Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution

Author	Jill Johnston
Language	English
Subject	Lesbian feminism separatist feminism
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	1973
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	283
ISBN	0-671-21433-0
OCLC	627573

Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution is a 1973 book by the radical lesbian feminist author and cultural critic Jill Johnston. Originally, Johnston published the work as a series of essays in The Village Voice from 1969 to 1972.^[1] In 1973, Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution was released as a book, and is considered the manifesto of the lesbian separatist movement.^[2]

In the book Johnston outlines her vision of radical lesbian feminism. She argues in favor of lesbian separatism, since she believes lesbianism is the only true position for radical feminism.^[3] Johnston writes that women should make a total break from men and male-dominated capitalist institutions.^[4] In an interview with The Lesbian Tide, she said that lesbians are already forming the society from Lesbian Nation, they just don't realize it because they are living it.^[5] Johnston also wrote that female heterosexuality was a form of collaboration with patriarchy. In fact, Johnston herself has said that a key message of the book is all women are lesbians.^[6] Writing in the Gay & Lesbian Review in 2007, Johnston summarized her views:

Once I understood the feminist doctrines, a lesbian separatist position seemed the commonsensical position, especially since, conveniently, I was an L-person. Women wanted to remove their support from men, the "enemy" in a movement for reform, power and self-determination.^[7]

The book inspired other lesbian feminist groups. For example, a group of lesbian feminists in Amsterdam named themselves Lesbian Nation in 1976. They chose this name as a nod to Johnston's book.^[8] But not all lesbians liked Johnston's work. Writing in The Chicago Tribune, Jane Howard reviewed Lesbian Nation. She wished that Johnston would've taken a more analytical approach than her typical avant-garde one. That way, there would be more concrete answers in the book than just the theorizing Johnston published.^[9] Scholars have explained that a commitment to separatism means there is a lack of intersectional analysis, which leads to a focus on the concerns of white women alone.^[10] Even with the debates over Lesbian Nation, readers can understand that the criteria for such a society was contested throughout the 70s. Some lesbians would not like Johnston's criteria whereas others would.^[11] For instance, in Lavender Woman, Susan Edwards reviewed the book and explained that she felt a "deep seated identification with Jill Johnston."^[12]

22 years after Lesbian Nation's publishing, Becki L. Ross wrote the book The House That Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation, which analyzes the history of the lesbian feminist movement.^[13]