Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about the lesbian revolution that took place in the 1970s and 1980s in the UK. It focuses on the period 1970 to 1990 because it was between these dates that a recognisable Women's Liberation Movement (WLM) and lesbian feminism existed. The book explains the way in which the author use the terms 'liberal feminism', 'socialist feminism', 'radical feminism' and 'revolutionary feminism'. It looks at the situation of lesbians before the development of lesbian feminism, how lesbian feminism came to exist and the changes that it wrought. The book examines the central role of lesbian feminists within the WLM, particularly in creating women-only spaces, such as women's centres, and resources to counter violence against women. It also looks at the culture that lesbian feminists created for feminists in general.