An uncompromising radical feminist critique examines how the sex industry and conservative sexology dismantled the liberatory politics of 1970s lesbian feminism.
In The Lesbian Heresy, political theorist Sheila Jeffreys analyzes the ideological shift that transformed lesbian culture across the 1980s and 1990s. Jeffreys contends that the rise of commercial sex industries, sex therapy, and postmodern queer theory revived nineteenth-century sexological determinism at the expense of feminist solidarity.
Through rigorous historical and political analysis, this volume examines:
- The resurgence of biological essentialism and butch and femme roleplaying
- The commercialization of lesbian erotica, sex toys, and pornography
- The influence of gay male sexual politics and sex therapy models on lesbian relationships
- The political necessity of lesbian separatism, egalitarian friendship, and female ethics
Written by a veteran activist of the Women's Liberation Movement, this text provides a foundational challenge to patriarchal reconstructions of female sexuality.