The violet challenge. A path to freedom

Abstract

The debate centered on the relationship between feminism and lesbianism was very
prevalent in the 1970´s. The main positions revolved around the importance of lesbianism as a political
instrument for feminism. On the one hand its relevance in the women’s movement was affirmed while,
on the other, lesbianism was considered an exclusively private practice, lacking the capacity to impact
the social transformation proposed by feminism. This controversy survives to the present, highlighting
the difficulties in accepting the plurality of the feminist subject. The problem is not the verifiable
differences but the way in which they are treated, as Audre Lorde rightly pointed out. It is the fear of
rupture that drives some to claim a unity in which, inevitably, the exceptions are eliminated, but what
weakens feminism are not the differences but the incomprehension and exclusion of them. This work
defends the idea that the recognition and affirmation of the specificities of women in their plurality is
fundamental for a feminism whose goal is freedom.