Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:43, 21 December 2019

Part of a series on
Lesbian feminism
Women's liberation movement
People Paula Gunn Allen Dorothy Allison Ti-Grace Atkinson Alison Bechdel Evelyn Torton Beck Miriam Ben-Shalom Julie Bindel Ivy Bottini Charlotte Bunch Cheryl Clarke Michelle Cliff Kate Clinton Jeanne Córdova Mary Daly Max Dashu Stormé DeLarverie Diane DiMassa Alix Dobkin Andrea Dworkin Elana Dykewomon Lillian Faderman Ferron Marilyn Frye Michiyo Fukaya Carolyn Gage Donna Gottschalk Sarah Hoagland Karla Jay Sheila Jeffreys Jill Johnston Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz Joan Larkin Anna Livia Audre Lorde Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Cherríe Moraga Bonnie J. Morris Ruth Mountaingrove Jean O'Leary Pat Parker Julia Penelope Janice Raymond Adrienne Rich Margaret Sloan-Hunter Barbara Smith Cris Williamson Monique Wittig Bonnie Zimmerman
Groups AMASONG Amazon Bookstore Cooperative Anjaree Artemis Singers Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance Bi-National Lesbian Conference Chicago Lesbian Liberation Combahee River Collective Connexxus Women's Center/Centro de Mujeres Daughters of Bilitis Daughters of Bilitis (Australia) The Feminists First Black Lesbian Conference The Furies Collective Gay Women's Alternative Gouines rouges June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives Lavender Menace Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group Lesbian Art Project Lesbian Avengers Lesbian Feminist Liberation Lesbian Herstory Archives Lesbian Movement (Denmark) Lesbian Organization of Toronto Lesbians Against Pit Closures Lincoln Legion of Lesbians Mujeres Creando Oregon Women's Land Trust Salsa Soul Sisters Sister Spit Sisters for Homophile Equality Van Dykes
Key issues Butch Butch and femme Compulsory heterosexuality Corrective rape Dyke Feminist separatism Femme Gender-critical feminism Lesbian bed death Lesbian erasure Lesbians in Francoist Spain Lesbians in the Spanish Second Republic Lesbophobia Lipstick lesbian Political lesbianism Radical lesbianism Separatist feminism Soft butch Stone butch Stone femme U-Haul lesbian Womyn-born womyn Womyn's land
Media Books Les Guérillères (1969) Le Corps Lesbien (1973) Lesbian Nation (1973) Lover (1976) The Wanderground (1979) Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) Lesbian/Woman (1991) The Straight Mind and Other Essays (1992) Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold (1993) Your Silence Will Not Protect You (2017) Other Die Freundin (1924–1933) Vice Versa (1947–1948) The Ladder (1956–1972) Arena Three (1963-1972) The Woman-Identified Woman (1970) Off Our Backs (1970–2008) Lavender Woman (1971–1976) Lesbian Tide (1971–1980) Dykes & Gorgons (1973–1976) Lesbian Feminist Circle (1973–1986) WomanSpirit (1974–1984) Lesbian Connection (1974–present) Conditions (1976–1990) Sinister Wisdom (1976–present) Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians (1977–1983) Common Lives/Lesbian Lives (1980–1996) Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter (1982–1984) Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui (1982–present) Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008) Hothead Paisan (1991–1998) Diva (1994–present) Journal of Lesbian Studies (1997–present) Jane's World (1998–2018) Curve (2000–present) AfterEllen (2002–present) Velvetpark (2007–present) Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2017)
Actions and ideas Cineffable Dyke march Lesbian bar Lesbian flags Lesbian literature Lesbian pulp fiction Maud's (bar) Michigan Womyn's Music Festival Motherpeace Tarot Mountain Moving Coffeehouse Olivia Records Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival Peg's Place (bar) Some Prefer Cake Women's music Women's Week Provincetown
Feminism portal
v t e

Part of a series on
LGBTQ topics
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer
Sexual orientation and gender Aromanticism Asexuality Gray asexuality Aceflux Demisexuality Fraysexuality Biology Bisexuality Pansexuality Demographics Environment Gender fluidity Gender identity Gender role Gender variance Homosexuality Intersex Non-heterosexual Non-binary gender Queer Queer heterosexuality Questioning Sexual identity Sex–gender distinction Trans man Trans woman Transgender Transsexual Two-spirit
History General Timeline Same-sex marriage Homosexuality Movements Gay liberation Same-sex unions Stonewall riots Identities Lesbian Gay men Bisexuality Transgender Intersex
Culture Business Coming out Community African-American Dyke March Events Awareness periods Largest events Gay village Media Films New queer cinema Periodicals LGBTQ culture in New York City Pride Pride Month Parade Queer art QPR and QPP Same-sex relationship Slang Polari Socialization Subcultures Symbols Flags Takatāpui Moe aikāne Tourism
Rights Adoption Civil union Decriminalization Gender self-identification Intersex human rights Legal recognition of non-binary gender Marriage Military service Parenting Rights by country or territory Right to sexuality Transgender rights Yogyakarta Principles
Health MSM and Blood donation restrictions / HIV LGBTQ medical organizations Reproduction Transgender health care Suicide Detransition
Social attitudes 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States Allonormativity Amatonormativity Cisnormativity Heteronormativity LGBTQ rights opposition Mixed-orientation marriage Media portrayal Religion and homosexuality / trans people Sexual diversity Stereotypes
Issues Acephobia Arophobia AIDS stigma Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric Grooming conspiracy theory Biphobia Bullying Censorship Closeted Outing Comphet Criminalization Domestic violence Erasure Straightwashing Bisexual Lesbian Trans Gay bashing Gayphobia Heteropatriarchy Heterosexism Homophobia Liberal Intersex discrimination Legality of conversion therapy Lesbophobia LGBTQ youth Suicide Vulnerability Migration Racism Sexualism Transphobia Non-binary people Trans men Trans women Violence Trans people
Academic fields and discourse Communism and LGBT rights Gender studies Lesbian feminism Lavender linguistics LGBTQ conservatism LGBT conservatism in the United States Queer anarchism Queer studies Queer theory Social construction of gender Socialism and LGBT rights Transfeminism Transgender studies Travesti
LGBTQ portal
v t e

Part of a series on
Discrimination
Forms Institutional Structural Statistical Taste-based
Attributes Age Caste Class Dialect Disability Genetic Hair texture Height Language Looks Mental disorder Race / Ethnicity Skin color Scientific racism Rank Sex Sexual orientation Species Size Viewpoint
Social Arophobia Acephobia Adultism Anti-albinism Anti-autism Anti-homelessness Anti-drug addicts Anti-intellectualism Anti-intersex Anti-left handedness Anti-Masonry Aporophobia Audism Biphobia Clannism Elitism Ephebiphobia Health mental in poverty Fatphobia Gayphobia Gerontophobia Heterosexism HIV/AIDS stigma Homophobia In-group Leprosy stigma Lesbophobia Discrimination against men Misandry Misogyny Nepotism Outgroup Pedophobia Perpetual foreigner Pregnancy Sectarianism Supremacism Aryanism Autistic Black Chauvinism Female Illusory Jewish Male Nordicism Tigraynization Ultranationalism White Transphobia 21st-century anti-trans movement in the United Kingdom Non-binary Transmisogyny Trans men Vegaphobia Xenophobia
Religious Atheism Exclusivism Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Christianity Persecution Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Jehovah's Witnesses LDS or Mormon Protestantism Tewahedo Orthodoxy post–Cold War era Falun Gong Hinduism Persecution Untouchability Islam Persecution Ahmadiyya Shi'ism Sufism Sunnism minority Muslim Judaism Persecution Neopaganism Rastafari Sikhism Yazidism Zoroastrianism
Ethnic/national Afghan African Albanian Arab Armenian Asian France South Africa United States Assyrian Australian Austrian Azerbaijani Black people African Americans China South Africa Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chechen Chinese Colombian Croat Dutch English Estonian Filipino French Fulani Finnish Georgian German Greek Haitian Hazara Hungarian Igbo Indian Indigenous people Australia Canada United States Iranian Irish Italian Japanese Jewish Eliminationist New Religious Anti-Yiddish Zionist Korean Kurdish Lithuanian Malay Māori Mexican Middle Eastern Mongolian Montenegrin Nigerian Pakistani Palestinians Pashtun Polish Portuguese Quebec Romani Romanian Russian Scottish Serb Slavic Somali Spanish Tatar Thai Turkish Ukrainian Uyghur Venezuelan Vietnamese Welsh
Manifestations Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric SPLC-designated list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups Anti-LGBTQ movement in the US Anti-trans movement in the UK Blood libel Bullying Cancel culture Capital punishment for homosexuality Compulsory sterilization Corrective rape Counter-jihad Cultural genocide Defamation Democide Dog whistle Domicide Economic Education Employment Eliminationism Eliminationist antisemitism Enemy of the people Ethnic cleansing Ethnic conflict Ethnic hatred Ethnic joke Ethnocide Excellence Gender-based dress codes Cosmetics policy High heel policy Forced conversion Freak show Gay bashing Gendercide Transgender genocide Genital modification and mutilation Circumcision Female genital mutilation Intersex medical interventions Genocide examples Glass ceiling Hate crime Disability hate crime Violence against LGBTQ people Violence against transgender people Hate group Hate speech Homeless dumping Housing Indian rolling Kill Haole Day Lavender scare LGBTQ+ grooming conspiracy theory Linguicide Lynching Mortgage Murder music Native American mascots Occupational segregation Opposition to immigration Paper genocide Persecution Pogrom Political repression Purge Racialization Religious persecution Religious terrorism Religious violence Religious war Scapegoating Segregation academy Sentencing disparity Sexual harassment Sex-selective abortion Slut-shaming Untermensch Trans bashing Victimisation Violence against women White flight White genocide conspiracy theory Wife selling Witch hunt
Policies Age of candidacy Blood purity Blood quantum Crime of apartheid Disabilities Catholic Jewish Gender pay gap Gender roles Transphobia in the US House of Representatives Gerontocracy Gerrymandering Ghetto benches Internment Jewish quota Law for Protection of the Nation LGBTQ rights opposition MSM blood donation restrictions No kid zone Numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) One-drop rule Racial quota Racial segregation Jim Crow laws Nuremberg Laws Racial steering Redlining Same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) Segregation age racial religious sexual Social exclusion Sodomy law State atheism State religion Ugly law Voter suppression
Countermeasures Affirmative action Anti-discrimination law Anti-racism Constitutional colorblindness Cultural assimilation Cultural pluralism Diversity, equity, and inclusion Diversity training Empowerment Fat acceptance movement Feminism Fighting Discrimination Hate speech laws by country Human rights Intersex human rights LGBT rights Nonviolence Racial integration Reappropriation Self-determination Social integration Toleration
Related topics Allophilia Amatonormativity Anti-Zionism Bias Cisnormativity Civil liberties Criminalization of homosexuality Dehumanization Diversity Multiculturalism Neurodiversity Ethnic penalty Figleaf Gender-blind Heteronormativity Historical eugenics Internalized oppression Intersectionality Masculism Medical model of disability autism Net bias Oikophobia Oppression Police brutality Political correctness Polyculturalism Power distance Prejudice Prisoner abuse Racial bias in criminal news in the United States Racism by country Racial color blindness Religious intolerance Reverse discrimination Reverse racism Second-generation gender bias Snobbery Social equity Social exclusion Social identity threat Social model of disability Social privilege Christian male white Social stigma Speciesism Stereotype threat The talk
v t e

Lesbian erasure is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbianism in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbians may also be ignored within the LGBT community and their identity may not be acknowledged.

In history

Journalist and author Victoria A. Brownworth wrote that the erasure of lesbian sexuality from historical records "is similar to the erasure of all autonomous female sexuality: women's sexual desire has always been viewed, discussed and portrayed within the construct and purview of the male gaze". Oftentimes, erasure of lesbians is enabled when LGBT organizations fail to recognize the contributions of lesbians; such as when, in 2018, a statement by the National Center for Lesbian Rights about the Stonewall riots did not acknowledge Stormé DeLarverie's involvement in the uprising.

In scholarship

Political theory researcher Anna Marie Smith stated that lesbianism has been erased from the "official discourse" in Britain because lesbians are viewed as "responsible homosexuals" in a dichotomy between "responsible homosexuals" and "dangerous gayness". As a result, lesbian sexual practices were not criminalized in Britain in ways similar to the criminalization of gay male sexual activities. Smith also points to the exclusion of women from AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smith believes that these erasures result from sexism and suggests that these issues should be addressed directly by lesbian activism.

In advertising

Marcie Bianco, of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, said that lesbian erasure occurs in advertising. Advertisers do not target lesbians when they are publicizing products to LGBT audiences. As an example, she points to the collapse of AfterEllen, which she says resulted from a lack of advertisers. The former Editor in Chief of AfterEllen, Karman Kregloe, stated that advertisers do not think of lesbians as women, and Trish Bendix observed that lesbians are assumed to like anything gay, even if it is male-focused.

In the LGBT community

Language and lesbian spaces

Author and women's history scholar Bonnie J. Morris, as well as many other lesbian activists, such as same-sex marriage groundbreaker Robin Tyler, Ashley Obinwanne, screenwriter and co-founder of platform Lesbians Over Everything, and AfterEllen owner and Editor in Chief Memoree Joelle, say the increased use of the amorphous term queer to describe lesbians is a "disidentification" term that contributes to lesbian invisibility. In an interview about her 2016 novel Beyond the Screen Door, author Julia Diana Robertson discovered that her self-identification as a lesbian and her description of the novel's genre was changed to queer and queerness in the published quotes. At the 2018 Brighton Pride parade, the only instance where the word lesbian appeared was on a banner celebrating Stormé DeLarverie.

Shannon Keating of BuzzFeed pointed to significantly more people, especially the younger generation, having an identity outside of the gender binary. Keating felt that "against the increasingly colorful backdrop of gender diversity, a binary label like 'gay' or 'lesbian' starts to feel somewhat stale and stodgy", but also addressed some queer-identified women feeling more comfortable with the word queer than lesbian because of ideas about gender essentialism, there now being more LGBT diversity, and the possibility of internalized homophobia. Keating stated that "the word 'lesbian' has carried such a deeply uncool connotation for so long — sometimes for terrible reasons (ugly, old-fashioned, essentialist stereotypes) and sometimes for extremely legitimate ones (a history of transmisogyny) — that's it's worth considering if making the term cool is something we should really want at all."

Several feminist lesbian activists have lamented the rapidly increasing disappearance of many physical spaces, such as lesbian bars, women's bookstores, and music festivals, that were alternative lesbian spaces in which lesbian subculture thrived. Alexis Clements of Curve magazine said that the explanation for why so many lesbian spaces have closed or changed is unclear, but that "part of it is definitely economic" and part of it "relates to political changes." She pondered, "As legislation gradually shifts to reduce LGBT discrimination around things like marriage or employment, it may be that many now feel more integrated into the larger culture and don't see as much need for separate space or political activism." She also questioned if the change is generational, as "there's been a shift toward queer identities and politics that are born of a belief that gender and sexuality operate on a spectrum that doesn't necessarily fit into male/female or straight/gay/bi paradigms" while "others, still, prefer and believe in the need to create spaces that are more inclusive."

Keating, while acknowledging that some aspects of gay male culture have been represented in mainstream culture "in a way lesbianism simply hasn't" and that "gay male spaces, from bars to entire city neighborhoods, have managed to maintain some modern relevance, while lesbian bars and bookstores have shuttered en masse across the country", argued that the disappearance of lesbian bars "and spaces across the country have gone out of business for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with trans inclusion." Keating said that there are still places and events for lesbians, but that they are often under "a different, broader, more inclusive name" and "that's not necessarily erasure: That's evolution." To Keating, "embracing gender diversity and welcoming queer people of all stripes have kept certain historically lesbian-only events and spaces alive, and allowed new ones to grow."

In relation to transgender women

Media sources have reported on lesbian activists being excluded from LGBT events over transgender issues; for example, New Zealand group Lesbian Rights Alliance Aotearoa was banned from Wellington Pride because it was "'not being inclusive enough' of trans people". At Vancouver, Canada's Dyke March, the group The Lesbians Collective was told to exclude lesbian pride placards and symbols which march organizers said were exclusionary of trans women. Such disputes have also occurred in the United States and in LGBT communities across the United Kingdom. Gina Davidson of The Scotsman stated, "At its heart is the focus on trans rights by LGBT organisations, and resultant philosophical and biological questions around what defines a woman, and its impact on sexual orientation and therefore lesbianism." She commented, "Is lesbianism a sexual attraction only to female bodies or is it attraction to feminine identity? Can it involve trans women who still have male bodies?" Some lesbian women feel that trans women who identify as lesbians erase what it means to be a lesbian, while other lesbians disagree.

The term lesbian erasure has been used by some trans exclusionary radical feminists, such as members of the United Kingdom organization Get the L Out, which has a focus on trans women. The group, which proposes the creation of an autonomous lesbian community, argues that lesbians are "constantly vilified and excluded from the GBT community for stating their exclusive sexual preference", that the expansion of transgender rights erases lesbians, that transgender activism encourages lesbians to transition to straight men, and that the GBT community is becoming increasingly anti-lesbian and misogynistic. A spokesperson for Get the L Out said they were concerned about the rights of trans women who identify as lesbians being supported over the rights of lesbians to choose their sexual partners. The group staged its first protest at the 2018 London Pride Parade and was condemned as transphobic or "anti-trans" by the organizers of Pride in London. PinkNews and The Guardian denounced the protesters. Sarah Ditum of the New Statesman quoted the protesters and their material: "The group...carried banners proclaiming 'lesbian not queer', 'lesbian = female homosexual' and 'transactivism erases lesbians'."

Applying the terms transphobic, bigot or other negative terminology to lesbians who do not consider trans women, including those who have not gotten sex reassignment surgery, as sexual partners has also been addressed as a form of lesbian erasure or conversion therapy. A situation in which a lesbian declines to date a trans woman may be referred to as "the cotton ceiling" (the difficulty transgender women or other transgender people face when seeking a romantic or sexual relationship with a cisgender lesbian or gay person). Terry MacDonald of the New Statesman stated that the term cotton ceiling "smacks of misogyny and male entitlement" and that "it isn't just radical feminists who find problematic: some trans women do too. Is that really just irrational bigotry?"

Ditum stated that the sexual attraction debate matters so much to lesbians because they "have consistently faced everything from mockery to violence for insisting on boundaries to their sexuality" and that some have experienced corrective rape. Feminist theorist Claire Heuchan said that "lesbian is again a contested category" and "even acknowledging lesbian visibility is described as 'dogwhistle transphobia'. Something within the LGBT community has gone seriously wrong when being for lesbians is interpreted as being against people identifying as transgender...lesbophobia isn't coming from social conservatism as it has in the past, but within the LGBT+ community." African-American lesbian performance artist and writer Pippa Fleming, writing in The Economist, stated, "Lesbian identity is now being dubbed as exclusionary or transphobic. You're damn right it's exclusive: lesbians have a right to say no to the phallus, no matter how it's concealed or revealed." She added that "patriarchy and sex-based oppression are real, and they remain the driving force behind the invisibility of black lesbians. The gender-identity movement's attempt to rebrand the lesbian as queer, and the pronouncement that 'anyone can be a lesbian', are nothing short of erasure."

Some LGBT activists have opposed the term lesbian erasure in relation to transgender activism. In a 2018 open letter opposing this use of the term, twelve editors and publishers of eight lesbian publications stated, "We do not think supporting trans women erases our lesbian identities; rather we are enriched by trans friends and lovers, parents, children, colleagues and siblings." Carrie Lyell, editor of DIVA magazine and creator of the letter, stated that "while there's no denying women are marginalised within the LGBT+ movement, this having anything to do with trans people, or trans issues, is news to me." She referred to the argument that trans women are pressuring lesbians to "accept them as sexual partners" as "scaremongering".

In relation to butch lesbians and transgender men

With regard to the topic of trans men transitioning, some lesbians, radical feminists, authors, or commentators (both conservative and non-conservative) argue that transsexuality or transgender activism erases butch lesbians by making them feel that they should be men due to their gender nonconformity, or that older lesbians who figured out their identity would have felt that they should have been men growing up in today's culture. A number of lesbians note that they were tomboys or experienced gender dysphoria as a child. Some younger lesbians report having felt conflicted about whether to transition or that they felt pressured to transition, and that they later detransitioned. Tristan Fox of AfterEllen stated that today's transgender movement pushes "young lesbians into believing they are male and amputating their healthy breasts and taking cross-hormones—every butch knows what they are seeing. It's like looking into a mirror and recalling all of the angst, hatred, parental and peer rejection all over again."

Author Shannon Gilreath, commenting on "transsexuality as gay erasure", stated, "I have often wondered how much of transsexualism can be explained by an appalling self-hatred, an overwhelming need to not be gay - in other words, a self-liquidating homophobia. From this perspective, transsexualism is a way of avoiding being a femme gay man or a butch lesbian. Instead a femme gay man can actually be a 'straight woman' and a butch lesbian can actually be a 'straight man.'" He said that while he is aware of trans women who have undergone sex reassignment therapy and identify as lesbian and trans men who identify as gay, for his "theory on transsexuality to make sense at this point, one must pause to remember the importance of the gendered body and its relationship to compulsory heterosexuality under patriarchy/heteroarchy as 'a direct locus of social control.'"

Katie Herzog of The Stranger stated, "There is a contingent of 'radical feminists' ('radfems' in internet parlance) who use to argue that transitioning is a patriarchal attempt to reinforce gender roles and erase butch women." She stated that "no one knows exactly why so many people seem to have recently come out as trans or some other form of genderqueer", but that "increased visibility and societal acceptance" are "logical explanations for the perceived growth in the trans population." She reported on writer and trans activist Julia Serano arguing that it is "due to the shift from the old gatekeeper system of trans health care to the newer model that 'takes trans people's experiences and concerns seriously.'"

Arguing that "the idea that trans men are 'lesbians in denial' is demeaning and wrong", trans author Charlie Kiss, writing in The Economist, stated that he "could not have tried harder or longer to be a true lesbian" but that it never felt right. He also attributed the reported increase in the number of people assigned female questioning their gender identity or identifying as boys or men to an increase in visibility and it being "much harder to present as female and come out as a trans girl in secondary school, than it is to present as male and come out as a trans boy." He added that "a rebalancing is under way because now, at last, trans men are getting some visibility in the media. That makes it easier for people to imagine this as their future; to envision possibilities and establish if they would be happier if they transitioned to male."

Butch lesbian Ruth Hunt, writing in The Independent, stated, "one particularly strange tactic that anti-trans campaigners use is presenting any move forward for trans rights as being inevitably at the cost of lesbian rights. Specifically the rights of young, butch lesbians. But the hard facts simply aren't there to back any of this up." Hunt said that although "more young people are talking about their identity and how they feel" and "there's been an increase in the number of young women who are accessing age-appropriate support to help talk through these issues", "talking to a specialist is not the same as transitioning. Very few young people who access support go on to transition. This is what we would expect: that's what much successful gender treatment looks like."

See also

• Lesbian Avengers
• Bisexual erasure
• Queer erasure

Notes

1. TotallyHer Media, a subsidiary of Evolve Media and owner of AfterEllen, denied the hearsay about the website shutting down and fired Trish Bendix ahead of her scheduled departure from the publication.

References

1. ^ Wilton T (2002). Lesbian Studies: Setting an Agenda. Routledge. pp. 60–65. ISBN 1134883447.
2. ^ Morris, Bonnie J. (2016). The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture. SUNY Press. pp. 1–203. ISBN 978-1438461779.
3. Brownworth, Victoria A. (October 19, 2018). "Lesbian Erasure". Echo Magazine. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
4. Heuchan, Claire (July 9, 2018). "We Need to Talk About Misogyny and the LGBT Community's Erasure of Black Lesbian History". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
5. Plummer, Ken, ed. (1992). "Resisting the Erasure of Lesbian Sexuality: A challenge for queer activism, by Anna Marie Smith". Modern Homosexualities: Fragments of Lesbian and Gay Experiences. London: Routledge. pp. 200–215. ISBN 978-0415064200.
6. ^ Bianco, Marcie (October 6, 2016). "Lesbian culture is being erased because investors think only gay men (and straight people) have money". Quartz. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
7. Kovacogluon, Emrah (September 21, 2016). "False Rumor: We Are Not Shutting Down!". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
8. Edwards, Stassa (September 21, 2016). "AfterEllen EIC Says Site Will Shut Down on Friday While Corporate Owner Calls It a 'False Rumor'". Jezebel. Archived from the original on 11 April 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
9. Horgan, Richard (September 23, 2016). "A Messy Exit for the EIC of AfterEllen". Adweek. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
10. Faderman, Lillian (June 8, 2016). "Pioneer: Robin Tyler". The Pride LA. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
11. Faraone, Juliette (April 4, 2016). "Talk to the Internet: Ashley Obinwanne (Lavender Collective/Lesbians Over Everything)". Screen Queens. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
12. ^ Morris, Bonnie J. (December 22, 2016). "Dyke Culture and the Disappearing L". Outward. Slate. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
13. "Queer":
    • Tyler, Robin (June 5, 2018). "Don't call me 'queer'". Los Angeles Blade. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
    • Obinwanne, Ashley (October 3, 2017). "Why I'm a Lesbian (Not Queer)". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
    • Memoree Joelle (21 January 2019). "Stop. Calling. Me. Queer. I'm not kweeeer, I am gay. Female. Homosexual. Lesbian" (Tweet). Retrieved 23 October 2019 – via Twitter.
    • Epstein, Grace (May 23, 2016). "Dear LGBT Community: Stop Calling Me Queer". Odyssey. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
    • Macdonald, Jocelyn (June 27, 2017). "When Queerness Is Cultural Capital, Lesbians Go Broke". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
    • Alejandroon, Gabrielle (October 1, 2019). "Lesbian: It's a Beautiful Word". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
    • Megarry, Jessica; Tyler, Meagan (November 2018). "Queer Inclusion or Lesbian Exclusion". Academia.edu. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
14. Robertson, Julia Diana (2016). Beyond the Screen Door. Maryville, Tennessee: Mystic Books. ISBN 978-1619292888.
15. Robertson, Julia Diana (October 17, 2017). "Why didn't you say something sooner?—You're Asking The Wrong Question". HuffPost. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
16. Julia Diana Ghassan Robertson جوليا ديانا (23 September 2017). "I always appreciate interviews, but it was unethical to change what was said w/out my approval or knowledge. Glad they have a new editor" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 October 2019 – via Twitter.
17. "Dykes Take Pride". Women's Liberation Radio News. June 26, 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
18. ^ Keating, Shannon (February 11, 2017). "Can Lesbian Identity Survive The Gender Revolution?". BuzzFeed. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
19. ^ Clements, Alexis (June 8, 2014). "The Vanishing". Curve. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
20. Smith, Harrison (June 26, 2015). "What Happened to DC's Lesbian Spaces?". Washingtonian. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
21. Rosenthal, Ellena (November 30, 2016). "Who Crushed the Lesbian Bars? A New Minefield of Identity Politics". Willamette Week. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
22. ^ Greenhalgh, Hugo (March 15, 2019). "Trans debate rages around the world, pitting LGBT+ community against itself". Reuters. Archived from the original on 16 March 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
23. Cormier, Danielle (August 13, 2018). "Lesbians are being excluded from the Vancouver Dyke March in the name of 'inclusivity'". Feminist Current. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
24. ^ Davidson, Gina (14 July 2019). "Insight: How splits are emerging in LGBT movement over gender issues". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
25. ^ Compton, Julie (January 14, 2019). "'Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view". NBCNews.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
26. "About us". Get The L Out. 2018. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
27. ^ Wild, Angela (12 April 2019). "OPINION: Lesbians need to get the L out of the LGBT+ community". Thomson Reuters News. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
28. ^ "Pride in London sorry after anti-trans protest". BBC News. 8 July 2018. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
29. "Statement from Pride in London regarding the 2018 protest group". Pride in London. 7 July 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
30. Greenfield, Patrick (8 July 2018). "Pride organisers say sorry after anti-trans group leads march". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
31. London Pride Parade:
    • Southwell, Hazel (8 July 2018). "Pride in London condemns anti-trans protest as 'vile': 'We are sorry'". Pink News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
    • Fisher, Owl (9 July 2018). "There's no room for anti-trans protesters at Pride". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
32. ^ Ditum, Sarah (11 July 2018). "Why were lesbians protesting at Pride? Because the LGBT coalition leaves women behind". New Statesman. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
33. Turner, Janice (July 13, 2019). "Lesbians face a fight for their very existence". The Times. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
34. ^ Yardley, Miranda (December 5, 2018). "Girl Dick, the Cotton Ceiling and the Cultural War on Lesbians, Girls and Women". AfterEllen. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
35. MacDonald, Terry (16 February 2015). "Are you now or have you ever been a TERF?". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
36. "Claire L. Heuchan". Goodreads. 2019. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
37. Fleming, Pippa (July 3, 2018). "The gender-identity movement undermines lesbians". The Economist. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
38. Staff (19 December 2018). "Not in our name". DIVA. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
39. Lyell, Carrie (15 July 2019). "Trans people aren't 'erasing' lesbians like me – I'll fight for equality standing side-by-side with them". The Independent. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
40. ^ Fox, Tristan (December 5, 2018). "A Butch Eradication, Served With a Progressive Smile". AfterEllen. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
41. ^ Herzog, Katie (June 28, 2017). "The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren't". The Stranger. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
42. ^ Gilreath S (2011). The End of Straight Supremacy: Realizing Gay Liberation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 277–279. ISBN 1139504711.
43. Kiss, Charlie (July 3, 2018). "The idea that trans men are "lesbians in denial" is demeaning and wrong". The Economist. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
44. Hunt, Ruth (November 16, 2017). "When transphobic people try to pretend they're defending butch lesbians like me, I see the cynical tactic for what it is". The Independent. Retrieved December 19, 2019.

Further reading

• Barnes, J.J. (July 8, 2017). "Lesbianism is under attack, though not by the usual suspects". Feminist Current.
• Brownworth, Victoria A. (March 5, 2015). "Erasure: The New Normal for Lesbians by @VABVOX". A Room of Our Own. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015.
• Brownworth, Victoria A. (June 11, 2015). "Erasing Our Lesbian Dead: Why Don't Murdered Lesbians Make News". Curve.
• Dobkin, Alix; Tatnall, Sally (January 29, 2015). "The Erasure of Lesbians" (PDF). Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC).
• Elbir, Dilara (17 September 2019). "Why films about lesbian characters should be called lesbian films". Little White Lies.
• Feng, Jiayun (April 15, 2019). "Weibo Is Taking Down Posts Hashtagged #Les, Short For Lesbian". SupChina.
  • cindy (April 17, 2019). "Weibo Reverses Ban on Lesbian Content Amid Uproar". China Digital Times.
• Fleming, Pippa (July 3, 2018). "The gender-identity movement undermines lesbians". The Economist.
• Heuchan, Claire (July 1, 2017). "The Vanishing Point: A Reflection Upon Lesbian Erasure". Sister Outrider. (Sister Outrider received the 2016 Best Blog award from Write to End Violence Against Women.)
• Heuchan, Claire (29 July 2019). "What has the LGBT community got against lesbians?". UnHerd.
• Kirkup, James (16 May 2018). "The silencing of the lesbians". The Spectator.
• OLOC Boston (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) (2016). "Erasing Lesbians". The Proud Trust.
• Pidd, Helen; Greenfield, Patrick (3 September 2018). "Plaque for 'first modern lesbian' to be reworded after complaints". The Guardian.
• Rimmer-Tagoe, Holly (30 September 2016). "From pulp to corsets: lesbian literary stereotypes". The Skinny.
• Robertson, Julia Diana (January 30, 2018). "Shhh! Rachel Morrison and Dee Rees Are Lesbians—Why is the Media Trying to Erase the L Word". AfterEllen.
• Robertson, Julia Diana (December 21, 2018). "Co-opting the L: Homophobia & The Thought Police". AfterEllen.
• Robinson, Dinean (October 15, 2014). "On Raven-Symoné and Erasing Black Lesbian Identity". HuffPost.
• Syfret, Wendy (6 June 2016). "how instagram can be a weapon against the erasure of lesbian culture". i-D. Vice Media.
• Waterhouse, Liz (February 24, 2015). "Is the "L" in LGBTI silent?". Star Observer.

Books and journals

• Barrett, Ruth, ed. (2016). Female Erasure: What You Need To Know About Gender Politics' War on Women, the Female Sex and Human Rights (1st ed.). California: Tidal Time Publishing. p. 225. ISBN 978-0997146707.
• Derry, Caroline (Autumn 2018). "Lesbianism and Feminist Legislation in 1921: the Age of Consent and 'Gross Indecency between Women'". History Workshop Journal. 86: 245–267. doi:10.1093/hwj/dby021. ISSN 1363-3554.
• Hawthorne, Susan (2007). "The Silences Between: Are Lesbians Irrelevant?". Journal of International Women's Studies. 8 (3). Bridgewater State University: 125–138. ISSN 1539-8706.
• Hodson, Loveday (2017). "Queering the Terrain: Lesbian Identity and Rights in International Law" (PDF). Feminists@law. 7 (1). University of Kent. ISSN 2046-9551. (via University of Leicester)
• Jeffreys, Sheila (2018). "Postcript: The erasure of lesbians". The Lesbian Revolution: Lesbian Feminism in the UK 1970-1990. Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 978-1138096561. LCCN 2018012144.
• Millward, Liz; Dodd, Janice G.; Fubara-Manuel, Irene (2017). Killing Off the Lesbians: A Symbolic Annihilation on Film and Television. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1476668161.
• Munt, Sally R. (1998). Heroic Desire: Lesbian Identity and Cultural Space (1st ed.). New York University Press. ISBN 978-0814756065.</ref>
• Wilton, Tamsin (1995). "Invisible and erased: uses and abuses of history". Lesbian Studies: Setting an Agenda. Routledge. pp. 50–65. ISBN 0-415-08655-8.

• Lesbian feminism
• Lesbian history
• Lesbophobia
• Political lesbianism
• LGBT erasure