Jill Johnston - nonfiction - 1973 - p. 207

This radical feminist lesbian text sets forth a prospective notion of lesbian separatism, advocating for women to break completely from a society dominated by men and patriarchal capitalist practices--including breaking from heterosexual relations, which she sees as inherently complicit. While extreme and trenchant in its views, the writing is also laced with wit and humor. It explores topics including psychoanalysis, economics, gendered occupational issues, and possibilities for reform.

Jill Johnston was a longtime dance critic for The Village Voice, a New York City cultural publication viewed as among the first alternative newspapers in the US; she wrote literary criticism as well and participated in the infamous “Town Bloody Hall” panel on Norman Mailer’s contentious attitude toward women. The panel culminated with Johnston and two other women engaging in (fully clothed) erotic activity on stage.

Key elements: activism, feminism, homosexuality, lesbian