ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how ‘identity politics’, based on class, race and disability, contributed to the demise of lesbian feminism. By the early 1980s identity politics was being deployed in a way that created a competition between feminists for most oppressed status. A form of internecine warfare took place which led to the loss of important feminist and lesbian institutions. The most significant harm wrought by these politics was the destruction of the London Women’s Liberation Newsletter, which was the foundation of feminist organising and community creation in London and was dead by 1985. In relation to lesbians, in particular, the destruction of the London Lesbian Archive was devastating. The demise of both these institutions will be considered here, as well as some explanations as to why identity politics was used so destructively, such as the problem of ‘horizontal hostility’ and the influence of oppressive outside forces.
