she believes lesbianism is the only true position for radical feminism. [3] Johnston writes that women should make a total break from men and male-dominated capitalist institutions. [4] In an interview with The Lesbian Tide, she said that lesbians are already forming the society from Lesbian Nation, they just don't realize it because they are living it. [5] Johnston also wrote that female heterosexuality was a form of collaboration with patriarchy. In fact, Johnston herself has said that a key message of the book is all women are lesbians. [6] Writing in the Gay & Lesbian Review in 2007, Johnston summarized her views:

Once I understood the feminist doctrines, a lesbian separatist position seemed the commonsensical position, especially since, conveniently, I was an L-person. Women wanted to remove their support from men, the "enemy" in a movement for reform, power and self-determination. [7]

Reception

The book inspired other lesbian feminist groups. For example, a group of lesbian feminists in Amsterdam named themselves Lesbian Nation in 1976. They chose this name as a nod to Johnston's book. [8] But not all lesbians liked Johnston's work. Writing in The Chicago Tribune, Jane Howard reviewed Lesbian Nation. She wished that Johnston would've taken a more analytical approach than her typical avant-garde one. That way, there would be more concrete answers in the book than just the theorizing Johnston published. [9] Scholars have explained that a commitment to separatism means there is a lack of intersectional analysis, which leads to a focus on the concerns of white women alone. [10] Even with the debates over Lesbian Nation, readers can understand that the criteria for such a society was contested throughout the 70s. Some lesbians would not like Johnston's criteria whereas others would. [11] For instance, in Lavender Woman, Susan Edwards reviewed the book and explained that she felt a "deep seated identification with Jill Johnston." [12]

22 years after Lesbian Nation's publishing, Becki L. Ross wrote the book The House That Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation, which analyzes the history of the lesbian feminist movement. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesbian feminism</span> Feminist movement

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.

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.

Karla Jay is a distinguished professor emerita at Pace University, where she taught English and directed the women's and gender studies program between 1974 and 2009. A pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay studies, she is widely published.

Lavender Menace was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and their issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970. Members included Karla Jay, Martha Shelley, Rita Mae Brown, Lois Hart, Barbara Love, Ellen Shumsky, Artemis March, Cynthia Funk, Linda Rhodes, Arlene Kushner, Ellen Broidy, and Michela Griffo, and were mostly members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the National Organization for Women (NOW). They later became the Radicalesbians.

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Women's music is a type of music base on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian-separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness, chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jill Johnston</span> American feminist author (1929–2010)

Jill Johnston was a British-born American feminist author and cultural critic. She is most famous for her radical lesbian feminism book, Lesbian Nation and was a longtime writer for The Village Voice. She was also a leader of the lesbian separatist movement of the 1970s. Johnston also wrote under the pen name F. J. Crowe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Woman-Identified Woman</span>

"The Woman-Identified Woman" was a ten-paragraph manifesto, written by the Radicalesbians in 1970. It was first distributed during the Lavender Menace protest at the Second Congress to Unite Women, hosted by the National Organization for Women (NOW) on May 1, 1970, in New York City in response to the lack of lesbian representation at the congress. It is now considered a turning point in the history of radical feminism and one of the founding documents of lesbian feminism redefining the term "lesbian" as a political identity as well as a sexual one.

Redstockings, also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, is a radical feminist nonprofit that was founded in January 1969 in New York City, whose goal is "To Defend and Advance the Women's Liberation Agenda". The group's name is derived from bluestocking, a term used to disparage feminist intellectuals of earlier centuries, and red, for its association with the revolutionary left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cell 16</span> American feminist group (1968–1973)

Cell 16, started by Abby Rockefeller, was a progressive feminist organization active in the United States from 1968 to 1973, known for its program of celibacy, separation from men, and self-defense training. The organization had a journal: No More Fun and Games. Considered too extreme by establishment media, the organization was painted as hard left vanguard.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerridwen Fallingstar</span> American Wiccan priestess and author

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Shelley</span> American lesbian feminist activist

Martha Shelley is an American activist, writer, and poet best known for her involvement in lesbian feminist activism.

Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly radical feminists, are highly critical of what they see as sexual objectification and sexual exploitation in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the sex industry, including opposition to prostitution and pornography. Other feminists define themselves as sex-positive feminists and believe that a wide variety of expressions of female sexuality can be empowering to women when they are freely chosen. Some feminists support efforts to reform the sex industry to become less sexist, such as the feminist pornography movement.

<i>Lesbian Tide</i> Periodical

The Lesbian Tide (1971–1980) was a lesbian periodical published in the United States by the Los Angeles chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. It was the first lesbian periodical in the US to reach a national audience and the first US magazine to use the word "lesbian" in the title.

Womyn's land is an intentional community organised by lesbian separatists to establish counter-cultural, women-centred space, without the presence of men. These lands were the result of a social movement of the same name that developed in the 1970s in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and western Europe. Many still exist today. Womyn's land-based communities and residents are loosely networked through social media; print publications such as newsletters; Maize: A Lesbian Country Magazine; Lesbian Natural Resources, a not-for-profit organisation that offers grants and resources; and regional and local gatherings.

Lesbian Nation was a Dutch lesbian feminist activist group, operating from 1976 until the mid 80s. The group was instrumental in the establishment of various cultural institutions in the Netherlands.

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DYKE: A Quarterly of Lesbian Culture and Analysis was a New York-based lesbian separatist magazine published by Tomato Publications. The magazine was active from 1975 to 1979. Liza Cowan and Penny House created the periodical, functioning as the publishers and editors during its run.

References

  1. Grimes, William (September 21, 2010). "Jill Johnston, Critic Who Wrote 'Lesbian Nation,' Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved November 17, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Was Lesbian Separatism Inevitable". The Gay & Lesbian Review. March 1, 2006. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  3. "Lesbian nation / Jill Johnston | Pacifica Radio Archives". www.pacificaradioarchives.org. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  4. Grimes, William (September 21, 2010). "Jill Johnston, Critic Who Wrote 'Lesbian Nation,' Dies at 81". The New York Times . Retrieved October 7, 2012.
  5. "Jill Johnston" (PDF). The Lesbian Tide. July 1973. pp. 5–7, 24. Retrieved November 17, 2024. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Jill Johnston" (PDF). The Lesbian Tide. July 1973. pp. 5–7, 24. Retrieved November 17, 2024. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "Was Lesbian Separatism Inevitable?". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. Archived from the original on August 13, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
  8. Littel, Noah (2022-01-02). "Playing the game of lesbian imagination: radical lesbian feminist organising in the Dutch Lesbian Nation". Women's History Review. 31 (1): 68–87. doi:10.1080/09612025.2021.1954335. ISSN 0961-2025.
  9. Howard, Jane (April 1, 1973). "The case for dykedom: provocative, but not always logical". The Chicago Tribune. pp. G2. Retrieved November 17, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. Jennings, Rebecca; Millward, Liz (January 2, 2022). "Introducing Lesbian Nation". Women's History Review. 31 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1080/09612025.2021.1954331. ISSN   0961-2025.
  11. "From lesbian nation to queer nation". www.proquest.com. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  12. Edwards, Susan (May 1973). "Lesbian Nation". Lavender Woman. 2 (3): 9.
  13. Ross, Beck L. (1995). The House That Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation . Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   0-671-21433-0.