Womyn's land
Womyn's land is an intentional community organised by lesbian separatists to establish counter-cultural, women-centred space, without the presence of men.
[7] Womyn's lands practice various forms of lesbian separatism, an idea which emerged as a result of the radical feminist movement in the late 1960s.
[8] Lesbian separatism is based on the idea that women must exist separately from men, socially and politically, in order to achieve the goals of feminism.
[4] Womyn's lands have generated a wide range of criticisms, most of which centre around the lack of acceptance by many residents of bisexual and heterosexual women; the exclusion of transgender women; ideological conflicts with local communities that include violence and threats of violence targeting residents of womyn's lands;[11][12] and local community concerns about expanded lesbian visibility.
[18] Founded in the late 1870s to early 1880s, the Sanctificationists, later known as the Woman's Commonwealth, were a women's land-based commune first established in Belton, Texas.
[19] To that end, they practised celibacy as a way to liberate women from the spiritual degradation of heterosexual intercourse, the oppressive needs of children and child rearing, and male violence.
[19][20] The Sanctificationists were economically successful; they ran several boarding houses, two hotels, formed holding companies to manage their properties, and operated two farms to provide food for their multiple dining rooms.
[16] In the 1880s, the citizens of Belton blamed the Sanctificationists for rising separation and divorce rates, and of undermining the meaning of marriage through their practice of celibacy.
[20][21] In 1899, the entire commune moved to Washington, DC, where they opened boarding houses, a hotel, and participated in urban feminist organisations.
[25][8][26][10] Lesbian separatism is rooted in the idea that women should and must exist separately from men in order to transform patriarchal society.
[31] Feminist ideology maintains that the patriarchal institutions and social norms which make up society are the source of female oppression.
[34] Through this ideology, many lesbian separatists consider men as the sole perpetrators of adverse economic, societal, and cultural issues which affect them.
[10] As a result, lesbian separatists sought to construct autonomous womyn's land communities where they could live segregated from men entirely.
[39][40] Controversy over the festival's intention permitting only womyn-born womyn (excluding transgender women) volunteers and attendees at the event began in 1991 and continued until the final gathering.
[41][42] Critics of the festival's viewpoint included actress/comedian Lea DeLaria, musicians the Indigo Girls and Antigone Rising, and poet Andrea Gibson.
[45] Camp Sister Spirit, located in southern Mississippi in the town of Ovett, was a 120-acre (49 ha) feminist retreat[46] founded by lesbian couple Brenda and Wanda Henson in July 1993.
[47] Soon after work on the property had begun, the camp was criticized by many local residents and community leaders,[48] including Southern Baptist ministers, Jones County Deputy Sheriff Myron Holifield, and US Representative Michael Parker, who held well-attended town hall meetings and a fundraiser to raise money to force the camp to close.
[11][12] The Reverend John S. Allen, who was a pastor in Richton, a town close to Ovett, preached and wrote against Camp Sister Spirit citing biblical concerns about homosexuality.
[56] Because many of the womyn's lands in southern Oregon have been close to I-5, the section of the interstate between Eugene and the California border has been called the "Amazon Trail.
As well as preserving and maintaining OWL Farm, the Trust runs educational and wildland access programming in the areas of ecological land management, organic gardening, permaculture and out-door skills.
[68] ThreeRivers and Jackson spent seven years raising money and in 1999, they bought 109 acres (44 ha) of land in Buckingham County, Virginia.
