Echols argues that "...the introduction of (homo)sex troubled many heterosexual feminists who had found in the women's movement a welcome respite from sexuality."
[5][6][7] Cultural historian Alice Echols credits Cell 16's work for "helping establishing the theoretical foundation for lesbian separatism.
"[8] Echols cites Cell 16 as an example of heterosexual feminist separatism, as the group never advocated lesbianism as a political strategy.
In No More Fun and Games, the organization's radical feminist periodical, members Roxanne Dunbar and Lisa Leghorn advised women to "separate from men who are not consciously working for female liberation.
Male separatism on the other hand (one might consider gentleman's clubs, labor unions, sports teams, the military, and more arguably decision-making positions in general) is seen as quite a normal, even expedient phenomenon, while it is mostly not practiced self-consciously.
[11] Charlotte Bunch, an early member of The Furies Collective, viewed separatism as a strategy, a "first step" period, or temporary withdrawal from mainstream activism to accomplish specific goals or enhance personal growth.
[12] In addition to advocating withdrawal from working, personal or casual relationships with men, The Furies recommended that lesbian separatists relate "only (with) women who cut their ties to male privilege"[13] and suggest that "as long as women still benefit from heterosexuality, receive its privileges and security, they will at some point have to betray their sisters, especially Lesbian sisters who do not receive those benefits.
[17] Faderman also believes that lesbian feminists who acted to create separatist institutions did so to "bring their ideals about integrity, nurturing the needy, self-determination and equality of labor and rewards into all aspects of institution-building and economics".
Many of these conflicts and ruptures are a result of issues arising from broader and nationally specifically cultural narratives around women.
The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women's liberation, but Del Martin felt they had not done enough, and wrote "If That's All There Is", an influential 1970 essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist.
Inspired by the writings of philosopher Monique Wittig,[27] the movement originated in France in the early 1980s, spreading soon after to the Canadian province of Quebec.
Radical lesbianism began to develop in Mexico in 1977, led by the group Mujeres guerreras que abren caminos y esparcen flores (Oikabeth).
Consequently, the communities in Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Brazil began working more closely together on shared goals.
The Wanderground (Persephone Press, 1978), is a separatist utopian novel written from author Sally Miller Gearhart's personal experience in rural lesbian-separatist collectives.
Maxine Feldman's Angry Atthis and Alix Dobkin's Lavender Jane Loves Women were two early examples of this phenomenon.
Michfest was established in 1976 and was active supporter in the need for women to be separated at times from the "politics, institution, and culture of men.
[49][50] Cheney describes the reason for many of these separatists' move to lesbian land as a "spatial strategy of distancing ... from mainstream society".
[50] In a 1982 published conversation about black feminism and lesbian activism with her sister Beverly Smith, Barbara Smith, co-author of the Combahee River Collective Statement, expresses concerns that "to the extent that lesbians of color must struggle simultaneously against the racism of white women (as against sexism), separatism impedes the building of alliances with men of color".
But semi-isolation makes it easier to indoctrinate neophytes and shut out adverse evidence and argument, an insight radical feminists share with Moonies, Hare Krishna, and other cultists".