"I'm Julie Bindel and I want to recruit you!"

[blahflowers]

And now, something that might amuse auntysarah: Julie Bindel on her sexual liberation.

At 15 then, having only ever had one, non-serious, boyfriend, I came out as a lesbian. Three years later, I moved to Leeds... [and] finally met the R[adical] F[eminist]s. The RFs told me that, to them, lesbianism was a choice that women could make, and not a "condition" we are born with. "All women can be lesbians" was the mantra. I loved the sense that I had chosen my sexuality and rather than being ashamed or apologetic about it, as many women were, I could be proud, and see it as a privilege.

I wonder if Julie is now going to consult her girlfriend about the possibility of legal action against herself for implying that she chose to be a lesbian? Sadly there is no comments feature on the Guardian page in order to ask this important question.

EDIT: Interesting, people could start commenting after midday. I wonder why there was a delay in allowing this to happen?

Comments

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Have done in the past, not likely to again if they continue repositioning themselves along the Tory agenda...

I meant that she chose to explore/accept that she might be queer rather than staying at home and spending each night trying to convince herself she was straight. Otherwise she is the woman from the Lee and Herring 'Ironic Review' sketches that loudly insists she's a lesbian while the others point out she only did it once and didn't like the taste.

[daria2.livejournal.com]

Yes, if she came out at 15, I don't think that's some high-falutin' intellectual decision. To me it sounds as if hearing the LYE message as a teenager gave her a positive and political perspective on both her sexuality and her instinctive aversion to the destiny of being a taken-for-granted mother and domestic skivvy.