i won't stop calling myself a political lesbian, even a political aroace, because i consciously chose to be a lesbian; i became one, and i've become aroace. i won't allow "i was born this way" discourse because it takes away my agency and autonomy to self determinate my identity.
i know the history of political lesbianism and its flaws, i know how some of those so called "political lesbians" in the 70s were utterly lesbophobic towards butches and femmes, how they were transphobic and transmisogynistic; but it's still my identity, i crafted it by every choice i made, every experience i had, every person i met.
lesbianism, asexuality and aromanticism are all political, not something you're born with. it has a social dimension, it's a social construct like every sexuality and gender/sex. that means it can be destroyed along the cisheteropatriarchy/the pharmacopornographic regime, capitalism, racism, ableism, etc. that's what we aim for, because identitarism it's a down path right to fascism.
in Cheryl Clarke's words: «lesbianism is an act of resistance», and i will add asexuality and aromanticism too because of their political potential.
we should and we can reclaim political lesbianism, as a tool for our liberation.
