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. [1] [2]
Lesbian Nation was formed in 1976 out of a consciousness raising group meeting in the feminist squat 'Vrouwenhuis' (women's house) in Amsterdam. [3] It consisted of a core group of fifteen to twenty women. [4] Counting later sympathisers, the loosely organised Lesbian Nation may have grown to between fifty and a hundred members. [5] [6] Lesbian Nation disbanded in the mid 80s as members got increasingly absorbed by other things, like careers and families, and also felt that their efforts had paid off. [7]
The organisation was inspired by Jill Johnston's book Lesbian Nation, [8] from which they got their name and a desire for lesbian separatism. [3] Ideologically however, Lesbian Nation was influenced more by Monique Wittig and by Adrienne Rich's "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence". [9] Wittig and Rich made lesbian women, which the collective consisted of, feel slightly superior to other feminists and they led the group on a quest to find a specific lesbian identity and to partially construct a lesbian subculture. [9] [10] This made Lesbian Nation turn inward and, for the duration of their activities, intentionally illusive to the outside world. [4] [9] Members searched for lesbian identity in lengthy discussions on lesbian weekends, through international lesbian contacts and a visit to the Danish feminist women's camp Femølejren. [9] [8] Together with Monique Wittig, with whom they were acquainted, [9] Lesbian Nation dreamt of establishing a womyn's land on an island, where only women would live and work. [11] For mostly personal and practical reasons they failed to achieve it, [11] but the idea of separatism was inspirational in creating a number of cultural establishments. [9]
In 1976 members of Lesbian Nation took part in the occupation of the 'Bloemenhove' abortion clinic, after the Justice minister had threatened it with closure. [12] A year later the group, in cooperation with Maaike Meijer, [2] organised the first large gay march in the Netherlands, in an international protest against the activities of Anita Bryant in the US. [12] This event was repeated in later years and eventually grew into the Dutch gay pride. [2]
To avoid unwanted attention the group arranged the march under the name International Lesbian Alliance, [13] out of the male-dominated COC-office. [12] It probably never cooperated with gay men ever after. [12] They easily formed alliances with other (heterosexual) feminists though, and teamed up with some of those to set up a number of cultural establishments. [1] Among these were a women's bar in Amsterdam (Saarein), a publisher (Virginia), the ethical bank Mama Cash, a women's bookstore (Xantippe), and two Dutch lesbian magazines, Diva and Lust en Gratie. [1] In 1979 Lesbian Nation helped create the Lesbisch Prachtboek (Lesbian Splendour Book), containing articles, interviews, poems and a photo comic. [14] It was called an example of the group's "lesbian cultural guerilla", and fits in the identity finding that Lesbian Nation practised. [14]