Against the dividing of women: lesbian feminism and heterosexuality

Abstract

I am arguing for a continuity of interests between lesbians and heterosexual women, and that lesbians and heterosexual women have common experiences which enable them to understnd and empathize with each other. I document the history of the feminist critique of heterosexuality from early radical feminism to the contemporary arguments of Rich (1980), Raymond (1986) and Penelope (1985a, 1985b, 1985c). From a lesbian feminist standpoint, I suggest that setting up an oppositional dichotomy between 'lesbian' and 'heterosexual' divides women from each other and perpetuates the heterosexual hegemony. The continuing revaluation and redefinition of lesbianism is essential in order to achieve the political priority of feminism: an end to male domination.