Liberal Feminism

One issue that has come up a couple of times in class is the difficulty that some of us younger feminists sometimes have relating to the ideas that classical, liberal and radical feminists came up with.  I think some of that is the fact that my generation has grown up in a third-wave environment, and so our context for understanding feminism is extremely different.  This week, while reading Charlotte Bunch's 1975 essay, "Not for Lesbians Only," I was reminded of one way that the feminist discourse has changed over the past few decades.

In the essay, Bunch argues for lesbianism (and specifically lesbian-separatism) as a viable political choice that undermines the hegemony of compulsory heterosexuality.  In her essay, little attention is given to the issue of lesbian desire, and she focuses mostly on the social and political implications of living queer.  Lately, the actress Cynthia Nixon has been in the news for comments she made describing herself as "gay by choice."  Her statements have provoked a small media firestorm and garnered attention from gay rights activists seeking to challenge still-extant social notions that homosexuality is purely a choice.  In response, Nixon has clarified her comments, but I think it is an interesting case study for how the politics of lesbianism have changed over the past few decades--and closely linked with that, it is an interesting case study for how the language of feminism has changed, too.