Lesbian American history - Women

May 22, 2012


		1 Introduction 2 Difficulties in study 3 Imported from England 4 Early historical records 5 Boston Marriages 6 Early twentieth century: association and early activism 7 Birth of a movement 8 Radical Lesbian ideology 9 References 10 See also 11 External links

Women Women

Lesbian American history

Wikipedia

gay rights
Lesbian American history is the history of women who are attracted to other women, or Lesbians, in the United States. This is a relatively new field of historical inquiry, but has advanced significantly since the beginning of the LGBT social movements|Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement. Primary historical resources for Lesbian American history are scant and hence this is a fledgling discipline ripe for investigation.

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Difficulties in study

Image:Lombroso, la donna delinquente, Coppia lesbica - 1915.jpg|thumb|right|A Lesbian couple featured in study on Lesbianism from a 1915 criminology text.
Longstanding denial of the very existence of Lesbianism frustrates the exploration of Lesbian United States|American history. As much of early American sensibilities were fashioned by Victorian morality|Victorian England|English colonization, it is no coincidence that for a great while Lesbianism was denied, and fringe discussion of the very possibility of Lesbianism was tabled in both legislatures and academic circles. Hence, few resources exist making more detailed study of certain eras impossible. The study of Lesbian American history might thus be described as embryonic. Certain resources have survived and are discussed below.

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Imported from England

England???s attempted criminalization of sexual acts between women paralleled the American attempts to amend sodomy law|sodomy codes to include Lesbianism. During consideration of the Labouchere Amendment, brought before Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament in 1885, whose language had already banned any male homosexuality|homosexual conduct as a capital punishment|capital crime, any attempts to include prohibition of intimacy between females were smothered, both by Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria???s refusal to acknowledge the existence of Lesbianism and the honest dread in the House of Lords that criminalization thereof would actually alert women to the possibility of female sexual relations and thus indirectly encourage lascivious behavior. Nearly forty years later, The House of Lords again blocked criminalization of Lesbianism on the same premise. <ref name="katz">Katz, Jonathan Ned, American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A., 2nd ed. (New York: Meridian Books, 1992).</ref> Likewise, in the British overseas territories|colony of Massachusetts, John Cotton???s attempts to include Lesbianism in the colony???s original Sodomy law|sodomy legislation was frustrated, the defeated definition as follows: ???Unnatural filthiness, to be punished with death, whether sodomy, which is carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman, or buggery, which is carnal fellowship of man or woman with beasts or fowls.???<ref name="cotton">Cotton, John, ???Unnatural Filthiness,??? in The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts Reprinted from the Edition of 1672???Together with the Body of Liberties of 1641, ed. William R. Staples (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, 1890), 35.</ref> This version of the law was never adopted and scarcely considered. The legislation|statutes remained gender specific.

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Early historical records

The earliest United States|American historical records concerned with Lesbianism|female homosexual conduct were not drawn from sources sympathetic to Lesbians, or women in general. Although it is through early records of Colonial government in America|colonial legislatures and writings that clearly consider Lesbians a Outgroup (sociology)|social outgroup, the sparse material shows mainstream attitudes towards Lesbianism, and the opposition to homosexual women during the years prior to the LGBT social movements|Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement. Image:Kateohare.jpg|thumb|left|Kate Richards O'Hare in 1913.

Some of the earliest published studies of female homosexual activity were written from observations of, and data gathered from, Prison|incarcerated women. Margaret Otis published ???A Perversion Not Commonly Noted??? in the 1913 Journal of American Psychology, coupling a decidedly Puritan|Puritanical moral foundation with an almost revolutionary sympathy for Lesbian relationships; her focus revolved more around her revulsion for sexual contact between those of different ethnic backgrounds, yet offered an almost radical tolerance of the lesbian relations themselves, as Otis noted ??????sometimes the love of one young woman for another is very real and seems almost ennobling.???<ref name="katz" /> This document provided a rare view from a tightly controlled setting monitored by a Criminal justice|corrections supervisor.
Kate Richards O'Hare|Kate Richards O???Hare, imprisoned in 1917 for five years under the Espionage Act of 1917, published a firsthand account of the life of incarcerated women In Prison <ref name="inprison"> http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/people_ohare.html O???Hare, Kate Richards. In prison. (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1923). </ref > complete with frightening accounts of Lesbian sexual abuse among inmates. So wrote O???Hare:??????A thorough education in sex perversions is part of the educational system of most prisons, and for the most part the underkeepers sic and the stool pigeons are very efficient teachers??????

O???Hare then recounted a systematic induction of women into a cycle of sexual slavery|forced prostitution to which authorities turned a blind eye: ??????there seems to be considerable ground for the commonly accepted belief of the prison inmates that much of its graft and profits may percolate upward to the under officials???the???stool pigeon???handled the vices so rampant in the prison???she, in fact, held the power of life and death over us, by being able to secure endless punishments in the blind cell, she could and did compel indulgence in this vice in order that its profits might be secured.??? <ref name="katz" />

Though these both provided second-hand accounts from two very different perspectives, no locatable known Lesbian first-hand accounts of life in a correctional institution are known to exist, leaving this area of study incomplete and ripe for further investigation.

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Boston Marriages

Image:SarahOrneJewett.jpg|thumb|Sarah Orne Jewett, shown here, was in a Boston marriage with Annie Adams Fields until her death in 1909.
Main article: Boston marriage
In New England
Certain arrangements were permitted to varied extents between two women throughout communities in the New England, and, while far from mainstream, these households offer a more substantial pool of primary sources from which to draw information on early Lesbian behavior. Primarily being a product of the town, and having a literary origin, the arrangements have been dubbed Boston marriages.<ref name="katz" /> These relationships vary in character and do not necessarily imply sexual intimacy.

In Utah
Another unlikely enclave hosted an acceptance of Boston Marriage style arrangements. In Utah, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints granted identity to these women, with an Elder in the church noting: ???some of the Sisters were engaged in conversing in tongues their countenances beaming with joy, clasped each other???s hands and kissed in the most affectionate manner". Whether these relationships were sexual is uncertain, but the bonds of the relationship were real. Despite the comfort these women enjoyed, in 1952 the Mormon|Mormon Church formally denounced Lesbianism and these arrangements ended.<ref name="mormon"> http://www.affirmation.org/memorial/lesbian_mormon_history.shtml Jordan, Sara. "Lesbian Mormon History".</ref>

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Early twentieth century: association and early activism

The 20th century saw the birth of the earliest LGBT social movements|Lesbian rights organizations, most importantly of which was Heterodoxy, founded as a feminist luncheon club for ???unorthodox women???, in whose membership is included notable and prominent lesbians Katherine Anthony, Sara Josephine Baker, Helen Hull, and Elisabeth Irwin. Concurrently established in San Francisco, California|San Francisco, Mona???s became the first recognized Lesbian bar.<ref name="duberman"> Duberman, Martin et al., eds., Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay & Lesbian Past (New York: Meridian, 1989). </ref> Emma Goldman, internationally known Anarchism|anarchist and social activist, once dubbed "the most dangerous woman in America" by J. Edgar Hoover, was also an outspoken advocated of the rights of gays and Lesbians, perhaps for the first time in American history. Whether or not Goldman was involved in any Lesbian relationships is uncertain, but her advocacy has resulted in some calling her the Mother of the LGBT social movements|Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement.<ref name="emma"> D???Emilio, John, ???The World of Emma Goldman,??? in Reading the Silences in Gay Life (New York: Routledge, 1996). </ref>

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Birth of a movement

Founded in 1955, the Daughters of Bilitis was the first exclusively Lesbian organization. A year after their founding in San Francisco, California|San Francisco, they began publishing The Ladder, the first Lesbian American periodical. Soon after, a chapter was formed in New York City, and held the first Lesbian American conference in 1960.<ref name="cruikshank"> Cruikshank, Margaret The Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement (New York: Routledge, 1992) </ref> As the Feminist movement|Women's Liberation Movement began, Lesbians found an outlet to voice concerns shared with heterosexual women. In 1969 Lesbian author and activist Rita Mae Brown joined the National Organization for Women and challenged homophobia within the organization: "I'm tired of hearing everyone moan about men. Say something good about women. I'll say something good. I love them. I'm a lesbian." One year later all Lesbians were expelled from its ranks, and one year after that they were again admitted, with apologies from National Organization for Women|NOW's leadership. <ref name="brown">DiStephano, Blas??, "Rita Mae Brown," OutSmart Magazine, January 1998. </ref> The Metropolitan Community Church was founded in 1968, the first Christian assembly of gays and Lesbians. In 1969, the church's founder, Troy Perry|Rev. Troy D. Perry, performed the first known same-sex marriage in the United States.

Image:stonewall.jpg|thumb|The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City.
The Stonewall riots

Main article: Stonewall riots

In 1969, Rita Mae Brown, along with many other Lesbians, would take part in the Stonewall riots. This event, known as the birth of the modern LGBT social movements|Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement, began in response to a targeted effort by police to close known gay and Lesbian establishments. This was this first time in history an organized group of gays and Lesbians resisted arrest. <ref name="amsel"> Amsel, Robert, "A Walk on the Wild Side of Stonewall", The Advocate, September 15, 1987. </ref>

Image:KinseyTIME.jpg|thumb|left|Kinsey on the cover of Time (magazine)|Time magazine, August 24, 1953.

The Kinsey Reports and their legacy
In 1948, Alfred Kinsey|Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey released a groundbreaking report on male sexuality, and followed it with Sexual Behavior in the Human Female in 1953. Kinsey concluded that while only 2% of the female population would remain completely homosexual, 13% of all women will engage in some level of Lesbian activity during their lives. Kinsey???s studies offered scientific data to refute the idea of homosexuality as a medical condition, and subject to being cured. These findings helped to convince the psychiatric community to remove homosexuality from its catalogue of psychological diseases. <ref name="riggle"> Riggle, Ellen and Barry Tadlock, eds., Gays and Lesbians in the Democratic Process (New York: Columbia UP, 1999). </ref> Now, with both friends in the religious and science communities, Lesbians were able to make progress.

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Radical Lesbian ideology

Radicalesbians
Some Lesbians were uninterested in heterosexual acceptance and instead sought life beyond interaction with men. Radical thinkers began alliances and published unprecedented Lesbian separatist literature. While all of these organizations, including the Lesbian Separatist Movement, O.N.E.|ONE, Radicalesbians, et al., differed slightly in ideology, examination of the Radicalesbians offers a representative sample of the separatist ideology. Essential to their beliefs is the perception of ubiquitous oppression by the Heteropatriarchy. Furthermore, gender and sexuality are Social construction|constructs of the heterosexual male-controlled society, and must be circumvented to approach any semblance of equality for either homosexuals or women. The Radicalesbians produced a formal treatise that clarifies this perspective:
Image:ValerieSolanasSCUMCover.gif|thumb|right|Valerie Solanas on the cover of the SCUM Manifesto.
cquote|???it should first be understood that lesbianism, like male homosexuality, is a category of behavior possible only in a sexist society characterized by rigid sex roles and dominated by male supremacy. Those sex roles dehumanize women by defining us as a supportive/serving caste in relation to the master caste of men, and emotionally cripple men by demanding that they be alienated from their own bodies and emotions in order to perform their??? proscribed functions effectively."

This tretise, "The Woman-Identified Woman", is considered one of the founding works of Lesbian feminism.<ref name="radical"> http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/womid/ Radicalesbians, "The Woman-Identified Woman" (Pittsburgh: Know, Inc, c.1970). </ref>

Valerie Solanas
Ideas for Lesbian separatism ranged from the self-segregation of Lesbian individuals into autonomous communities, to the most radical of all, proposed by Valerie Solanas, which was eradication of the male gender entirely. Though Solanas stopped short of advocating the execution of men, she contended that the male of the species was an accident spawned by an incomplete X chromosome. Her SCUM Manifesto remains a classic of both feminist and lesbian scholarship, calling upon the asexual reproduction of the species and the genetic irregularity (i.e. men) to be discontinued.

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References

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