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[–][deleted] 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It does feel like we face all kinds of lesbophobia from all kinds of people. Don't let it get you too down and stressed out though. Lesbian activists are out there trying to organize and effect change. You may have problems finding them because the safety risks mean women need to stay somewhat covert, but every day I see more and more women fed up with all the abuse and homophobic harassment openly finding other like-minded women. No movement, activist or otherwise, is free of problems or infighting. Lesbians have long called out the homophobia of heterosexual/bisexual feminists. We as lesbians have to search for one another. We have to form these groups.

I would like to offer my personal opinion on something you said.

The only right that not all women have yet is abortion, and although I support it, it is not a right that we as lesbians need

I think that even in liberal western countries, women undermine how many rights we have and how easily they can be stripped away. Like abortion. Right now governments are aggressively trying to restrict access to abortion and birth control regardless of that woman's sexual orientation. You can be charged with manslaughter in the US for miscarrying a fetus. Abortion rights affects all women. What happens when a lesbian is sexually assaulted and doesn't have legal access to abortion? What happens if a lesbian who miscarries a pregnancy that's the result of rape gets jailtime for it? Control of women's reproductive freedom is a central issue to most feminists, because violence against and hatred of women stems from our anatomy and potential to give birth. There are reasons forced pregnancy is considered a human rights violation.

There are so many ways that women's autonomy is stifled that outside of abortion and just speaking in general terms, I don't even believe it's true that it's the only right not all women have yet.

[–]Gacho666[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I am not the type of woman to victimize or allow myself to be harmed, so none of those scenarios that are merely hypothetical fit me. I firmly believe that feminists who call themselves "lesbians" without being one create a huge problem for those of us who really are, silence for me is complicity, many feminists do not care or do not even understand how it affects us that there are some pretending to be lesbians, so I would not form alliances with anyone who does not have a strong position against it.