In In Defence of Separatism

by Susan Hawthorne

In Defence of Separatism is a timely book. When it was first written in 1976, although it was an important subject of conversation among many feminists it was not welcomed by academics or publishers.
When a political group wants to strategise so that its members can arrive at agreed-on political tactics and ideas, they call for, and create, separate spaces. These might be in coffee shops, in community centres, in one another's homes or in semi-public spaces such as workers clubs, even cinemas. When the proletariat was rebelling, they did not ask the capitalists and aristocracy to join them (even if a few did); when the civil rights movement started it was not thanks to the ideas and politics of white people (even though some whites joined to support the cause); when the women's liberation movement sprang into life, it was women joining together to fight against their oppression.

The difference is that women are supposed to love men.
Through careful argument, Susan Hawthorne takes us through the ideas which are central to her argument. She analyses the nature of power, oppression, domination and institutions and applies these to heterosexuality, rape and romantic love. She concludes with a call for women, all women no matter their sexuality, to have separate spaces so they can work together to change the world and end patriarchy.
This 2019 edition includes a Preface, Afterword and additional commentary in italicised footnotes that bring the reader up to date on changes, developments and controversies in feminist theory.

• ISBN13: 9781925950045
• Publish Date: 20 September 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: Spinifex Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 112
• Language: English

Reviews

[HekArtemis]

This is a short and wonderful little book. It began life as Hawthornes uni thesis back in the 70s - but it was not well received by her sexist pig of a professor. She was then let down a bit by the feminist community who just ignored what she had written - in part because the world likes to ignore Aussies. I don't think it was anything purposeful, but it's sad to learn nonetheless.

I have never read a book about separatism before but it is something that has always appealed to me as an idea. And I do mean always, even as a girl, but then I had kids and one is a boy so there goes that idea lol. But what is nice about this book is it discusses multiple levels of separatism, not just the most extreme form. So of course there is the extreme versions of living in all women villages/towns away from men, or even more for lesbians they can have all lesbian communities that exclude hetero and bi women (I use exclude in a normal way here, exclusion is good sometimes). But there are also the not so extreme versions, the temporary ones - from simple bookclubs, to sporting events, to consciousness raising events, to festivals, to political plots to overtake the world. Hawthorne doesn't say that any are better than others, rather she points out that all forms of separatism are necessary and it is also fine for some women to not be separatists. Hawthorne absolutely respects the fact that some women just cannot or do not want to separate, and that is a good thing I think, as the separatist discussion can be a bit alienating for many women.

The book is not just about separatism however, it is also about why we might need it. She looks into how and why there are such massive power imbalances between men and women - and even how an individually powerful woman is still on the lower rung of power levels because of the social structure giving even mediocre men more power than powerful women. She admits it's not always true, because every rule has an exception that proves it. She looks into heterosexuality and how it has been used against women - she thankfully doesn't talk about political lesbianism, which is all sorts of controversial. But she does mention choosing to love women or become celibate, as options that we don't always recognise as existing. She looks at how sex based stereotypes work to make women devalue themselves and each other and how this only ever helps men, works against women.

She looks at several more things that show us why it's not always a good thing to be around men, and why we need to get away from men and be among women, even if only temporarily and occasionally.

I love every part of this book to be honest, but I think the best thing is perhaps that Hawthorne does make this accessible to all women. She provides examples and encouragement of less extreme forms of separatism that are likely available to most of us - even those of us with sons. That makes this a very, well, inclusive book, in my opinion.

Highly recommend it.