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[–]beholdyourheart 9 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

While I think it's valuable to understand the historical significance of the movement, I really don't believe the term specifically should be used today (as in, actively referring to oneself as a political lesbian). I think there should be new words for straight/bi women who choose to live separately from men (which I think is a wonderful idea for women who want to do that). I know that the term febfem exists for bi women (female exclusive bisexual female), and I always liked that word because it encouraged women who wanted to center women in their lives and relationships without adding more fuel to the 'being a lesbian is a choice' fire. Similarly, I think that while the concept of political lesbianism and the ability to live without men is an important one, I don't approve of women today who refer to themselves as political lesbians right now given the struggles that we face with people diminishing our sexuality. I think it's tone-deaf, and it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a new term for centering women in one's life that doesn't co-opt homosexuality. Still, I think the history of the political lesbian movement is really interesting and I agree that we shouldn't condemn women in the past who referred to themselves as political lesbians.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 4 fun2 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

If more people had articulated opinions on it like yours the thread wouldn’t have seemed necessary in the first place.