As I understand it (and I’m not anything like an expert), the political lesbians rejected heterosexual sex, and perhaps relationships with men more broadly, as (a) a way to challenge the patriarchy, and (b) a way to cultivate feminist values within themselves. To me, this seems somewhat similar to vegans who reject meat consumption as (a) a way to challenge speciest norms, and (b) a way to cultivate anti-speciesism within themselves. Both philosophies create a political critique of personal desire.
Of course, it’s an imperfect comparison, and there are important criticisms of political lesbianism.
Super interesting. I think I’d say that sexual orientation and meat cravings (if that’s what you mean by “personal desire”) are sufficiently different that this analogy doesn’t really hold.
They are clearly different but Ben’s point is interesting because historically, the movement for political lesbianism treated sexual orientation like meat craving.
As I understand it (and I’m not anything like an expert), the political lesbians rejected heterosexual sex, and perhaps relationships with men more broadly, as (a) a way to challenge the patriarchy, and (b) a way to cultivate feminist values within themselves. To me, this seems somewhat similar to vegans who reject meat consumption as (a) a way to challenge speciest norms, and (b) a way to cultivate anti-speciesism within themselves. Both philosophies create a political critique of personal desire.
Of course, it’s an imperfect comparison, and there are important criticisms of political lesbianism.
Super interesting. I think I’d say that sexual orientation and meat cravings (if that’s what you mean by “personal desire”) are sufficiently different that this analogy doesn’t really hold.
They are clearly different but Ben’s point is interesting because historically, the movement for political lesbianism treated sexual orientation like meat craving.
Yeah, I think that’s reasonable. I also think they’re very different