01 5 / 2012
01 5 / 2012
Gail Grassi and Kate Kaufman repairing a car, East Bay 1970s, photo by Cathy Cade
A History of Lesbianism
by Judy Grahn
How they came into the world,
the women-loving-women
came in three by three
and four by four
the women-loving-women
came in ten by ten
and ten by ten again
until there were more
than you could count
they took care of each other
the best they knew how
and of each other’s children
if they had any.
How they lived in the world,
the women-loving-women
learned as much as they were allowed
and walked and wore their clothes
the way they liked
whenever they could. They did whatever
they knew to be happy or free
and worked and worked and worked.
The women-loved-women
in America were called dykes
and some liked it
and some did not.
they made love to each other
the best they knew how
and for the best reasons
How they went out of the world,
the women-loving-women
went out one by one
having withstood greater and lesser
trials, and much hatred
from other people, they went out
one by one, each having tried
in her own way to overthrow
the rule of men over women,
they tried it one by one
and hundred by hundred,
until each came in her own way
to the end of her life
and died.
The subject of lesbianism
is very ordinary; it’s the question
of male domination that makes everybody
angry.
01 5 / 2012
Political Lesbianism — any woman can be a lesbian
In a broad sense, political lesbianism entails the political identification of women with women, it encompasses a role beyond sexuality but supports eschewing forming relationship with men. It is partly based on the idea that women sharing and promoting a common interest creates a positive and needed energy which is necessary to enhance and elevate the role of women in the society, a development which will be curtailed by the institutions of heterosexuality and sexism if women chose the traditional norms.
The normative status of heterosexuality forces women to limit themselves sexually and emotionally to relationships with members of the caste that oppresses them, while denying them the possibility of establishing meaningful relationships with other women. Viewed in this light the straight norm is not really a sexual norm at all, but a powerful instrument in the perpetuation of the power relationship between the sexes.
01 5 / 2012
"It is the commitment, by choice, full time, of one woman to others of her class, that is called lesbianism. It is this full commitment, against any and all personal considerations, if necessary, that constitutes the political significance of lesbianism….There are women who have never had sexual relations with other women, who have made, and live, a total commitment to this movement. These women are ‘lesbians’ in the political sense."
(Source: discosherpa)
01 5 / 2012
Lesbianism and the Women’s Movement, edited by Nancy Myron & Charlotte Bunch (Diana Press, 1975). Introduction here.
