Guest blogger, Carolyn Ride, is wondering whatever happened to old skool lesbian feminism.

Of course all you sisters went to the International Women’s Day Rally on the 7^th with the theme “women demand justice” didn’t you? Don’t lie, you didn’t. Let’s face it, the lesbian feminist wombyn stereotype wearing a labrys necklace and waving a placard is dying if not dead. 

Lesbian feminists had their glory days in the 80s and 90s. They ran communes and women’s dances. They showed women could do anything. (If they were sound engineers or graphic designers, they showed women could charge other women anything too). They ran the women’s refuges and crisis centres when no-one else cared, wrote weirdly wafty alliterative books – thanks Mary Daly – and even out-argued socialist women in meetings.

As a major force in non-mainstream politics, lesbian feminism had to end. Most took the personal is political thing way too far; even debating whether lesbians should give up their boy children to avoid “putting energy into men”. Having spent so much time at the coalface of gender relations, they overgeneralised women as victims. Lastly, I think they just got co-opted as they got older. It’s hard to argue your lesbian feminist purity from a six-figure government adviser job or a tenured professorship.

If you are one of the few lesbian feminists left flying the lavender flag, thanks for paving the way for the next lesbian generations. But now it’s time to accept change. Young dykes and queer women want explore polyamory and porn or gay marriage and gaybies for the same reason you wanted to escape it: to have the choice. Get to know some of them. (You might meet them at the IWD breakfasts women do now instead of rallies). Just remember: bisexuality is not a disease, sex trade doesn’t automatically equal slave trade, and intellectual rigidity is not intellectual rigour.

Of course, this play nice rule applies to the opposition too. If you’re one of those so-called radical queers who whinge that sex-negative lesbian feminist types are oppressing you, toughen up! It was probably your mother who made you feel ashamed of your desires. Sheila Jeffreys is not your mother. And yes, you may feel a negative vibe at some queer event from some disapproving 60-something women in fisherman’s pants from Lismore who don’t “get” the queer, femme, switch, boi, burlesque thing you’re performing as genderfuck. That’s not discrimination. Getting beaten up on the train home by angry yobs; being blackballed by future employers because that’s your identity on your facebook page: that’s discrimination.

Again, get to know some of them. They might not all be so conservative after all! Try to be indulgent about the disapproval thing. After all, the generation after you will at best find you quaint and at worst rebel against everything you stood for. 

Carolyn Ride is a writer and editor … who still has a copy of Lesbian Nation on her bookshelf. 

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Happy International Women’s Day! Woooo!

Wave your handbags in the air! Shake your chardies like you just don’t care!

International Women’s Day is usually a time when we stop and take stock of where our society’s at on the gender agenda. We acknowledge and celebrate those who have come before us, who lobbied, yelled, insisted, or politely but firmly let those with power know that you couldn’t treat over half the population like second-class citizens. We also look at what still needs to be done to end discrimination based on gender.

But, instead of listing off all the wonderful women who inspire us here at westonculture, I thought I’d take a different tack. (I have a hunch that those lists will be flowing freely around the net this week – and I want to write about wonder-women everyday, not just one day a year…). So.

Remember when IWD was all about marching through the streets and then dancing all night at a women’s dance?  Women’s dances seem to be as rare as sanitary belts these days. But unlike the elastic little helper, I really miss them. They were places where all the sisterhood – femocrats, mothers and dykes – could get together and celebrate the joy of being born with a womb.

So I’d like to celebrate the celebration of women. And it got me thinking… If we were to have a women’s dance tonight, what ten songs would be essential? Would we still be bouncing around to the seventies’ favourites or would the modern women’s dance include new female empowered voices?

Here’s my Top Ten Tunes for a Women’s Dance 2009-style

10.  Mr Big Stuff – Jean Knight  Yes, well some things don’t change. Mr Big Stuff still struts his sense of entitlement in 2009 and women are still singing the song. Are you going to continue putting up with his shit? Hell, no.

9.  Respect – Aretha Franklin  The anthem that launched a thousand divorces?  A song that also ticks all the boxes for an IWD anthem:  Women rule? Check. Men drool? Check.

8.  Lady Marmalade (remake) – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya & Pink   And one for the laydeez of the oldest and most empowered profession (according to Scarlet Alliance anyway). Voulez-vous coucher avec Christina, Kim, Mya and Pink?  

7.  She Works Hard for the Money – Donna Summers  Do doop do doop. So hard for it honey! Do doop do doop. She works hard for the money so you better treat her right. … Nuff said.

6.  I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor  A song of strength and resilience that perfectly encapsulates that moment when we realise that no matter what happens, we will make it through this.

5.  Sweet About Me – Gabriella Cilmi  Because sometimes you’ve got to ditch the Good Girl, the sweet one, and let em know you’re not their “Love”, “Darl” or “Sweetie”. Repeat after Ms Cilmi, “Nothin’ sweet about me!”

4.  Androgyny – Garbage  One for the bois? Nah, just one to remind us what Madame De Beauvoir taught us – one is not born a woman… thank goddess…

3.  Lola’s Theme – Shapeshifters  There’s something satisfying about dancing around singing “IIIII’m a different person” at the top of your voice. It’s like announcing to the world that you don’t have to be defined by circumstance, that you have a smidgeon of control in your life, and life does get better.

2.  Im Nin Alu – Ofra Haza  Every women’s dance needs a song where you can flail your arms around and dance like a dervish. And heck, I think we need a tune that translates (from the Hebrew) to “Even if the gates to the rich are closed, the gates to heaven are not closed.”

1.  We are Family – Sister Sledge   Sure, women in 2009 may live very diverse lives, but it’s what we have in common, our desire for better lives for all, that makes us powerful. We are family. I’ve got all my sisters and me.

Ahh, we have come a long way baby.

Happy IWD 2009!

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1. Twenty Top Tunes 2008
2. 4 My People by Missy Elliott
3. Toodle pip 2009. It was swell.

It’s hard to imagine fetish culture without the iconic 1950s photos of Bettie Page. In a time when women were most commonly seen bending over a new kitchen appliance, Ms Page was demonstrating a, um, different kind of horizontal posture. I’m not sure if her modelling days were a totally empowering experience, but Bettie Page’s legacy has empowered generations of women since. May she rest in peace.

Related posts:

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