under Her eye

Thirteen Things Womanhood Is Not:

A sliding scale where some women are more or less womanly than others

A welcoming open door club that anyone can claim membership to

A special exclusive club full of wonderful privileges whose existing members decide who does and doesn’t belong

Wearing long hair, makeup, dresses or otherwise performing femininity

Being good at feelings and domestic tasks and bad at driving and math

Acting cute, seductive, giggly, sexy, coy, submissive or flirty

A soft, warm, sensitive, nurturing, emotional or moody personality

An interest in cute, pretty, soft, frilly or sparkly things

A certain mindset, outlook or way of thinking that’s naturally ingrained in all women’s brains

A magical mystical undefinable state of being or sense of “sisterhood”

A special feeling or instinct that comes from deep down in your soul that you “just know”

A costume for men to wear

An identity for men to claim

Two Things Womanhood Is:

A biological fact

The state of being an adult female human who was born into a female human body

As if my Goddess research book pile isn’t big enough.. I’ve decided to make a post of my work-in-progress separatist booklist; there’s essays, feminist sci-fi, lesbian novels, all-female societies, herstories, etc. Some I’ve read but most are TBR on the Storygraph. If any women know anything that would be a good fit, or praise or criticism of anything here, feel free to add suggestions.

Fiction:

Sultana’s Dream by Rokheya Sakhawat Hossein

The Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart

Womonseed by Sunlight

Daughters of a Coral Dawn trilogy by Katherine V. Forrest

Return to Isis trilogy by Jean Stewart

Journey to Zelindar, Hadra Archives series by Diana Rivers

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

The Demeter Flower by Rochelle Singer

The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper

A Door Into Ocean, Elysium series by Joan Slonczewski

*Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (I read this, cw for shameless racism)

Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light, and Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, by James Tiptree Jr. (pen name of Alice Sheldon)

When Women Were Warriors trilogy by Catherine M. Wilson (I started and haven’t finished this)

*The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley (read this, overall liked it but for the love of Goddess check reviews for content warnings bc idek how to warn for this)

The Carhullan Army/Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall (read, off-putting scenes esp gross het scene but interesting other aspects)

Herstory and Nonfiction:

Separatism and Women’s Community by Dana R. Shugar (got this recently and excited to read this herstory)

Lesbian Land by Joyce Cheney

Sinister Wisdom #98: Landykes of the South: Women’s Land Groups and Lesbian Communities in the South (have this, many listed are of the past)

La Luz Journal by Juana Maria Paz (actively seeking this one atm, racism and esp colonization issues wrt women’s spaces on occupied land are something I want to see addressed)

Country Lesbians: The Story of the Womanshare Collective by Sue Deevy, Nelly Kaufer, Dian Wagner, Carol Newhouse, and Billie Miracle. (Billie gave me a copy of this when I visited Womanshare a few years back)

Weeding at Dawn: A Lesbian Country Life by Hawk Madrone

Amazon Acres, You Beauty: Stories of Women’s Lands, Australia, edited by Sand Hall

Circles of Power: Shifting Dynamics in a Lesbian-Centered Community by La Verne Gagehabib and Barbara Summerhawk

For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology, edited by Sarah Lucia Hoagland and Julia Penelope. (70 essays! I haven’t finished it but I’m trying)

Wild Mares: My Lesbian Back-to-the-Land Life by Dianna Hunter

*Herlands: Exploring the Women’s Land Movement in the United States by Keridwen N Luis (language in synopsis seems to favor male invasion of Female Sovereign Space so my expectations are low)

Nüshu 女书 was a women-only script used by Yao women in Jiangyong, Hunan province, China.

Nüshu works were a way for women to lament by communicating sorrows, commiserating over patriarchy, and establishing connections with an empathetic community. Typically a group of non-related women would pledge friendship by writing letters and singing songs in Nüshu to each other.

- A lesbian perspective on religion.

Sometimes religious acquaintances of mine will tell me “but the message is love” when speaking about their religion. They are utterly puzzled by my disgust, my distrust, my fear, all the stress and pain that rises up in an inexorable tide, being nice people in all other regards. They genuinely believe in the “love thy neighbour” bit, and that it is the guiding principle of their religion. Why would I pass up an opportunity to be loved by g*d? Why would I refuse to bask in the knowledge of the divine? Why would I settle for damnation? They just want to save me after all.

And whenever, painstakingly, the deviances of religions are made plain — the repeated offences of disenfranchisement, disregard, harm, abuse and assault of children, women and homosexuals at the hands of or under the instigation of religious members — these religious people look pained, but not for the children, the women, the homosexuals who have been wronged and harmed, but for their religion. Why would I slander it, and their g*d, so? Because obviously all of these offences were committed by people who misunderstand g*d’s intentions and teachings. Because obviously they all read or interpreted the books wrong. Because obviously they are not true believers.

They seem to love to overlook that they, despite professing wanting only to spread love, are working within, for and in perpetuation of a system that doesn’t have “spreading love” as its goal. It’s not even a primary goal. It’s just propaganda. Something to make staying in power and controlling people easier. You’re much more likely to obey someone who tells you that he wants to do you good. But the religious institution itself — the part that decide what the texts says and what the doctrine is on a grand scale — doesn’t really care about what the text or the doctrine say deep down, only about how that can help the religion stay relevant/in power/in control. The point is not to make the world a better place or to save souls, but to keep already acquired political, financial, social power and to amass more.

I don’t understand how anyone can argument that religion isn’t misogynistic when women are systematically relegated to subordinate roles, used as domestic or sexual slaves for males, preached as original sinners and less important than their husbands, treated as less humans than men; that religion isn’t deeply homophobic when homosexual love is treated as a sin no matter what and calls to violence are made whenever homosexuals try to gain more rights; that religion doesn’t attract and protect and promote some of the worst men alive when every other year scandals erupts involving priests and pedocriminality. That doesn’t point to institutions that preach love; that’s institutions corrupted by power. Truly rotten to the core. And no matter what do-gooders wants to believe, almost impossible to reform from the inside. Especially by do-gooders who don’t seem really bothered by the issues that are so prevalent in their own religion. “But they were bad apples” yes they are bad apples but you’re still encouraging them and not challenging them and by being  a passive participant in that religion, what you are saying is “despite all the people that my religion as an institution has and is still harming, i am still a follower, so it’s not really an issue”. It makes your interlocutor really wonder if you are all that serious about the “love thy neighbour” part or if you have any morals at all. They — religious officials and spokesmen — aren’t interpreting the books wrong or betraying the true will of g*d or whatever, you are lying to yourself so you can push women’s, children’s and homosexuals’ persecutions and suffering under the rug.