Editing Radical feminism (section)

==Radical lesbian feminism==
{{Main|Radical lesbians}}
[[File:Julie Bindel, 26 October 2015 (2).jpg|thumb|[[Julie Bindel]]]]

Radical lesbians are distinguished from other radical feminists through their ideological roots in political lesbianism. Radical lesbians see [[lesbian]]ism as an act of resistance against the political institution of heterosexuality, which they view as violent and oppressive towards women. [[Julie Bindel]] has written that her lesbianism is "intrinsically bound up" with her feminism.<ref name=Bindel30Jan2009>{{cite news|last1=Bindel|first1=Julie|title=My sexual revolution|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/30/women-gayrights|work=The Guardian|date=30 January 2009}}</ref>

During the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, [[heterosexual|straight]] women within the movement were challenged on the grounds that their heterosexual identities helped to perpetuate the very patriarchal systems that they were working to undo. According to radical lesbian writer [[Jill Johnston]], a large fraction of the movement sought to reform sexist institutions while "leaving intact the staple nuclear unit of oppression: heterosexual sex".<ref name=":9">Johnston, Jill. "The Making of the Lesbian Chauvinist (1973)" ''Radical Feminism'': ''A Documentary Reader''. New York: New York University Press, 2000.</ref> Others saw lesbianism as a strong political tool to help end male dominance and as central to the women's movement.

Radical lesbians criticized the women's liberation movement for its failure to criticize the "psychological oppression" of [[heteronormativity]], which they believed to be "the sexual foundation of the social institutions".<ref name=":9" /> They argued that heterosexual love relationships perpetuated patriarchal power relations through "personal domination" and therefore directly contradicted the values and goals of the movement.<ref name=":10">Abbott, Sidney and Barbara Love, "Is Women's Liberation a Lesbian Plot? (1971)" ''Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader''. New York: New York University Press, 2000.</ref> As one radical lesbian wrote, "no matter what the feminist does, the physical act [of heterosexuality] throws both women and man back into role playing... all of her politics are instantly shattered".<ref name=":10" /> They argued that the women's liberation movement would not be successful without challenging heteronormativity.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11">Radicalesbians. "The Woman-Identified Woman." Know, Incorporated. 1970.</ref>

Radical lesbians believed lesbianism actively threatened patriarchal systems of power.<ref name=":10" /> They defined lesbians not only by their sexual orientation, but by their liberation and independence from men. Lesbian activists [[Sidney Abbott]] and [[Barbara Love]] argued that "the lesbian ''has'' freed herself from male domination" through disconnecting from them not only sexually, but also "financially and emotionally".<ref name=":10" /> They argued that lesbianism fosters the utmost independence from gendered systems of power, and from the "psychological oppression" of heteronormativity.{{sfn|Shelley|2000}}

Rejecting norms of gender, sex and sexuality was central to radical lesbian feminism. Radical lesbians believed that "lesbian identity was a 'woman-identified' identity'", meaning it should be defined by and with reference to women, rather than in relation to men.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|title=Poirot, Kristan. Domesticating The Liberated Women: Containment Rhetorics Of Second Wave Radical/lesbian Feminism|journal=Women's Studies in Communication (263-264)}}</ref>

In their manifesto "The Woman-Identified Woman", the lesbian radical feminist group [[Radicalesbians]] underlined their belief in the necessity of creating a "new consciousness" that rejected traditional normative definitions of womanhood and femininity which centered on powerlessness.<ref name=":11" /> Their redefinition of womanhood and femininity stressed the freeing of lesbian identity from harmful and divisive stereotypes. As Abbot and Love argued in "Is Women's Liberation a Lesbian Plot?" (1971):

<blockquote>As long as the word 'dyke' can be used to frighten women into a less militant stand, keep women separate from their sisters, and keep them from giving primacy to anything other than men and family—then to that extent they are dominated by male culture.<ref name=":10" /></blockquote>

Radicalesbians reiterated this thought, writing, "in this sexist society, for a woman to be independent means she can't be a woman, she must be a dyke".<ref name=":11" /> The rhetoric of a ''"woman-identified-woman"'' has been criticized for its exclusion of heterosexual women. According to some critics, "[lesbian feminism's use of] woman-identifying rhetoric should be considered a rhetorical failure.<ref name=":2" />  Critics also argue that the intensity of radical lesbian feminist politics, on top of the preexisting stigma around lesbianism, gave a bad face to the feminist movement and provided fertile ground for tropes like the ''"man-hater"'' or ''"bra burner"''.<ref name=":2" />