Lesbian feminism

Lesbian Feminism and the Politics of Difference in the 1970’s started off describing Audre Lorde, a truly pivotal character in the black, lesbian, and feminist movements of her time. The self-described “black, lesbian, feminist, poet, warrior, mother” was born to Caribbean immigrant parents in Harlem in 1934. Through her upbringing, Lorde thrived in poetry, a strength that would follow her into adulthood. She used his to her advantage as she progressed through the working class throughout her life. Lorde believed in “strength in difference”. Examples of this were shown prevalent, from lesbianism within 1950’s communities, interracial marriage and childbearing, lesbian marriage and childbearing, and being involved in an interracial lesbian relationship.…

Audre Lorde is a black, lesbian, female, and feminist. She writes poetry and literature about her intersectional struggles and liberations in the black movement and lesbian movement. Lorde was alive during 1930s to the 1990s with a significant amount of her work being produced during the 1960s and into the 1970s. The main wave of feminism at this time was very white-centric, as were the gay and lesbian liberation and movement. The intersectional cross of her identity created extreme internal and…

Edie and Thea are great examples of Audre Lorde’ s message on fighting one’ s fears. Audre Lorde was an African American lesbian poet who wrote about how language is powerful and that silence never helps a person to get their argument across. Being an African American woman who was a lesbian, Lorde said that she was disrespected for her race as well as her sexuality. Lorde plays a crucial role in second wave feminism because she advocated for feminism and civil rights. Edie and Thea are two…

The lesbian feminism group in the late 90s largely rejected the concept of sadomasochism due to its highlight of passive and dominating roles mirroring heterosexual couples. It was also seen as an inequality of power among them. Pat Califia, an important figure in the pro-sex movement and a strong proponent of sadomasochism, was one of the founders of Samois, an organization about sadomasochism groups. In her excerpt, “A Secret Side of Lesbian Sexuality”, she unravels the ‘true’ meaning of the…

Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the portrayal of lesbian women, relationships and communities prominent within media culture. Yet increasingly so, the same types of lesbian women and relationships are repeatedly shown. Certain systems and structures of power have regulated the way gayness and lesbianism are viewed and thus seen while media has the tendency to naturalize these stereotypes and assumptions. As the prominence of lesbians’ figures in media has risen, it seems that the…

A comparison of the lesbian community from the twentieth century and that which exists today shows almost no resemblance between the two. The traits that marked lesbian culture as ‘distinct’ - namely butch/femme identities - have been replaced by the modern lesbian. The butch/femme lesbian dichotomy of the early twentieth century challenged society’s definition of being female, but the rise of lesbian feminism and the “new lesbian” critiqued this traditional approach as ‘heterosexual roleplay’…

An intimate relationship shared between two college women was labeled as a “smash” or a “crush” up until in the late 19th Century. There was seemingly nothing deviant about the relationship and was defined as, “one girl, generally an underclassman, and usually a freshman, becomes much attached to another girl, ordinarily an upper-class girl. The young girl is ‘crushed’ and the other, sends her flowers and tries in various ways to give expression to her admiration.” Historian Lillian Faderman…

Negroes” is the black lesbian subculture that began to arise. This subculture intertwined with Afro-American jazz and the blues, working as both outlets for sexual and emotional expression and social awareness. These music genres, their lyricism, and the lesbian singers that brought life to them impacted the development of American arts in New York through a growing population of openly sexual women. Homosexuality was clearly…

two of the most influential writers and poets in literature. While both existed in two very different time periods, there are many parallels between the two poets and their writing style and lifestyle. Their poetry was about affectionate and emotional connections with women they cared for, which eventually led them to becoming a symbol for female homosexuality. Many scholars and historians would agree that both Sappho and Katherine Philips’ history are ambiguous and details about their lives may…

Lesbian women encounter different consequences in various regions of the United States while disclosing their sexual identity. For instance, the Midwest and Southern states are difficult areas to live openly as a person who identify themselves as LGBT. Disclosure and non-disclosure of one’s sexual identity can be difficult for lesbian women because they think about the severity of the consequences. If lesbian women resides in a region that values heterosexual identity only, then she may…