BUILDING A LESBIAN COMMUNITY IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA ...

out stories, lesbian periodicals, and greater cultural productivity. Gay liberation stressed the
importance ofcoming out publicly. The call for greater visibility fused the personal with the
political.33 According to Arlene Stein, the 1970s and early 1980s "emphasized the common
experiences ofcoming out, ofbuilding a subculture based upon gender separatism, and of
developing a positive sense ofidentity to counter stigma. ,,34 It is significant that this process
represents a communicated conscious identity on the part ofthe individual, as opposed to one
ascribed by observers. No longer was it possible for researchers to study the lesbian in terms ofa
deviant personality.
Furthermore, lesbian sexuality does not constitute the primary identification among
lesbians. Lillian Faderman, writer and a professor ofEnglish, argues: " 'Lesbian' describes a
relationship in which two women's strongest emotions and affections are directed toward each
other. Evidence oflesbianism may include eroticism, passion, or intense emotions. Sexual contact
may be a part ofthe relationship to a greater or lesser degree or may be entirely absent.,,35
A broader inclusion ofrelationships into the rubric oflesbianism is acceptable to the views of
many feminists. However, as Sylvia Van Kirk, a Canadian historian, explains a de-sexualization in
the definition ofwoman-to-woman relationships conflicts with the more radical feminist
viewpoints that sees same-sex eroticism as the main proofoflesbian experience. 36 The
33 D'Emilio, 236.
34 Stein, 15.
35 Lillian Faderman, Surpassing the Love ofMen: Romantic Friendship andLove Between
Women from the Renaissance to the Present (New York: Quill William Morrow, 1985), 17-18.
36 Sylvia Van Kirk, ''What has the Feminist Perspective Done for Canadian History?" in
Knowledge Reconsidered: A Feminist Overview (Toronto: Canadian Research Institute for
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