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orivileges and security, they will at some point have to
betray their sisters, especially lesbian sisters who do not
receive those benefits.
N
aturally many women are afraid to relinquish
the privileges and security of heterosexuality.
(Straight women remain with men and lesbians
don't come out publicly.) Such fear is understandable
since giving up privileges brings more oppression. Many
women also fear the unknown and cling to a familar if
limiting identity rather than face the struggle to build a new
non-sexist self. This refusal to identify as a lesbian is at the
expense of the public lesbian and ultimately all women
because it helps to keep us in line. Bisexuality is often used
to avoid giving up heterosexual privileges. Some women
want to have their cake and eat it too. They stick to men
and don't lose security and acceptance in the male world
but still groove on their sisters--avoiding the political issue
of choosing the oppressed over the oppressor.
Other women talk loftily of their concern for 'all
humanity' implying that lesbians are selfish. We
are
primarily concerned with women--with that 53% of the
population that has been oppressed for over 10,000 years.
To offer hope and new directions through struggle for half
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the people can hardly be selfish. We do care about 'all
humanity' (a euphemism for men), however, and we believe
that men and women can never be free until women stop
complying with male supremacy. When men see that we are
serious about ending our oppression and that they will be
left behind, then they will change. When they move to help
us eliminate male supremacy in the world and to build a
non-sexist, non-racist, non-capitalist world, then and only
then can we talk again about relationships between the new
woman and the new man.
W
omen in women's liberation have understood
the importance of having meetings and other
events for women only. It has been clear that
dealing with men divides us and saps our energies and
that it is not the job of the oppressed to explain our
oppression to the oppressor. Women also have seen that
collectively, men will not deal with their sexism until they
are forced to do so. Yet, many of these same women
continue to have primary relationships with men
individually, and do not understand why lesbians find this
oppressive. Lesbians cannot grow politically or personally
in a situation which denies the basis of our politics: that
lesbianism is political, that heterosexuality is crucial to
7