I've spent the last 2 and 1/2 days, locked in the dark isolation of my room, writing about lesbian-feminist separatism of the '60s. Eating easter chocolate and drinking two-day old tea for every meal, and neglecting to shower for the past weekend, i no doubt by now smell and look like the inside of someone's spread butt-cheeks. Though i'm disheveled and hungry now, I'm really going to miss moments and days like these, once I'm not a student anymore. I realized today, that this 30 page paper of goodness was my very last essay that I'd ever write about sexuality for school. Much like the dwindling down of the sixties, I too am dwindling down, and edging towards the turn of a new decade. It makes me already miss weekends like these. Weekends where I have to pull down the blinds in my room, so I won't be teased by the flirtatious sunshine seeping through. Weekends where I leave my desk only to pee. Weekends where the whole world disappeares, pauses even, and all that matters is words on a screen. Words that somehow end up making sense, creating meaning and in the end changing me.
They show up in weird places. like when I'm riding my bicycle for instance- i noticed there was a man on his bike who was going to pass me on the street, and for some reason, i instantly caught myself sizing him up and thinking there will be no revolution, if this man cuts me off. So i sped a head full force, passed him, and for the moment, felt as if i myself had secretly just conquered patriarchy.
the lesbians cheered.
Even though I'm fully aware of the pitfalls of the lofty ideals of lesbian-feminist-separatism, I'm nonetheless deeply entranced by it. There's a big part of me that feels sad for them. Sad that their Utopian never came. Sad that they are always so quickly dismissed as the "wacko crazies" of the women's movement: The demonized man hating dykes. Even though I don't agree with all of their politics, they stood for something. I'm a reckless sucker for idealists, no matter how radical they are, that risk everything to stand for something. I guess a small part of me identified with their desire to separate. Part of me desperately wanted to see it work out-- wanted to see the world they'd re-create. A world they envisioned would be "non-hierarchical", and non-exploitative, both sexually and economically. A world where capitalism would not work, and sexism would not be possible. A world of healing, and interdependency and community. Connection. I guess i see myself fighting for the same type of world. and so, that's why i cried a little, when I had to write about how the lesbian-separatist communes crumbled.
I felt strangely connected to the frustration and jadedness they must have felt. I felt oddly connected to their warrior calls for change. In a weird way, pouring over their manifestos, and journals, minutes and memoirs, I felt as if I was tapping into the history of my own. and in a way i was. My identity as a feminist now, is so deeply bound to and implicated by these women from the past. In understanding them, I somehow began to understand more about myself, despite how different we are. I am not suggesting that I'm going to run off into the rural landscapes of Ontario and start a lesbian commune, but I'm saying, we can learn alot from the "crazies" who did. I wish more people lived boldly and radically for what they believed in, even at the cost of a sane social reputation. I wish more people lived with same reckless and wild passion.
They show up in weird places. like when I'm riding my bicycle for instance- i noticed there was a man on his bike who was going to pass me on the street, and for some reason, i instantly caught myself sizing him up and thinking there will be no revolution, if this man cuts me off. So i sped a head full force, passed him, and for the moment, felt as if i myself had secretly just conquered patriarchy.
the lesbians cheered.
Even though I'm fully aware of the pitfalls of the lofty ideals of lesbian-feminist-separatism, I'm nonetheless deeply entranced by it. There's a big part of me that feels sad for them. Sad that their Utopian never came. Sad that they are always so quickly dismissed as the "wacko crazies" of the women's movement: The demonized man hating dykes. Even though I don't agree with all of their politics, they stood for something. I'm a reckless sucker for idealists, no matter how radical they are, that risk everything to stand for something. I guess a small part of me identified with their desire to separate. Part of me desperately wanted to see it work out-- wanted to see the world they'd re-create. A world they envisioned would be "non-hierarchical", and non-exploitative, both sexually and economically. A world where capitalism would not work, and sexism would not be possible. A world of healing, and interdependency and community. Connection. I guess i see myself fighting for the same type of world. and so, that's why i cried a little, when I had to write about how the lesbian-separatist communes crumbled.
I felt strangely connected to the frustration and jadedness they must have felt. I felt oddly connected to their warrior calls for change. In a weird way, pouring over their manifestos, and journals, minutes and memoirs, I felt as if I was tapping into the history of my own. and in a way i was. My identity as a feminist now, is so deeply bound to and implicated by these women from the past. In understanding them, I somehow began to understand more about myself, despite how different we are. I am not suggesting that I'm going to run off into the rural landscapes of Ontario and start a lesbian commune, but I'm saying, we can learn alot from the "crazies" who did. I wish more people lived boldly and radically for what they believed in, even at the cost of a sane social reputation. I wish more people lived with same reckless and wild passion.
this is yet another home run for Shannon Gendron.
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