First of all sorry for the temper tantrum, I thought we left Cell 16 behind us in the 70’s.

Here is a little thread on what yesterdays show down was about.

Radical lesbianism or the theory of separatism works for lesbian radical feminists, it’s is not and was never intended to be an instruction booklet for feminism. It is ideology not tactics.

It is the theory that women can only be true to feminist ideologies by living apart from men.

The origins of separatism was to advise women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation" and indulge in periods of celibacy, rather than straight women becoming political lesbians. So get your theories straight please.

True radical feminism values woman as mother, and as wife. That value is the basis for our arguments for abortion and equality in the workplace.

Anything else denounces the core of feminist arguments - that men and women can be equal but worse than that it acts as a qualifier for feminism and places lesbian feminists on a higher grade than straight feminists. That is oppressive.

Motherhood was my own personal introduction to radical feminism at 19 and has remained my strongest inspiration.

It is the patriarchal view of motherhood, not the experience, that is oppressive. It is quintessentially middle class to paint motherhood as a yoke of the patriarchy and ignores motherhood as feminist activism in its most organic form —in motherhood there is freedom and agency.

Preaching separatism at straight women is misguided and condescending. Lesbians are not intellectually superior to straight women. Lesbian life is not more feminist than het life.

We have enough of this shit from men, it’s rude but it is also harmful.

Personally I believe more is done for feminism in interactions with actual men than away from them, but that’s just my thoughts today. Separatism works well for lesbians—of course it does (cake, eat)—but sexuality is not a choice.

Future humans should be raised by feminists. Loving and protecting and raising my beautiful healthy son is not anti-feminist. It is the most feminist thing I have the power to do.

Raising our sons to be allies is important work and in my view is far more important work than tweeting from cell 16 on the isle of lesbos, feeling smug and superior to women on the frontlines.

Living in isolation and tweeting about it is doing fucking nothing at all to actually change the world for women.

High horses throw their riders eventually.

End