The March 2nd issue of the New Yorker will feature an article by Ariel Levy called Lesbian Nation, detailing a lesbian separatist movement of the 70's called the Van Dykes. These women were no joke- they rejected their birth names (changed them all to Van Dyke), stopped talking to men, shaved their heads, drove across the country in vans and lived on America's highways (and YOU think you're extreme cuz you don't shave...tsk tsk). To the Van Dykes, lesbianism wasn't just about sexual orientation, it was about political ideology. They were the antithesis of women who kept their sexual proclivities under wraps-- they were in your face, man-hating, bald, bar-brawling, sexual taboo lovin' women... basically embodying EVERY lesbian stereotype. I mean, if Melissa Etheridge was popular in the 70's, I'm sure Lamar Van Dyke would have her belting out of her car stereo, windows down.
While lesbian separatism seems like an extreme (who would write the articles I read in Details magazine then?), I do think some of that sense of adventure and creativity is missing from the lesbian community today. We need not be extreme to get noticed, maybe living our lives without reservation is statement enough...
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