Lesbian press

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Lesbian press
Lesbian Press Logo (1975)
description Radical separatist, lesbian feminist magazine
language German
First edition 1975
attitude 1982
Frequency of publication irregular
editor The women of the editorial collective of the lesbian press in the LAZ
ZDB 8727-0

Lesbenpresse was a lesbian - feminist magazine with a radical - separatist orientation. It was the magazine of the Lesbian Action Center West Berlin (LAZ) and thus played a special role in the emerging lesbian movement in West Germany . In 1976, Der Spiegel named it as one of the publications that came out of the women's movement “with small editions and a market oriented towards insiders , away from the big media ”.

It appeared between February 1975 and October 1982 in irregular succession in West Berlin with an edition of 1500 copies. The editorial collective , which was subject to major changes, brought out a total of eleven issues during this time, which were sold with very different sizes from 23 to 50 pages at a price of two to four D-Marks .

Content orientation

In terms of content, the focus was on the struggle for the design and formation of a revolutionary women- related counterculture with the abandonment of bourgeois - patriarchal conditions, whereby the lesbian press served as a means of a counter-public through criticism of the existing conditions as well as identity formation and networking of women. Lesbianism was designed as a possible feminist strategy for all women in the struggle against male rule. As it were, in the sense of radical liberation movements , lesbian politics should enable a separatist, autonomous creation of a lesbian identity that is no longer determined by others .

Topics of criticism included (male) violence , the criminalization of dissenters by the German constitutional state, as well as forced heterosexuality and the mass media . Approaches to solving the repression were sought in self-awareness , self-empowerment and the occupation of land and houses . Various sources of liberation for a holistic female (lesbian) life were discussed. This included mysticism , spirituality , matriarchy and ancestry research as the creation of a separate science and history, an international comparison and exchange with other lesbians, art , creativity and, above all, lesbian sexuality . In addition, the magazine provided space for reviews , prose , letters to the editor , classified ads, satirical and advertising for other lesbian projects.

development

The development of the lesbian press is closely linked to the development of the Lesbian Action Center West Berlin (LAZ). The publication of the magazine in February 1975 can be understood both as a clear sign of the independence of lesbian women from the previous alliance with gay men in the Homosexual Action West Berlin (HAW) and as a reaction to frustrating experiences with the predominant mass media . In the first issue of the lesbian press it said:

"We can no longer let ourselves be determined in what we have to say, what we want to say !!!"

According to the editorial collective, this “we” lesbian identity should only encompass a narrow circle of approved positions. The magazine formulated a general exclusion of all men, strong reservations about heterosexual and bisexual women and, associated with this, a radical renunciation of middle class and family as a strategy of demarcation in order to form a common lesbian identity .

Already in the year after the foundation there was a dispute between the editorial collective and the plenum of the totality of the members of the LAZ, which criticized a lack of information exchange about the contents of the magazine. In the LAZ, the magazine was understood as an organ of an evolving lesbian counterculture and also as a representative of the center itself, with which the members wanted to identify and should give the impetus for a lesbian policy from the whole of the LAZ to the outside world. In order to ensure more influence and the diversity of content, the plenary decided to produce all further editions of the lesbian press on a rotating system and to now disclose the conditions and parameters of production. The radical separatist orientation with its specific type of inclusion and exclusion was retained.

At times it was possible to re-link differences and contradictions into a collectively felt identity. The differences in the LAZ between women who strictly wanted to adhere to a separatist lesbian policy and those who wanted to shift the demarcations drawn in favor of various alliances and inclusions could not be bridged in the long term. After long, sometimes violent internal disputes and significant changes among its members, the LAZ finally disbanded at the beginning of 1982, the last two issues of the lesbian press appeared in May and October of that year.

literature

  • Franka Fieseler: Networked networks - diverse forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag , Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , pp. 134-138.
  • Ilse Lenz: The New Women's Movement in Germany . VS Verlag, 2nd updated edition 2011, ISBN 978-3531174365 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Spiegel : Frauen-Presse: Kampf um Emma. From November 29, 1976, issue 49/1976 ( online )
  2. ^ A b Franka Fieseler: Networked Networks - Diverse Forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag , Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , p. 135.
  3. ^ A b Franka Fieseler: Networked Networks - Diverse Forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , p. 136.
  4. ↑ Lesbenpresse 1/1975, 2, quoted from: Franka Fieseler: Vernierter Netze - various forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , p. 135.
  5. ↑ Franka Fieseler: Networked Networks - Diverse Forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , pp. 136/137.
  6. ↑ Franka Fieseler: Networked Networks - Diverse Forums. On the history of lesbian-feminist magazines in Germany. In: Lea Susemichel, Saskya Rudigier, Gabi Horak (eds.): Feminist media. Publics beyond the malestream. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 2008, ISBN 978-3-89741-265-1 , p. 137.