Maybe a little too much radical and not enough feminism

When it comes to feminism, Mullaly (2007) says, “Although there are different forms or groups of feminism, the common thesis is that the relationship between the sexes is one of inequality or oppression.”  While online researching feminism, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before “lesbian feminists”. After some research, I discovered that it was an ideology all on its own. According to Ellis & Peel (2010), “it was a dominant ideology of politicized white, middle class, North American, Western European and Australasian lesbians during the 1970’s and 1980’s.” They based a lot of their ideas on radical feminism in the sense that they believed that the political was always personal. (Ellis & Peel. 2010) At that time, they were often accused of generalizing all women into one category when clearly not every woman has gone through the exact same thing, and a lot of coloured women at that time fought hard against this. (Ellis & Peel. 2010) During the 1990’s the term LGBT, was formed and the term “lesbian feminists” was lost in the mix. Now it is used very rarely and when it is used, it is not normally associated with the ideology that was built up in the 1970’s, now it is a simple meaning of someone who identifies with both “lesbian” and “feminist”. (Ellis & Peel. 2010)

As I searched for a role model or someone who had or does identify as a lesbian feminist, I came across a band, by the name of “The Stunts”. It was a group of approximately four women who were all lesbians. Two of the members volunteered at the Vancouver Rape Relief. I was intrigued but what really threw me off, was the huge and heavy word “radical” in front of lesbian feminists. While reading the article, I overlooked a sentence that could’ve really changed my original opinion of this band. They were having political issues when it came to defending the Vancouver Rape Relief, due to the fact that what they were defending was all wrong. Dana Ayotte, a member of the band, says “the organization’s determination to choose its own members from among folks born and raised as women, and to operate a women-only transition house and rape crisis center had come under fire.”(Ayotte & Guillion 2006) What was I had overlooked was the simple line of “born and raised”, what they mean is that transgendered females, were not allowed.

                It really shocked me to see how “radical” it really was. They were an ideology of feminism that didn’t permit women who weren’t specifically born as a biological woman. I find that, to be a very difficult situation for me to even understand. These transgendered people were often discriminated against for being too “feminine” and not “masculine” enough to be men. They were never allowed to be involved in patriarchy of our society yet we, as feminists, should have included them. Yet, radical lesbian feminists decided that they were not woman enough. As I kept researching, I was astounded by the amount of hurt and discrimination this nation has caused transgendered people. I wish I had the time to research it all. It was painful to read and try to understand how these people may have felt.

                Feminism, is a great thing. I am a feminist, but some of these ideologies in relation to feminism, are so extreme, it gives the word alone “feminism”, a really bad connotation. I wonder, if maybe, one day we can show the true meaning of feminism.

Belinda

As a side note, I apologize for misinterpreting the article I referenced. I have changed my post to reflect the true meaning of the article.

References:

Ayotte, Dana & Gullion, Jacqueline. (2006). Saying the F-word: Feminism, indie-rock style. Canadian Woman Studies, 25(3/4), 137. Retrieved from: http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com/umanitoba?issn=07133235&issue=3/4&volume=25&date=2006&spage=137

Mullaly, R. (2007). The new structural social work (3rd Ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford

 University Press.

Peel, E., & Ellis, S. J. (2011). Lesbian feminisms: Historical and present possibilities. Feminism & Psychology, 21(2), 198-204. doi:10.1177/0959353510370178.