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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1971-02-19 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 3
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WOMAN the lavender t-shirt fit... so we put it on Graphic--Female Liberation Newsletter--Minneapolis so we put it on As I thought about what the woman identified woman concept has meant to me, I realized that in fact I was reviewing the past eight months of my life. In eight months I've gone through the gambit--from wondering why I wasn't gay to realizing what an important part being gay is in my life. During this time I've read the woman identified woman idea many times. I remember the first time I read it, the article hardly phased me at all. Then each succeeding time that I read it, I became more and more amazed by how it was able to say what seemed to be everything in just two short pages. I think that we will be continually struggling with the woman identified woman idea in the future, for we still are extremely male-identified, and we are far from "realizing our autonomy as human beings." In fact all too often I see women putting heterosexual definitions on gay women, trying to straighten out individual relationships with men and working to create new men. Their actions deny the importance of an autonomous feminist movement. In Ain't I A Woman? we have talked about woman identified woman and the phrase has been used frequently. Many women are acquainted with the term, but in fact their actions show little understanding. Gay women here are pretty up front about being gay and that's pretty much accepted. However, what is conveniently forgotten is the differences between the heterosexual and homosexual experience. Too often it is forgotten that some women experience oppression not only because of their sex but also the oppression of a heterosexual world. Sisters forget that gay women may see something in a little different light or that certain things are perfectly irrelevant to their life. Also, it is forgotten that very few gay women are out of the closets. In Iowa City a small community of gay women has come together. Some of these women live together, and we all socialize with each other. However, we are by no means all the gay women here in Iowa City. Our gay sisters who have not come out still feel totally isolated and do not even have the comfort and protection of the group that we have built. Women forget that what some gay women have been working to build here, is in fact, in direct contradiction to [illegible] outside world. This heterosexual male-identified society can not allow gay women to live and discover their needs together for any length of time. Last, the woman identified woman concept is essential to a feminist movement. However, when I look about me I see nothing but difficulty dealing with the issue. Straight women are threatened by words and gay women become defensive or quiet. All remember past discussions and old pains. We will continue to discuss woman identified woman in the paper, but will it be a long time before we are comfortable with the term. I read woman identified woman last Spring 1970 when it appeared in Rat. It excited me. It was an example of why I loved Rat and respected Women's Liberation so much. It was a new thought, new perspective, and an important analysis that had never been made of a subject that has never adequately been dealt with. That's the way I thought about the article in my head. On an emotional level it was deeply important to me. It described my personal experience as a lesbian in a political way and thus absolved me from my guilt of being sick or perverted. In June a few of us went to the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day celebration in NYC and upon our return wrote an article in which we expressed the anger of lesbians at women in the movement who "turn and give their ultimate love to their oppressor." What we were trying to express was the concept of woman identified woman. The article caused much controversy in Women's Liberation here and the fledgling gay cell was put in the position of having to defend it. I couldn't handle the conflict at all and remember thinking how easy it would be if the gay cell split off from Women's Liberation and was allowed to develop its own politics in peace. Eventually, however, Women's Liberation did deal with our article and Woman Identified Woman but not verbally. The verbal thing is strange, because every time someone asks me to explain what a woman identified woman is, I can't. And yet it is very clear to me what it means in personal actions and political ones. About this time thought I realized that I have been woman identified for just about all of my life and so I guess it's not so strange that it would be something that I would know inside and find hard to explain. The gay cell could not explain in words what a woman identified woman was and why we thought it was important. And it wasn't until some of the women in Women's Liberation came to understand it emotionally that we as a group were able to move politically on the concept. Fitting, I think. If Women's Liberation is to gain meaningful advances for women, it must become woman identified and that means the women in it must become woman identified. I think that women in Women's Liberation who profess to believe in what Women's Liberation stands for (esp. the destruction of sex roles) and who have also come to appreciate the company of women over the oppressive company of males, that these women are hypocrites if they are not gay or are not at least in the process of dealing with their straightness. Obviously, women who gain a goodly share of their emotional needs from men will have difficulty advocating politically things which are not in the interest of men, but which would free women, eg. the destruction of the institution of marriage or the nuclear family. And when the going gets rough, who will be left standing with the sisters? One thing is certain, the male identified women will have faded back into the wood work of the male left long ago. a Woman? February 19, 1971 Page 3
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WOMAN the lavender t-shirt fit... so we put it on Graphic--Female Liberation Newsletter--Minneapolis so we put it on As I thought about what the woman identified woman concept has meant to me, I realized that in fact I was reviewing the past eight months of my life. In eight months I've gone through the gambit--from wondering why I wasn't gay to realizing what an important part being gay is in my life. During this time I've read the woman identified woman idea many times. I remember the first time I read it, the article hardly phased me at all. Then each succeeding time that I read it, I became more and more amazed by how it was able to say what seemed to be everything in just two short pages. I think that we will be continually struggling with the woman identified woman idea in the future, for we still are extremely male-identified, and we are far from "realizing our autonomy as human beings." In fact all too often I see women putting heterosexual definitions on gay women, trying to straighten out individual relationships with men and working to create new men. Their actions deny the importance of an autonomous feminist movement. In Ain't I A Woman? we have talked about woman identified woman and the phrase has been used frequently. Many women are acquainted with the term, but in fact their actions show little understanding. Gay women here are pretty up front about being gay and that's pretty much accepted. However, what is conveniently forgotten is the differences between the heterosexual and homosexual experience. Too often it is forgotten that some women experience oppression not only because of their sex but also the oppression of a heterosexual world. Sisters forget that gay women may see something in a little different light or that certain things are perfectly irrelevant to their life. Also, it is forgotten that very few gay women are out of the closets. In Iowa City a small community of gay women has come together. Some of these women live together, and we all socialize with each other. However, we are by no means all the gay women here in Iowa City. Our gay sisters who have not come out still feel totally isolated and do not even have the comfort and protection of the group that we have built. Women forget that what some gay women have been working to build here, is in fact, in direct contradiction to [illegible] outside world. This heterosexual male-identified society can not allow gay women to live and discover their needs together for any length of time. Last, the woman identified woman concept is essential to a feminist movement. However, when I look about me I see nothing but difficulty dealing with the issue. Straight women are threatened by words and gay women become defensive or quiet. All remember past discussions and old pains. We will continue to discuss woman identified woman in the paper, but will it be a long time before we are comfortable with the term. I read woman identified woman last Spring 1970 when it appeared in Rat. It excited me. It was an example of why I loved Rat and respected Women's Liberation so much. It was a new thought, new perspective, and an important analysis that had never been made of a subject that has never adequately been dealt with. That's the way I thought about the article in my head. On an emotional level it was deeply important to me. It described my personal experience as a lesbian in a political way and thus absolved me from my guilt of being sick or perverted. In June a few of us went to the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day celebration in NYC and upon our return wrote an article in which we expressed the anger of lesbians at women in the movement who "turn and give their ultimate love to their oppressor." What we were trying to express was the concept of woman identified woman. The article caused much controversy in Women's Liberation here and the fledgling gay cell was put in the position of having to defend it. I couldn't handle the conflict at all and remember thinking how easy it would be if the gay cell split off from Women's Liberation and was allowed to develop its own politics in peace. Eventually, however, Women's Liberation did deal with our article and Woman Identified Woman but not verbally. The verbal thing is strange, because every time someone asks me to explain what a woman identified woman is, I can't. And yet it is very clear to me what it means in personal actions and political ones. About this time thought I realized that I have been woman identified for just about all of my life and so I guess it's not so strange that it would be something that I would know inside and find hard to explain. The gay cell could not explain in words what a woman identified woman was and why we thought it was important. And it wasn't until some of the women in Women's Liberation came to understand it emotionally that we as a group were able to move politically on the concept. Fitting, I think. If Women's Liberation is to gain meaningful advances for women, it must become woman identified and that means the women in it must become woman identified. I think that women in Women's Liberation who profess to believe in what Women's Liberation stands for (esp. the destruction of sex roles) and who have also come to appreciate the company of women over the oppressive company of males, that these women are hypocrites if they are not gay or are not at least in the process of dealing with their straightness. Obviously, women who gain a goodly share of their emotional needs from men will have difficulty advocating politically things which are not in the interest of men, but which would free women, eg. the destruction of the institution of marriage or the nuclear family. And when the going gets rough, who will be left standing with the sisters? One thing is certain, the male identified women will have faded back into the wood work of the male left long ago. a Woman? February 19, 1971 Page 3
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