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The Second Congress to Unite Women was an event organized by the National Organization for Women in May 1970. It became notable in lesbian-feminist history due to the protest of lesbian and bisexual women, organized as the Lavender Menace, that occurred during the event.[1] The women who organized this protest distributed their manifesto, the The Woman-Identified Woman, during the event in order to spark conversation about the role of lesbian and bisexual women in the women's movement.[2][3]
Background
editBisexual and lesbian women, despite having participated in the women's movement since its inception, had been labeled as a "lavender menace" on the women's movement by the President of NOW, Betty Friedan. Friedan said that lesbian and bisexual women would threaten the credibility of the movement and only increase the perception of women's movement activists as "man-haters." [4]
In response, women, primarily of the Gay Liberation Front in New York — including Karla Jay, Rita Mae Brown, Martha Shelley, and others — planned a protest for the Second Congress event.[4]
Protest
editImpact
edit- ^ Samek, Alyssa A. (2015-10-02). "Pivoting Between Identity Politics and Coalitional Relationships: Lesbian-Feminist Resistance to the Woman-Identified Woman". Women's Studies in Communication. 38 (4): 393–420. doi:10.1080/07491409.2015.1085938. ISSN 0749-1409.
- ^ a b Gilmore, Stephanie; Kaminski, Elizabeth (January 2007). "A Part and Apart: Lesbian and Straight Feminist Activists Negotiate Identity in a Second-Wave Organization". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 16 (1): 95–113 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Shelley, Martha. Interview by Susan Brownmiller. February 2, 1997. MC 523 - 29.6. Papers of Susan Brownmiller, 1935-2000, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- ^ a b "Radicalesbians in 1969: The Year of Gay Liberation". New York Public Library. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ Blasius, Mark; Phelan, Shane (1997). We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415908597.