BUILDING A LESBIAN COMMUNITY IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA ...

the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the notion ofa singular collective identity embodied by "Lesbian
Nation" came under attack by those who embraced their differences in what became known as
"sex wars." Women ofcolour and a new generation oflesbians which included "lipstick"
lesbians,57 femmes, and dykes 58 challenged the de-sexualization oflesbianism and the conformity
to a politically correct lesbianism.
Many have viewed lesbian-feminism as a largely white middle-class movement. As a result
radical lesbian-feminist politics that dictated what was acceptable sexual behaviour, dress, and
appearance came under attack. Writer Kath Weston comments: "Sex radicals, lesbian separatists,
and lesbians ofcolor all developed critiques ofthe larger movement that exposed the hierarchies
embedded in the utopian vision ofa single, overarching lesbian culture untouched by racism,
classicism, or male values.,,59 The politically correct lesbianism favoured by some lesbian-feminists
obscured class and cultural differences.
Generally, some lesbians called into question the extent to which lesbian feminists
theorized that lesbianism is independent ofsexuality. However, the feminist movement opened
new ground and offered women the space to identify as lesbian. By the 1980s, the lesbian
57 Lipstick lesbians is a term that became popular in the 1980s during the so-called "sexwars"
to describe a certain cosmopolitan lesbian-chic adopted by some women in response to the
de-sexualization oflesbian relationships.
58 Originally the term "dyke" was a slang term referring to tribadism. During the1950s
"dyke" was used by some middle-class lesbians to describe the supposed rough character of
working-class lesbians who frequented bars. By the 1970s, lesbians appropriated the term to
include lesbians who advocated downward mobility and preferred an androgynous or butch
appearance.
59 Kath Weston, "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History ofLesbian Life in Twentieth­
Century America," Signs (August,1993): 236.
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