Bonnie J. Morris

Look through the average history textbook, and it seems like all of human history was achieved by only one gender - men. Why? This book attempts to answer that question.

The basic answer is: patriarchy. Through most of history, women were subject to control by men in their families by laws, customs and religious edicts dictated by men. Many women were denied education, so they could not write down their experiences in the servant's quarters, at the Salem witch trials or as a slave in the Deep South. Other women were married at puberty, then after they gave birth, they were subject to control by their husbands.

Why isn't women"s history taught in college? Until the 1970's, women were not even allowed in college as students. If they were let in, they were limited to majors like English or Nursing. Some academics feel that women's history, like black or Native American history, is nothing more than political correctness. Some conservative women feel that the "timeless truths" of Western heritage will be replaced by a radical agenda. There are many reasons for the lack of women's history in school. It will require deconstructing, and really taking apart, religious teaching on women's status; it will undermine male authority, and make men look bad; it will damage, or destroy, traditional family values, and discussion of female sexuality in school will be roundly condemned by parents.

The author gives one version of women's history, which is not pleasant reading. That's because there is no such thing as one story of women's history. Does a person study Aztec women, or Early American women, or women of ancient China or women of World War II Europe? Does a person study marriage, or childbirth, or legal rights after her husband dies (if she has any)?

This is a very eye-opening book. I was aware that women's history was not very pleasant, but I didn't know that it was this unpleasant. This is highly recommended for all women, and for any men whose mind still has some openness and flexibility.… (altro)

I think this book asks a very pertinent question: what has happened to lesbian spaces? Why are "gay" events pretty much white and male by default? Who will record the history of lesbian activism?

However I disagree with a lot of the book's thesis. Instead of blaming patriarchy, capitalism, or other kyriarchical forces which have been working against women, and certainly lesbians, since the beginning of time, Bonnie Morris takes the blame and puts it on: queers these days. (Queue the headlines: Millennials kill lesbianism!)

Women-only music festivals were a big deal in the 70s/80s/90s. In fact, Mitchfest (a large music festival in Michigan where women would camp out in tents and there were stages where women-only bands would play) was still a thing up to a few years ago. I remember hearing about Mitchfest in the context of their "woman born woman" policy which was the festival's attempt to police people's gender, and only allow people who conformed to their cisnormative view of ladies enter the campground. This transphobic policy quite rightly gained a lot of negative attention for the festival, which shut down not too long ago.

Instead of blaming the culture of transphobia for the demise of Mitchfest, the author just blames those politically correct young kids who prefer to call themselves "queer" rather than "lesbian." (Which is something she lambasts repeatedly.) I view a world in which the Mitchfest organizers just weren't transphobic and didn't play gender police, and actually did the right thing, and I can see a world where lesbian (or heck, queer) music festivals still exist. Mitchfest was on the WRONG side of history, there's no defending it. It is not a bad thing that it is gone. Did it have potential? Yes. Did it fail in its execution? Also yes.

The author thinks that she can use the term "TERF" (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) in scare quotes so that it somehow doesn't apply to her and her compatriots, but she goes on repeatedly about how woman must be born as women. Pretty much every word written in this book proves the point that she is a trans-exclusionist. And I don't need to state how problematic that is. You can't go on and on about how lesbians had a movement inclusive of people of color and sought to address issues of racism and then not even bat an eyelash when discussing how you keep out an entire group of other people just because they didn't have the same experience of womanhood as you.

There is absolutely a need for segregated spaces for oppressed groups. But we can't have somebody standing at the doorway deciding who belongs to each group. We can't have somebody saying that only certain types of oppressed groups are welcome, and others aren't. There is such a thing as a woman-only space that isn't exclusive of transwomen (or others who don't identify on the gender-binary).

The fact that a lot of events are "queer" these days can be confusing to those who clearly identify with the "lesbian" category, especially given that the default gay event is male. But I am happier to live in a world where I might be a little confused, but where people are more comfortable expressing their sexuality outside of the boundaries of the gender binary. Besides, even in the conservative suburb where I live, there are plenty of lesbian Meetup groups and events. Lesbians haven't disappeared. There is something to blame for lesbian invisibility, but it certainly isn't anybody who identifies as queer. This was the whole question asked by the book, and it was never answered.

On to the next topic: Who killed lesbian bookstores? Those damn millennials and their kindles! Nothing about big box stores. Nothing about increasingly overwhelming rent prices keeping independent shop keepers out of city centers. Let's forget about capitalism and just blame "kids these days." That's always been a pretty solid strategy whenever older people don't like things. (And to be clear, I'm not a millennial, I'm probably closer in age to the author, but I can't abide people doing these generational blame games. They're pointless.)

I think the only strong chapter in the book had to do with Jewish lesbians and their importance to the lesbian movement. I don't think that has changed since the author's time. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is still rife even in the LGBTQ+ movement (see: Chicago Dyke March 2017). I do agree that there is a problem with progressive movements when any kind of association with a state (such as Israel) paints people as being hostile to progressivism. Myself, as a citizen of the US, could be held accountable for all of the horrific things that my country does, but most (at least US-based) progressives understand that I myself do not condone those actions, and am not to blame for them. Unfortunately when a Jewish lesbian holds a rainbow flag with a Star of David on it, somehow we should hold her accountable for things that a country she may not even live in is doing? I'm not saying that what Israel is doing is right. Just that we can't hold all Jewish people accountable for the actions of a state. Just as we can't hold all US-ians accountable for the actions of their government. Progressive movements really need to work on this problem. However this issue is not addressed with much depth at all in this book.

I would have been much more interested in reading an entire book about Jewish folks in the lesbian and feminist movements. But the book came with all of the other transphobic and millennials-killed-bookstores crap as well. So ultimately I must say that this book was a huge disappointment, and I would not recommend it to anybody except those who want to hear about lesbian history from a TERF's point of view.… (altro)