Category: Politics
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How Should We Tell the Stories of “Bad” Lesbians from History in a Culture of Us vs. Them?
How do we write on complex, even harmful, lesbians from history in the age of “us vs. them”? How do we present the facts in a way that doesn’t omit the person or the truth? Is writing on a person from history ever objective, considering the historian has their own interests, motives and interpretations, and…
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The Male Gaze and Lesbian Censorship in Film
It’s of little surprise to most sapphic movie buffs that Hollywood doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to positive lesbian representation. From the widespread trope of “bury your gays” to the equally widespread phenomenon of gay-baiting, it can be hard out there for a film loving dyke. Hays Code A lot of…
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Today’s Lavender Menace: Why do lesbians support gay men?
I received a lot of support after I wrote The Lesbian Pinball: Gay Liberation vs. Women’s Liberation in August 2021. Lesbian feminists from all over the world resonated with the conflict: we simultaneously support gay men and women but it is hard to navigate gay and feminist spaces without our intersectional experience, being both homosexual…
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A Cellist’s Resistance: the bravery of Frieda Belinfante
The year is 1940. World War II has just begun. The talented Dutch cello player Frieda Belinfante has to give up the fame she has recently obtained as the first female orchestra director in her country… Frieda Belinfante was born in Amsterdam, 1904. Her father Aaron Belinfante was a concert piano player who introduced his…
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Lesbian Feminist Spirituality of the 1970s
One of my favorite lesbian stereotypes is our love for astrology. One would be hard pressed to find a lesbian without their sun sign in their social media bios, let alone their entire star chart. Tarot, crystals, and witchcraft just seem so inherently lesbian. So how did the New Age and lesbianism become linked? For…
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Patricia Highsmith: a Painful Lesson
Patricia Highsmith was the author of The Price of Salt (1952): the inspiration for the film Carol (2015). It was the first lesbian novel with a happy ending. However, while many adored her, Patricia Highsmith was not known as a particularly cheerful person. The prolific author wrote 22 novels and many short stories over her…
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The Lesbian Pinball: Gay Liberation vs Women’s Liberation
Lesbians are pulled between solidarity with gay men, because of homophobia, and straight women, because of misogyny. We have prioritised solidarity with gay men or straight women at different points in history, depending on the contextual concerns.