ABSTRACT
Ever since the near-concurrent emergence of the gay liberation and modern feminist movements in the late 1960s, many gay leftists as well as radical and socialist feminists have asserted the critical importance of linking the oppression of women and the oppression of gay men and lesbians; it has become conventional wisdom. In her essay "Socialism, Feminism, and Gay/Lesbian Liberation," Christine Riddiough argued in favor of an expanded definition of feminism, "aimed at the liberation of women and gay people and at sexual self-determination for all people" (1981, 75-76). In the mid1980s, journalist Laura Cottingham made a parallel point at a conference of gay activists; deploring the fact that only one speaker had explicitly connected gay oppression to sexism, she asked, "If homophobia isn't connected to women's oppression, then where the hell does it come from?" (1985, 16)
this institution. In criticism focusing on gender and sexuality, the emphasis is on the social processes that construct both gendered and heterosexual identities, and on the role of homophobia in enforcing conformity to prescribed gender roles. Both of these modes of thought generally assume that the interests of gay people in confronting the heterosexual norm and of women in challenging gender roles are highly complementary and essential for each other's success.
