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LESBIAN SEPARATISM
By 1971, lesbians in the Washington, DC area were disabused of the inclusiveness of gay liberation groups, feeling that the male leadership and domination of such groups inevitably sidelined women and relegated them to inferior roles.  Nancy Tucker, creator of The Gay Blade, the city's first publicly and widely distributed periodical for the gay and lesbian community, had been briefly a member of the Gay Liberation Front and left the group following a personal denunciation of the group's patriarchal attitudes.  Eva Freund, a member of the Mattachine Society of Washington and editor of its The Insider newsletter, similarly became disabused of gay male liberationists (see her account of being a woman in the gay liberation movement).

In Washington, DC, the women's movement and the city's lesbians turned to developing their own resources to enhance their independence and self-reliance.  One of the earliest documents in what came to be known as lesbian feminist separatism was the New York City Radicalesbians' document the Woman Identified Woman first distributed in 1970 at the Second Congress to Unite Women.  The formation of Washington, DC's Furies Collective in the summer of 1971 gave an important voice to lesbian separatism through their newspaper The Furies.  In the first issue in January 1972, Ginny Berson gave voice to their view that

"... Sexism is the root of all other oppressions, and Lesbian and woman oppression will net end by smashing capitalism, racism, and imperialism.  Lesbianism is not a matter of sexual preference, but rather one of political choice which every woman must make if she is to become woman-identified and thereby end male supremacy."

 

THE FURIES COLLECTIVE
The Furies collective, one of whose main sites was at 221 11th St SE, was, along with the Gay Liberation House and the Skyline Collective, among Washington, DC's best known communal living groups in the early Seventies.  The twelve women meeting on 11th Street SE constituted an important experiment in lesbians of diverse social and economic backgrounds living together and working to make their political and social beliefs a day-to-day reality.  Most of the members of the collective wrote for the newspaper.

From January 1972 until mid-1973, the collective published its groundbreaking newspaper, the Furies, and distributed it nationally.  The Rainbow History Project has an incomplete collection of original copies of the newspaper.  Many of the articles from the newspaper were reprinted in Women Remembered, Class and Feminism, and Lesbianism and the Women's Movement.  (The last two books are in the collection of the Rainbow History Project).  When the collective disbanded in late spring 1972, "the core of the newspaper staff decided to continue the paper as a project separate from the collective".

 Furies office in basement of 221 ll^th St. SE, mailing out the newspaper, l. to rt.  Ginny Berson, Susan Baker, Coletta Reid (standing), Rita Mae Brown, and Lee Schwing.
All were members of the collective except Susan Baker. (c)2004 JEB (Joan E. Biren)

THE FURIES NEWSPAPER
Published from January 1972 until the middle of 1973, The Furies provided an articulate ideology and challenging analysis of sexism, patriarchy, and the challenges facing lesbian feminists across the
country.  Widely distributed nationally, The Furies sparked debate and challenged existing patterns of living and behavior.  In the pages of the newspaper, lesbian feminist artists, photographers, poets, and journalists found an unparalleled medium of expression. The newspaper also chronicled the developing thought in the collective, as well as the collective's ultimate dissolution.  Despite the collective's dissolution, The Furies continued publication until the departure of some working on the paper and dwindling numbers brought publication to an end.  Careful reading will reward the student and researcher with insights into the collective, the continuing operation of the newspaper, and the issues of the day.
 
 

Contents of issues in the Rainbow History Project collection

The Rainbow History collection of The Furies was made possible by generous donations of funds and Furies issues from Joan E Biren, Eva Freund, Leti Gomez, Maryl Kerley and Jane Troxell.  Brother, Help Thyself provided a generous grant that funded purchase of a wide format scanner which has allowed us to scan the issues in our collection and make them available to our local community and to the wider LGBTQ community. We are still looking for a copy of Volume 2, Number 1 of the series.
 
 

Rainbow History has all but the initial issue of Volume 2 in its collection.  In presenting the issues online, Rainbow History hopes to provide both a resource to researchers and students and to further preserve the work of the Furies collective.  The sepia tint of the scanned issues is in large part a product of the advancing acidity in the newsprint used.  Because the Adobe pdf file sizes run from 3 MB to 6 MB, please be patient while they are loading.

January 1972, Volume 1 No. 1

The Furies, by Ginny Berson
Such a Nice Girl ..., by Sharon Deevey
Women: Weak or Strong, by Lee Schwing
The Dentist, by Ginny Berson
Roxanne Dunbar: how a female heterosexual serves the interests of male supremacy, by Rita Mae Brown
Edward the Dyke and other poems, by Judy Grahn
Lesbians in Revolt: Male Supremacy Quakes and Quivers, by Charlotte Bunch for the Furies Collective
Queen Christina: Lesbian Ruler of Sweden, by Helaine Harris
Gossip, by Rita Mae Brown
The Price is Wrong, by Susan Hathaway
What's Going On (lesbian news)

February 1972, Volume 1 No. 2  (labeled Volume 2)

Out of the O Zone, by Helaine Harris
Gimme Shelter, by Tasha Petersen, photography by JEB
Keep Your Chin Up, by Lee Schwing
Much Madness Is Divinest Sense, by Jennifer Woodul
No Place to Go, by Ginny Berson
Emotionalism - Downward Spiral, by Sharon Deevey and Coletta Reid
The Hand That Cradles the Rock, by Rita Mae Brown
Corporate Capitalism: Survival of the Richest, by Lee Schwing and Susan Hathaway
The Trojan Hoax, by Charlotte Bunch
Leadership vs. Stardom, by Rita Mae Brown

March-April 1972, Volume 1 No. 3

Class Beginnings, by Nancy Myron
Jamie: A Short Story, by Helaine Harris
Lesbian Headache #69, by Lee Schwing
Ideology: Guide to Action, by Coletta Reid
That's Capitalism for You ..., by Susan Hathaway
Taking the Bullshit by the Horns, by Barbry
The Last Picture Show: a Review, by Rita Mae Brown
Slumming It in the Middle Class, by Ginny Berson
Dona Catalina, by Charlotte Bunch

May 1972, Volume 1 No. 4

Revolution Begins at Home, by Charlotte Bunch and Coletta Reid
A Well Placed Kick, by Lee Schwing
Coning: a recycling? or an answer to copulation?, by Michela Griffin
All I want, by Helaine Harris
An Anarchist Plebe Fights Back, by Katz
The Furies' Response to Katz: Beyond Male Power, by Ginny Berson for THE FURIES
The Power and the Glory, by S. Hathaway

June-July 1972, Volume 1 No. 5

Darers Go First, by Jennifer Woodul
A New Book of Lesbian Poetry by Pat Parker
Only by Association
Details ..., by Coletta Reid
Recycled Trash, by Coletta Reid
Freest Fancy, by Ginny Berson
COME OUTSIDE (On a queer day you can see forever), photos by JEB
Out Now!, by Charlotte Bunch
Out of the Sea of Discontent, by Rita Mae Brown
A Manifesto for the Feminist Artist, by RMB
Away with your Man-Visions, by Helaine Harris and Coletta Reid

August 1972, Volume 1 No. 6

I Was a Teenage Lesbian, by Lee Schwing and Helaine Harris
They Killed Pricks, by Susan Baker
Garbage Among the Trash, by Dolores Bargowski and Coletta Reid
Just Like in the Saturday Evening Post, by Nancy Myron

Fall 1972, Volume 1 No. 7

We're doing it in our schools ..., poem by E Sharon Gomillion
Perseverance Furthers: Separatism and Our Future, by Charlotte Bunch
Internal Bleeding (Or Case Study in Bombastic Twaddling), by Nancy Myron
Poems, by Susan Baker, E. Sharon Gomillion, Merritt Wilson, Lee Lally
It's Now or Never, Baby, by Susan Hathaway
Fantasies of a Wheat Lady, by Helaine Harris
Women Who Love Men Hate Them: male supremacy versus sexism, by Rita Mae Brown

Volume 2, No. 1 (not in our collection)

(undated) Volume 2, No. 2

Bisexuality, by Loretta Ulmschneider
Journeys on the Living, by Linda Koolish
Eating Artichokes, by Willyce Kim
Editorial, by Lee Schwing and Deborah George
Holland, by Dutch feminists publishing Purple September
New York Poems, by Lee Lally
Ladies Almanack
Walking in the Midst of Others ... One Returns Alone, by Ginny Berson

May-June 1973, Volume 2 No. 3

FINAL ISSUE, the Furies Staff
Building Feminist Institutions, by Lee Schwing and Helaine Harris
Unnatural Woman, by Diane O'Flynn
Oranges at Wandegeya, by Jay Williams
R St., by Keegan
I Don't Want a Pickle, photos by D. George
Class Revisited: one step forward two steps back, by Ginny Berson
A Letter to the Staff, by Charlotte Bunch

MEMBERS OF THE FURIES COLLECTIVE (contributed by Dr. Annie Valk):

Ginny Berson,
Joan Biren,
Rita Mae Brown,
Charlotte Bunch,
Sharon Deevey,
Susan Hathaway,
Helaine Harris,
Nancy Myron,
Tasha Peterson,
Coletta Reid,
Lee Schwing, and
Jennifer Woodul.

Others were on the periphery/never 'officially' part of the collective - like Meg Christian.
 

For more on the Furies, see

Annie Valk's article summarizing the Furies's philosophy at : http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0300/2_28/93081751/p1/article.jhtml
Papers of Charlotte Bunch at Radcliffe at : http://oasis.harvard.edu/html/sch00220.html
Background on Rita Mae Brown at : http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/brown_rita_mae_va.htm
Papers of Joan Biren: in the special collection of the Gelman Library, George Washington University, are 60 photographs: http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/collections/manuscript/title.html#B
Lesbian feminist chronology at: http://www.womens-studies.ohio-state.edu/araw/chrono2.htm
Jeanne Mackey, Ginny Berson, the Furies and Olivia Records at: http://www.womo.com/1000/mackey.htm
1970s Lesbian Feminism survey at : http://www.womens-studies.ohio-state.edu/araw/1970slf.htm
General sources on lesbian feminism at  http://www.queertheory.com/theories/philosophy/queer_feminism.htm