All in it together...

On several occasions while I was reading "The Woman-Indentified-Woman", I found myself saying "hmm...that's deep" or "hmm...that's true" because something was stated that I could relate to. Although this article centered around the experiences of some lesbians, it actually called out to all women, which is why I appreciated the ending "It is the primacy of women relating to women, of women creating an new consciousness of and with each other, which is at the heart of women's liberation, and the basis for the cultural revolution"(242). Being a "real-woman" as was stated in this article means that you have to fit within a strict set of boundaries, and any deviation from that result in dehumanization. Patriarchy which runs rampant in our society strongly believes that "he confirms our womanhood"(241). So if our womanhood is based upon his standards then lesbians are not the only non-real women. According to his standards outspoken women, strong women, women with jobs, activist women, and educated women are not real women (at the least we all fit into that category.

A very powerful statement was made on page 241. "As long as the label 'dyke' can be used to frighten a women into a less militant stand, keep her separate from her sisters, keep her from giving primacy to anything other than men and family--then to that extent she is controlled by the male culture". Throughout history words like "dyke" and "bitch" were used against women that threatened men because they refused to conform to their male ideals. In today's society it is not just men using those same terms, but women use them on each other. Call that a patriarchal strategy, but the creation of those terms is only dividing women and turning them against each other--leading us further away from the path of women's liberation.

Lesbians are targeted because they don't "meet social expectations" but honestly who does? So doesn't that mean that we are all in this fight together?