Julie Bindel: Where did all the lesbians go?

[Igneococcus]

I don't think this has been shared yet. Hadley Freeman interview with Julie Bindel:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/f530b68b-c0fd-479c-bdee-933f5a92560c?shareToken=0e305ee808bb93ec6d7dc9e4658b5967

great article. I think history is being lost and re-written

I agree, brilliant article. Thanks for sharing.

Definitely want to read this - thanks.

Is this the Julie Bindel who used to picket lesbian clubs because they attracted the wrong sort of lesbians?

(spoiler: yes it is)

40 years later and Bindel is still policing lesbians for not doing lesbian-ing properly.

Julie Bindel has some stupid opinions, eg. She doesn't believe bi women are real or of they are they never seriously care about women (according to a Guardian she wrote).

I was listening to Louise Perry's podcast recently (it's v good She has a crazy range of people on) & the Bindel episode frustrated me a bit as Perry didn't push back at all on Bindel's false claim that the lesbians involved in erotic magazines like Quim & On Our Backs were all 'fake lesbians' (Susie Bright was bisexual, the rest seem to all be lesbian).

Unsurprisingly Bindel was v negative about any kind of erotic magazine. I agree w her about porn but it showed how she is still stuck in the more questionable aspects of second wave thought, such as the exclusion of any kind of sexual material (I know not all the 2nd wave was like this) & the dramatic statements like 'all women can & should be lesbians' & ' men should be locked up in a camp' (yes she did say that).
This kind of extremism is partly what led to third wave feminists sex positivity, which ofc went too extreme in the other direction.

At the same time I understand why Bindel was worried about sexual material as Rubin & Califia did contribute to these magazines & are known for their paedophilia & trans advocacy (as well as SM. I agree w her opposition to that, as well). But condemning all sexual material rather than specific things & people is counterproductive

This mat be controversial, but I have always suspected that Bindel is actually bisexual herself, not lesbian. This would explain her whole oft-repeated
And her vitriol against bi women, bc in her book they should choose to be lesbians.

She's a complex person. That in NO WAY negates from her courage and correctness over the trans issue

Oh, how would that be? By thinking that TiMs are TWAW, perhaps? I'm not a Lesbian and I would picket a Lesbian club that promoted that idea. Total fuckwittery!

No, that wasn’t the reason at all, it was Chain Reaction and the associated scene that she disapproved of because god forbid women might enjoy a bit of leather. Good article about the scene here: www.huckmag.com/article/the-forgotten-radical-history-of-londons-rebel-dykes

BTW, you would really picket a lesbian club that admitted men, seriously?? Despite not even being a lesbian yourself? That’s extraordinary.

@AliasGrace47 I think the main issue is that she thinks that lesbianism is primarily a political orientation, rather than a sexual orientation.

The article says that she knew she was a lesbian from a very early age, I'm inclined to believe her.

I believe her too. I’ll leave not believing women when they say they are lesbians to her.

https://www.thelesbianprojectpod.com/p/episode-33-premium-reliving-the-80s
It's really not a scary secret that Bindel believes lesbian BDSM is an unhealthy replication of patriarchal gender norms.
She talks about it on the Lesbian Project podcast, here with guest Linda Semple who was on the opposite side of the 80s Lesbian sex wars.
Differences of opinion don't need to be threatening!!

The same people always come creeping out to defame Julie Bindel using the same disinformation every time. Sad.

Despite the derail it’s a great article and looks like a really good book. Well done JB.