Lesbian separatism - Definition and Overview

Lesbian separatism refers to a range of extreme positions within the feminist and gay liberation movements. In a moderate form, it advocates that lesbians should form separate, self-sufficient communities devoid of men, and which should have as little contact with wider society (and men in particular) as possible.

In its more extreme form, lesbian separatism advocates that all men should be killed. Julie McCrossin quotes "dead men don't rape" and "kill them in their cots" as slogans of extreme lesbian separatism [1] (http://www.takver.com/history/womyn.htm). However, it is difficult to determine how serious these statements are, as they are also referred to as "jokes", yet McCrossin intentionally puts the word "jokes" in scare quotes, as if to suggest that they may not be entirely joking.

Lesbian separatism has inspired various works of science fiction, depicting future utopias in which all men have died out, and advances in reproductive technology have eliminated the need to have men for human reproduction.

Lesbian separatism is frequently associated with Dianic paganism.

External links & resources

• "Women, wimmin, womyn, womin, whippets — On Lesbian Separatism" by Julie McCrossin (http://www.takver.com/history/womyn.htm) — a classic article on this issue
• Gormglaith (http://www.literateweb.com/wyss.htm) — work of lesbian separatist science fiction by Heidi Wyss, free to read online.
• A list of works of lesbian separatist science fiction (http://www.feministsf.org/femsf/bibs/separatism.html)
• Joanna Russ: "A Few Things I Know About Whileaway"