Points -
- Change essay title from 'To what extent does visual culture affect the LGBT community?' to ' How does visual culture affect the LGBT community?'
- Avoid talking about TV & film too much and going off on a tangent
- Use this research to relate back to how it also applies to advertising etc
- Discuss editorial, advertising and branding
- Think about the branding of the programmes, channels, adverts etc.
- Collect visual examples for each point made and discuss
- Research into the current LGBT underground press & zine culture
- The production of underground press LGBT publications is a very counter cultural. Can the queer community only be accurately represented in a counter cultural sense? Does equality and realism only exist here?
- Look at the TV channel RU Pauls drag race is broadcast on and how it is branded towards a queer audience. Does it push 'queen' values, is the ideology of a 'queen' offensive to women?
- Watch and look into 'Queer eye for a straight guy'
THINGS TO HAVE FOR TUTORIAL 2
1) Literature review - research more theories
2) AIDS poster - case study
3) Underground press (past and current) - case study
4) Interviews with relevant people (wires?) include images within your questions
5) Chapter layout
6) Lots of images
Friday 21 October 2016
Sunday 16 October 2016
Thursday 13 October 2016
~ Source 1 - Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Content on Television: A Quantitative Analysis Across Two Seasons ~
Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Content on Television: A Quantitative Analysis Across Two Seasons
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2000838/
Tone of voice - very factual and formal. Approaches the issue with little opinion more factual evidence, something to consider for my own style and approach to the essay.
Tone of voice - very factual and formal. Approaches the issue with little opinion more factual evidence, something to consider for my own style and approach to the essay.
Abstract
Two annual content analyses of programming from the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 television seasons (n= 1,276 and 1,439 programs, respectively) were conducted to assess the presence of behaviors and verbal messages related to the sexuality of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Sexual content associated with nonheterosexuals was found in about 15% of programs overall; however, rates of occurrence within episodes were low. Of 14 genres, only movies and variety/comedy shows had substantial percentages of programs that contained nonheterosexual content. Programs on commercial broadcast networks were less likely to have nonheterosexual content than those on cable networks, especially those on premium cable movie networks. Implications of the continued lack of attention to sexual minorities are discussed for both heterosexual and nonheterosexual viewers.
Social taboos surrounding sex are becoming widely broadcast but homosexuality is still not being equally and realistically portrayed via film and television. Self objectification
"One theme that has been especially ignored is the portrayal of sexual issues related to gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals."
"Before 1970, almost no gay characters could be found on television, and their relative absence from the screen continued until the 1990s (Wyatt, 2002)."
"In recent years, the number of shows with leading or recurring gay characters has varied from 16 in the 1997-1998 season to 29 in the 2000-2001 season (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, n.d.). Although these numbers represent an increase compared with the past, they are still quite small compared with the overall number of characters appearing on television shows broadcast each season."
"According to social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2001), one important way in which television influences viewers is by providing vicarious experiences on which to model beliefs, attitudes, and behavior when real-life experiences are more limited. A closely related idea is that the media—by depicting sexual scenarios that people might not be able to see anywhere else—provide scripts for enacting various sexual behaviors (Gagnon & Simon, 1973)"
"In fact, as many as one in five teens reports that “entertainment” is their most important source of sexual information (Gibbs, 1993 as cited in Brown & Steele, 1995)."
"the lack of positive role models on television is more extreme for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth (Kielwasser & Wolf, 1992)."
"Most lesbians and gay men grow up in a straight community with few gay role models; thus, they are particularly vulnerable to the portrayals of gay people in the mass media (Fejes & Petrich, 1993; Ryan & Futterman, 1998)."
"Yet, sexual minorities are often ignored by the mainstream media and treated as if they do not exist. This exclusion has been posited to contribute to keeping sexual minorities invisible and without power, a process which Gross refers to as “symbolic annihilation” (Gross, 1991; Gerbner & Gross, 1976)."
"The small number of gay characters on television, and even smaller number of adolescent gay characters, is proposed to contribute to a feeling of isolation among nonheterosexual youth (Kielwasser & Wolf, 1992)."
"cites examples of gay characters who were rarely, if ever, shown in sexual or romantic contexts such as Sidney in Love Sidney, Steven Carrington in Dynasty, and Marilyn McGrath in Heartbeat. More recent examples include Matt Fielding in Melrose Place, whose sexual orientation was prominently featured in promotions before the show's premiere, and then rarely included in storylines for the first several seasons (Wyatt, 2002). Until very recently, the two openly gay characters on NBC's currently popular prime-time series Will and Grace—Will and Jack—were rarely shown being physically affectionate with other men; however, the lead female character Grace, who is heterosexual, has often been shown in sexual situations with men. Will and Grace also has been criticized for reinforcing heterosexual norms and stereotypes about homosexual traits such as gay men being feminine, flamboyant, and promiscuous (Battles & Morrow-Hilton, 2002)."
"Despite the overwhelming heterosexuality of mainstream media representations, portrayals of gay and lesbian individuals on television have become somewhat more common since 1997 when Ellen became the first television show to have a gay leading character. This increase can be seen in the introduction of gay characters on many shows such as Spin City, ER, Dawson's Creek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as shows that focus on gay characters in leading roles such as Will and Grace and It's All Relative. In addition, cable stations have included shows such as Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under, andOz that depict gay characters in more complex plot lines and with more explicit sexual behaviors." - Quotes referring specifically to certain tv shows
"Regular television watching is proposed to create a shared set of conceptions and expectations about social reality among otherwise diverse viewers. Based on cultivation theory, some researchers have suggested that the lack of portrayals of homosexuality on television may influence the beliefs among heavy viewers that homosexuality is abnormal or extremely rare. According to Gross (1994)"
(1) To what extent are nonheterosexual sexual themes, specifically sexual behavior and talk about sex, found in television programming overall and what patterns emerge across program genres, network types, and prime-time versus nonprime-time programming? (2) When nonheterosexual sexual content does occur, what is its frequency and how does it vary across genres, type of network, and prime-time versus nonprime-time programming? - Research questions the paper aims to address.
~ OZ magazine ~
http://ro.uow.edu.au/do/search/?q=homosexual&start=0&context=6079195 - OZ issues that feature content about homosexuals
OZ issue 46 - Published January 1973 - Article discussing gay men. The article takes quotes from a Straight Arrow publication called The Queens Vernacular by Bruce Rodgers. The publication discusses phrases used by gay men within the homosexual subculture, described as a form of self oppression.
OZ issue 46 - Published January 1973 - Article discussing gay men. The article takes quotes from a Straight Arrow publication called The Queens Vernacular by Bruce Rodgers. The publication discusses phrases used by gay men within the homosexual subculture, described as a form of self oppression.
http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=ozlondon - see link for more
~ Case study 3 - third wave feminism ~
Third wave feminism is defined as the time between the 1990's to present day. Today and unlike the former movements, the term ‘feminist’ is received less critically by the female population due to the varying feminist outlooks. There are the ego-cultural feminists, the radicals, the liberal/reforms, the electoral, academic, ecofeminists… the list goes on.
Feminist views are completely varied and cannot be wave defined. We are still fighting for acceptance and equality.
Case study - Grimes: I don’t want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living - originally posted on her personal Tumblr account.
"i dont want to be infantilized because i refuse to be sexualized"
"I’m tired of men who aren’t professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to ‘help me out’ (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i’m gonna flounder without them. or as if the fact that I’m a woman makes me incapable of using technology. I have never seen this kind of thing happen to any of my male peers"
"I’m sad that my desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected (I have four brothers and many male best friends and a dad and i promise i do not hate men at all, nor do i believe that all men are sexist or that all men behave in the ways described above)"
Feminist views are completely varied and cannot be wave defined. We are still fighting for acceptance and equality.
Case study - Grimes: I don’t want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living - originally posted on her personal Tumblr account.
"i dont want to be infantilized because i refuse to be sexualized"
"I’m tired of men who aren’t professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to ‘help me out’ (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i’m gonna flounder without them. or as if the fact that I’m a woman makes me incapable of using technology. I have never seen this kind of thing happen to any of my male peers"
"I’m sad that my desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected (I have four brothers and many male best friends and a dad and i promise i do not hate men at all, nor do i believe that all men are sexist or that all men behave in the ways described above)"
~ Case study 2 - Radical feminism ~
Another group of second wave radical feminists The Redstockings has opposing views to the Leeds group in terms of lesbianism and the inclusion of heterosexual women and even men in feminism.
Image showing the 'cut and stick' aesthetic that powerfully identifies radical feminist activism during the second wave.
This book Sisterhood is Powerful is a collective anthology produced by the Redstockings group. These are some extracts from the book.
Another noteworthy radical feminist is Valerie Solonas, known for shooting and trying to kill Andy Warhol and her book S.C.U.M (Society for Cutting Up Men).
Alike the Leeds lesbian feminist movement she believed men should be eradicated to the point she felt women should reproduce without men making only more women until the male race was no longer existent.
~ Research - physical ~
Looking into The Leeds revolutionary feminist group drew my eye to their publication newsletters as it is a clear use of graphic design, visual communication and distribution in terms of the subject "LGBT rights, issues & feminism".
For this reason I decided to contact The Feminist Archive North. I asked them for advice on searching their online archives for information and they recommended searching the FAN database for
- Clause 28
- Adoption & custody
- & Lesbian rights
They also agreed to arrange a date in which I could come in to see the physical copies of the back catalogue of the WIRES publications. This is extremely valuable research for my dissertation as its the kind of individual research and subject matter than cannot be obtained online or in the standards libraries collection.
She also advised me to look at Spare Rib magazine which has an online back catalogue - https://www.bl.uk/spare-rib
Clause 28 -
The clause was only appealed and removed from the United Kingdom on 18 November 2003.
- Clause 28
- Adoption & custody
- & Lesbian rights
They also agreed to arrange a date in which I could come in to see the physical copies of the back catalogue of the WIRES publications. This is extremely valuable research for my dissertation as its the kind of individual research and subject matter than cannot be obtained online or in the standards libraries collection.
She also advised me to look at Spare Rib magazine which has an online back catalogue - https://www.bl.uk/spare-rib
Clause 28 -
~ Spare Rib magazine ~
Using the online archive and links to specific issues and topics I decided to look through and read some of the spare rib feminist magazines - Started in 1972.
Pages 3 & 4 of issue 116 - published March 1982 - showing a letter of complaint about the discussion of lesbians too often within Spare Ribs articles. The article also features a reply from the magazine.
Pages 3 & 4 of issue 116 - published March 1982
Issue 86 - published September 1979 - page 44
Spare rib and the underground press
Spare Rib magazine was the sister of the underground press, a term that applies to the 1960s, when an entire generation took direct control of the print communication media. Key to establishing a new youth-led counterculture, the underground press nevertheless reflected the views of its male editors, writers, photographers and illustrators. By the end of the decade, women working in the underground press reacted against this male/female hierarchy. Spare Rib evolved from that rebellion.
~ COP practical ideas ~
http://www.reclaimthenight.co.uk/why.html - create a full brand, strategy and promotion for the Reclaim the Night event.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zte_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT67&lpg=PT67&dq=Spare+Rib+and+titled+%E2%80%98Germany:+Women+Reclaim+The+Night%E2%80%99+(Issue+61)&source=bl&ots=7JPiM9B2xE&sig=vvKbJRCiPY5-hlzsats9mP672EU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigseLV-6DPAhXCVRoKHVVGDOAQ6AEIMjAE#v=onepage&q=Spare%20Rib%20and%20titled%20%E2%80%98Germany%3A%20Women%20Reclaim%20The%20Night%E2%80%99%20(Issue%2061)&f=false
http://www.feministarchivenorth.org.uk/chronology/howto.htm
Idea - Curate a zine, magazine, newspaper or exhibition on homosexuality. Ask for design based submissions with a certain colour pallet, size, resolution etc. Could be sponsored by precession?
http://www.feministarchivenorth.org.uk/chronology/howto.htm
~ Gay Left magazine ~
http://gayleft1970s.org/issues/issue10.asp
"Since the gay movement began we have insisted on the centrality of the media (understood in its widest sense) as a carrier, reinforcer or shaper of our oppression." Gay Left - Issue 2 - Richard Dyer - pg-8 - Published spring 1976
"enforce a narrative function of gay passivity, requiring a straight to act for us" - pg 8 - issue 2
"This is because in every case the film is made within a straight framework, women seen only in relation to men, and the lesbianism is there as a facet of the het world-view." - pg 9 -issue 2
"Since the gay movement began we have insisted on the centrality of the media (understood in its widest sense) as a carrier, reinforcer or shaper of our oppression." Gay Left - Issue 2 - Richard Dyer - pg-8 - Published spring 1976
"enforce a narrative function of gay passivity, requiring a straight to act for us" - pg 8 - issue 2
"This is because in every case the film is made within a straight framework, women seen only in relation to men, and the lesbianism is there as a facet of the het world-view." - pg 9 -issue 2
Wires trip - special collections notes
1- W.I.R.E.S. - Womens Information Referral And Enquiry Service - 1975 - 1977 - NOS. 1 - 42 - The feminist archive, Bradford
Issue 4 - Womens movement publications
- National Lesbian Newsletter
- ENOUGH - The magazine of Bristols Women's Liberation group
- Women together - A comminuty magaznie for women in the middlesex area.
- NALGAY - newsletter of a gay group in NALGO
Books
- Sappho was a right-on woman, a liberated veiw of lesbianism
Issue 4 - pages 6 & 7
"2) LESBIAN MOTHERS FIGHT BACK.
Recently judges have been awarding the custody of children of divorced couples to the father if he wants them, unless the mother is remarried and has a conventional nuculear family set-up. An article in the Guardian (8th August) said "it is virtually unknown for the courts to award custody or care to a lesbian mother when the father contest her claim. This anti-woman, anti-lesbian and anti-mother move has been taking place for some time and needs to be exposed since custody hearings take place behind locked doors and no recording is allowed.
During the next law term women will again appear in court to contest the custody of her four children. She is not only fighting the patriacial legal system, but also the society which has labbelled her a lesbian and therefore an 'unfit' mother. She was divorced two years ago, and until recently was living in the family hone and caring for her four children with a wage of £5 pound a week from her ex-husband, who officially had custody. He recently remarried and asked her to leave. She appealed against the custody descision. All the children want to stay with their mother. He, then, started to pay her £40 a week maintinence, whcih made it impossible to get legal aid. The womens defence fund is hoping to pay some of the legal costs of this case and would be grateful for donations. "
FEMINIST SALES-
- BADGES - Lesbians Ignite; How dare you presume i'm heterosexual; Gays against fascism, Avenge Oscar Wilde.
- POSTERS - "two lesbians, haron and dee, "are willing to design and/or print and non-sexist posters for lesbian causes, be it political, propoganda ir proud to be dyke disco poster."
Issue 5
Womens movement publications -
I Lesbian teacher newsletter no 2, obtainable from Jane Dixon, 6 Rosetta street, London SW8 30p for issues 2 and 3.
"Women in Glasgow and Leeds are organising pub crawls of men-only bars on December 29th to celebrate the sex discrimination act coming into force that day - sounds like a good idea ..."
Reading list - Homosexuality and the teaching profession
"When I was as school I was told by my domestic science teacher: "Animals sweat, Men perspire and Ladies GLOW. "Hmm. Penny."
WOMEN SEEKING GROUPS
1) Dear sisters, I am a gay women living in Plymouth...(I have already contacted the local womens group and found them basically unsympathetic.)
Issue 10
Advert - THE GENDER TRAP - A closer look at sex roles - By Carol Adams and Rae Laurikietis - Look at other publications by them also
"6. COMMITTEE FOR LESBIAN ACTION NOW's statement:"
Attack on Lesbians at the moulin rouge club. "How long can lesbians go on accepting this type of oppression? The lines are being drawn up and we as sisters must realise the importance of our stand for recognition"
Issue 34
Notable names - Wages Due Lesbians, London
Wilmette Brown
Anne Neale
Ruth Chimowitz
Lesbian Express - 1978 - July & August - Manchester
"Abortion? I was once asked by a so called lesbian feminist "what has abortion got to do with me I'm never likely to need one"
She would be so lucky!! Abortion has a lot to do with us as lesbians. Aboriton is a womens inalienable right, the right to control her own body."
Lesbians and Policing project bulletin - Issue 1 September 1985
Lesbian teachers newsletter - Issue one - Spring term 1975\
Lesbian and gay socialist - Issue 17 - Spring 1989
So small So white - reveiw of the Lesbian Gaze photography exhibition.
Lesbian employment rights - Newsletter no.6 - July 1988
Lesbian mothers' Newsletter
Black lesbian & gay centre project - Newsletter: october/november 1990
Page 8 (The annueal lesbian stregnth and gay pride festival) - "Homophobia - In some ways, black lesbian and gay culture is flourising. Sometimes, however, it seems to exist in a vacuum. During the festival, some of us enthused about the growing volume of erotic images of black lesbians and gays in poetry, photographs and elsewhere. At the same time, a growing number of our sisters and brothers were becoming homeless, often loosing the chance to freely enjoy their own bodies and develop relationships on equal terms."
Lesbian express - Manchester - June 1979
AXE illustration "WHATS THIS?" Worn by women as a necklace or charm as it represents stregnth and solidarty against sexual attacks. "The axe was used by bands of womin who lived on their own, they had their own community and they lived around the time when there was goddess worship. The axe was used for hunting, and for defending themselves in their villages when attacked by groups of male rapists"
"All this part of our history or should I say herstory has been wiped out and distorted"
"Some women have asked why I spell WIMIN or WOMIN like this and not like this: woman/women. Well simply I don't like having to put MAN or MEN into the spelling every time I have to refer to my own sex, its as simple as that.
Lesbian News - July/August 1987
The wrong words of Wilma Wilde
Lesbian news and veiws NO.1 May, 1986
THE PARADOX OF LESBIAN CONFORMITY by e.singleton - page 3
"Lesbians are radical non-conformists who reject, at great personal cost, one of the most pervasive taboos of society. Lesbians are also slavish conformists who accept, without question and also at great cost, an entire set of irrational and confining socially generated standards."
"Lesbian non-conformity is obvious. By definition, a lesbian has rejected what might be called the primal imperative of the species: to perpetuate itself, or for individuals, to mate and reproduce"
"Whether sexual preferance is chemical, biological, psycological, political, social or mystical in origin, it can remain theoretical or be lived."
"Lesbians who choose to live their lesbianism do so in oposition to tremendous social pressures to conform to the social norm"
WHY ARE LESBIANS HAVING BABIES IN THE 1980'S - by Amanda Hayman and Linda Peterson
"Being heterosexual, and having babies, are considered to be the natural functions of women. Why then, do we as Lesbians reject the first but do not even question the second?"
Lesbian link - Print by amazon press, 75 back Picadilly, Manchester M1 2AZ - Decemeber 1986
LiP magazine
Lesbians come together - Eliza Connor 1889
Pg.4 "A woman who is totally independant of men, who obtains love, sex and self esteem from other women is a terrible treat to male supremacy. She doesnt need them and therefore they have less power over her." - Martha Shelly 1969
Lespop - the lesbians and policing project - bulletin no.3
Campaign for legislation for gay rights.
"In 1985 both the TUC and the Labour Party conferences for the first time passed resolutions supporting lesbian and gay rights."
The new legislation effected rights on unfair dismissale from work, child custody, adoption, provocation (in murder cases), marriage, cohabitation and more.
Amendments to the criominal law relating to sexual offences and public morality. - " The bill says that it would abolish the two 'offences' that are commonly used against lesbians and gay men. 'outraging public decemcy' and 'conspiring to outrage public decemcy'. Mainly used against pornographers but sometimes lonely hearts and any kind of gay rights group material.
Lebsian and gay youth magazine - multiple issues
Issue winter 1985-6 - pg 10 "Homosexuality is seen as a direct challenge to the repressive nuclear family - an institution that capitalism must bolster as the only means of instillin submission to authority and obediance to be a ruling class that blatently does not have the interwsts of society at heart."
"The rulers, poloticians, and official institutions continually reinforce the belief that sex of any sort outside of the legally defined limits of 'between one man and one woman for life' is immoral and dangerous. They might find a cure for AIDS, but we need a fundemental social overturn to even start to lift the terrible load of deforming guilt and misery about sex that is pounded into everyone by this sick society."
Revolutionary and radical feminist newsletter - 1978-1990 - The feminist archive Bradford
Look into the difference between revolutionary and radical!
Find Leeds R.F. Group paper 'political lesbianism'.
Newsletter 3 - pages 3 &4
"Choosing not to relate sexually to men is not an option we can make about how and where we get our sensual/sexual pleasures. It is a vitally important tactic in our stratedgy for liberation because heterosexuality is crucial to womens oppression."
"If lesbians are a political force because we are deviants making a stand against heterosexist society then we have a common cause with the other oppressed sexual minorities, like paedophiles, male homosexuals and coprophiliacs."
Newsletter 10 - summer 1982 - pg.21
Anti Lesbianism - "It is time for anti-lesbianism to be identified as a political oppression. We are angry that heterosexual feminists do not take responsibility for being members of an oppressive power group, do not appear to recognise or challenge the prviledges which go with that, nor do they bother to examine how all of this underminds not only our lesbian polotics, but our very existance"
"Anti-lesbianism is taking place everytime our childrearing is criticised and scrutinised in an unsupportive way, and everytime it is assumed that what we want, or ought to want, is to raise 'ordinary', 'normal' children."
"Lesbian oppression is about loosing our children, not having access to male money (most money), having fewer housing rights, getting barred from pubs, being forced to lie in order to keep our jobs."
"Lesbian oppression is also about being forced to remain silent about our lesbianism for fear of the reactions we know it brings."
"It's about feeling continually sick and ashamed of ourselves all the time we 'pass' as heterosexual, knowing that our silence - our failure to assert our lesbian identity - contributes to our own oppression, and that of our sisters"
The womens rights movement also often denys lesbianism as a crucial part of feminism. "This process is further reinforced by the media, including some self-defined feminists, represents lesbianism as the irrational force of feminism, the only place in the movement, and indeed the world, where man hating is to be found. "
"We are tired of being charecterised as sexual predators (a classic old stereotype), while being exploited by heterosexual and bisexual women for a sexual 'experiance' on the other."
Issue 4 - Womens movement publications
- National Lesbian Newsletter
- ENOUGH - The magazine of Bristols Women's Liberation group
- Women together - A comminuty magaznie for women in the middlesex area.
- NALGAY - newsletter of a gay group in NALGO
Books
- Sappho was a right-on woman, a liberated veiw of lesbianism
Issue 4 - pages 6 & 7
"2) LESBIAN MOTHERS FIGHT BACK.
Recently judges have been awarding the custody of children of divorced couples to the father if he wants them, unless the mother is remarried and has a conventional nuculear family set-up. An article in the Guardian (8th August) said "it is virtually unknown for the courts to award custody or care to a lesbian mother when the father contest her claim. This anti-woman, anti-lesbian and anti-mother move has been taking place for some time and needs to be exposed since custody hearings take place behind locked doors and no recording is allowed.
During the next law term women will again appear in court to contest the custody of her four children. She is not only fighting the patriacial legal system, but also the society which has labbelled her a lesbian and therefore an 'unfit' mother. She was divorced two years ago, and until recently was living in the family hone and caring for her four children with a wage of £5 pound a week from her ex-husband, who officially had custody. He recently remarried and asked her to leave. She appealed against the custody descision. All the children want to stay with their mother. He, then, started to pay her £40 a week maintinence, whcih made it impossible to get legal aid. The womens defence fund is hoping to pay some of the legal costs of this case and would be grateful for donations. "
FEMINIST SALES-
- BADGES - Lesbians Ignite; How dare you presume i'm heterosexual; Gays against fascism, Avenge Oscar Wilde.
- POSTERS - "two lesbians, haron and dee, "are willing to design and/or print and non-sexist posters for lesbian causes, be it political, propoganda ir proud to be dyke disco poster."
Issue 5
Womens movement publications -
I Lesbian teacher newsletter no 2, obtainable from Jane Dixon, 6 Rosetta street, London SW8 30p for issues 2 and 3.
"Women in Glasgow and Leeds are organising pub crawls of men-only bars on December 29th to celebrate the sex discrimination act coming into force that day - sounds like a good idea ..."
Reading list - Homosexuality and the teaching profession
"When I was as school I was told by my domestic science teacher: "Animals sweat, Men perspire and Ladies GLOW. "Hmm. Penny."
WOMEN SEEKING GROUPS
1) Dear sisters, I am a gay women living in Plymouth...(I have already contacted the local womens group and found them basically unsympathetic.)
Issue 10
Advert - THE GENDER TRAP - A closer look at sex roles - By Carol Adams and Rae Laurikietis - Look at other publications by them also
"6. COMMITTEE FOR LESBIAN ACTION NOW's statement:"
Attack on Lesbians at the moulin rouge club. "How long can lesbians go on accepting this type of oppression? The lines are being drawn up and we as sisters must realise the importance of our stand for recognition"
Issue 34
Notable names - Wages Due Lesbians, London
Wilmette Brown
Anne Neale
Ruth Chimowitz
Lesbian Express - 1978 - July & August - Manchester
"Abortion? I was once asked by a so called lesbian feminist "what has abortion got to do with me I'm never likely to need one"
She would be so lucky!! Abortion has a lot to do with us as lesbians. Aboriton is a womens inalienable right, the right to control her own body."
Lesbians and Policing project bulletin - Issue 1 September 1985
Lesbian teachers newsletter - Issue one - Spring term 1975\
Lesbian and gay socialist - Issue 17 - Spring 1989
So small So white - reveiw of the Lesbian Gaze photography exhibition.
Lesbian employment rights - Newsletter no.6 - July 1988
Lesbian mothers' Newsletter
Black lesbian & gay centre project - Newsletter: october/november 1990
Page 8 (The annueal lesbian stregnth and gay pride festival) - "Homophobia - In some ways, black lesbian and gay culture is flourising. Sometimes, however, it seems to exist in a vacuum. During the festival, some of us enthused about the growing volume of erotic images of black lesbians and gays in poetry, photographs and elsewhere. At the same time, a growing number of our sisters and brothers were becoming homeless, often loosing the chance to freely enjoy their own bodies and develop relationships on equal terms."
Lesbian express - Manchester - June 1979
AXE illustration "WHATS THIS?" Worn by women as a necklace or charm as it represents stregnth and solidarty against sexual attacks. "The axe was used by bands of womin who lived on their own, they had their own community and they lived around the time when there was goddess worship. The axe was used for hunting, and for defending themselves in their villages when attacked by groups of male rapists"
"All this part of our history or should I say herstory has been wiped out and distorted"
"Some women have asked why I spell WIMIN or WOMIN like this and not like this: woman/women. Well simply I don't like having to put MAN or MEN into the spelling every time I have to refer to my own sex, its as simple as that.
Lesbian News - July/August 1987
The wrong words of Wilma Wilde
Lesbian news and veiws NO.1 May, 1986
THE PARADOX OF LESBIAN CONFORMITY by e.singleton - page 3
"Lesbians are radical non-conformists who reject, at great personal cost, one of the most pervasive taboos of society. Lesbians are also slavish conformists who accept, without question and also at great cost, an entire set of irrational and confining socially generated standards."
"Lesbian non-conformity is obvious. By definition, a lesbian has rejected what might be called the primal imperative of the species: to perpetuate itself, or for individuals, to mate and reproduce"
"Whether sexual preferance is chemical, biological, psycological, political, social or mystical in origin, it can remain theoretical or be lived."
"Lesbians who choose to live their lesbianism do so in oposition to tremendous social pressures to conform to the social norm"
WHY ARE LESBIANS HAVING BABIES IN THE 1980'S - by Amanda Hayman and Linda Peterson
"Being heterosexual, and having babies, are considered to be the natural functions of women. Why then, do we as Lesbians reject the first but do not even question the second?"
Lesbian link - Print by amazon press, 75 back Picadilly, Manchester M1 2AZ - Decemeber 1986
LiP magazine
Lesbians come together - Eliza Connor 1889
Pg.4 "A woman who is totally independant of men, who obtains love, sex and self esteem from other women is a terrible treat to male supremacy. She doesnt need them and therefore they have less power over her." - Martha Shelly 1969
Lespop - the lesbians and policing project - bulletin no.3
Campaign for legislation for gay rights.
"In 1985 both the TUC and the Labour Party conferences for the first time passed resolutions supporting lesbian and gay rights."
The new legislation effected rights on unfair dismissale from work, child custody, adoption, provocation (in murder cases), marriage, cohabitation and more.
Amendments to the criominal law relating to sexual offences and public morality. - " The bill says that it would abolish the two 'offences' that are commonly used against lesbians and gay men. 'outraging public decemcy' and 'conspiring to outrage public decemcy'. Mainly used against pornographers but sometimes lonely hearts and any kind of gay rights group material.
Lebsian and gay youth magazine - multiple issues
Issue winter 1985-6 - pg 10 "Homosexuality is seen as a direct challenge to the repressive nuclear family - an institution that capitalism must bolster as the only means of instillin submission to authority and obediance to be a ruling class that blatently does not have the interwsts of society at heart."
"The rulers, poloticians, and official institutions continually reinforce the belief that sex of any sort outside of the legally defined limits of 'between one man and one woman for life' is immoral and dangerous. They might find a cure for AIDS, but we need a fundemental social overturn to even start to lift the terrible load of deforming guilt and misery about sex that is pounded into everyone by this sick society."
Revolutionary and radical feminist newsletter - 1978-1990 - The feminist archive Bradford
Look into the difference between revolutionary and radical!
Find Leeds R.F. Group paper 'political lesbianism'.
Newsletter 3 - pages 3 &4
"Choosing not to relate sexually to men is not an option we can make about how and where we get our sensual/sexual pleasures. It is a vitally important tactic in our stratedgy for liberation because heterosexuality is crucial to womens oppression."
"If lesbians are a political force because we are deviants making a stand against heterosexist society then we have a common cause with the other oppressed sexual minorities, like paedophiles, male homosexuals and coprophiliacs."
Newsletter 10 - summer 1982 - pg.21
Anti Lesbianism - "It is time for anti-lesbianism to be identified as a political oppression. We are angry that heterosexual feminists do not take responsibility for being members of an oppressive power group, do not appear to recognise or challenge the prviledges which go with that, nor do they bother to examine how all of this underminds not only our lesbian polotics, but our very existance"
"Anti-lesbianism is taking place everytime our childrearing is criticised and scrutinised in an unsupportive way, and everytime it is assumed that what we want, or ought to want, is to raise 'ordinary', 'normal' children."
"Lesbian oppression is about loosing our children, not having access to male money (most money), having fewer housing rights, getting barred from pubs, being forced to lie in order to keep our jobs."
"Lesbian oppression is also about being forced to remain silent about our lesbianism for fear of the reactions we know it brings."
"It's about feeling continually sick and ashamed of ourselves all the time we 'pass' as heterosexual, knowing that our silence - our failure to assert our lesbian identity - contributes to our own oppression, and that of our sisters"
The womens rights movement also often denys lesbianism as a crucial part of feminism. "This process is further reinforced by the media, including some self-defined feminists, represents lesbianism as the irrational force of feminism, the only place in the movement, and indeed the world, where man hating is to be found. "
"We are tired of being charecterised as sexual predators (a classic old stereotype), while being exploited by heterosexual and bisexual women for a sexual 'experiance' on the other."
~ The three waves of feminism & homosexuality ~
The first wave (1830’s – early 1900’s): Women’s fight for equal contract and property rights
Often taken for granted, women in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, realized that they must first gain political power (including the right to vote) to bring about change was how to fuel the fire. Their political agenda expanded to issues concerning sexual, reproductive and economic matters. The seed was planted that women have the potential to contribute just as much if not more than men.
Second wave feminism - Coming off the heels of World War II, the second wave of feminism focused on the workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights. During a time when the United States was already trying to restructure itself, it was perceived that women had met their equality goals with the exception of the failure of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (which has still yet to be passed).
Second wave feminism is when the gay rights movement became an important factor. Second wave feminism is often mis-identified obsessive, outdated and associated with middle class white womens issues. Second wave feminism is actually defined as being started by a man and a women, John F Kennedy and Eleanor Rosavelt.
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