The Impact of Failed Lesbian Feminist Ideology and Rhetoric

Abstract

"The Impact of Failed Lesbian Feminist Ideology and Rhetoric" is a sophisticated analysis of the politics of lesbian feminism. Lesbian feminism, a radical feminist separatist movement that emerged as part of second-wave feminism, advocated that all feminists should embrace a lesbian identity in order to break apart the chains of patriarchy.By examining the writings of lesbian feminists such as Radical lesbians and the Leeds Revolutionary Group (and their critics), Shannahan, convincingly argues that lesbian feminism was not solely "an isolated and outdated form of feminism," but rather a movement that served as a gadfly that "helped to shape the direction of the mainstream feminist movement." –Sandie Holguín