User:Ccolby1994/sandbox

Lived Experiences:

Activism and Gay Marriage -

Gloria Steinem sees the intersection of the feminist movement and the LGBTQ rights movement “as a circle, and we’re coming at our goal of being unique humans and also sharing our humanity. We’re coming at that central goal from different places, but I would say it’s like this” - making a circle with her hands - “and not a hierarchy, it’s like this, and we are all linked, we are not ranked.”

The feminist movement and the LGBTQ rights movement are linked in a fight against a common adversary. “[i]f you think about it in the most basic terms, you can understand why because the whole idea of a male-dominant or patriarchal or anthro-whatever-you-want-to-call-it system is all about controlling reproduction. That is the basic thing: how many workers, how many soldiers, who do they belong to."

The goal of the patriarchal society as these movements see it is to control reproduction in women through laws around abortion and contraceptives. “And because it’s all about reproduction, it demonizes any sexual expression that can’t end in reproduction.”

This demonization of sexual expression that can’t end in reproduction is shown in the opposition to gay marriage movements. Yet there are many in the feminist movement and LGBTQ rights movement, such as bell hooks and Jyl Josephson, who believe that gay rights should be about Civil Rights not about marriage. Jyl Josephson wrote an article entitled Citizenship, Same-Sex Marriage, and Feminist Critiques of Marriage: “Feminist critiques of marriage are relevant to the same-sex marriage debate for several reasons. The critique of rigid gender roles and hierarchy in marriage—and of their negative consequences for women—is also a critique of patriarchal heteronormativity, which oppresses not only women, but also members of the LGBT community.”

“When deconstructing the history of oppression by marriage, the fact that women and members of the LGBTQ community have rarely, if ever, lawfully or socially benefitted from this, can not be ignored. Especially when, historically in the United States of America, “lawful” marriage was designed to benefit cis, heterosexual, Christian, white males who married cis, heterosexual, Christian, white females.”

Feminism and Queerness in Historical Vermont -

Vermont was home to several lesbian separatist communes in that latter half of the twentieth century. Feminist separatism is an ideology that emerged out of second wave feminism in the 1970s that held that opposition to patriarchy is best achieved by rejecting involvement in all patriarchal institutions, including relationships with men. While not all feminist separatists advocated for lesbianism, instead practicing celibacy, many embraced it as politically significant act and incorporated it in separatist ideology, creating lesbian separatism. Many separatists created and lived in communes that reflected their ideological desires. Vermont was home to several of these communes, notably including the Redbird Collective. The Redbird Collective was in Hinesburg Vermont, and lasted approximately between the years of 1975 and 1979. Euan Bear, an ex-member of the collective, describes Redbird as promoting connection with the land, empathetic social relations, and the value of women’s strength. After the collective broke up in 1979, many of the women remained in the Burlington area and were influential in promoting feminist causes in the community.