ABSTRACT
Feminist theory intersects with theories of sexuality in rather complicated ways. There are many different forms of feminism, but the most widely represented include what is usually referred to as liberal feminism and what is usually referred to as radical feminism. The prevailing position among many contemporary lesbian and gay rights advocates is that sexuality is fixed from birth. Those who adhere to this account often regard the suggestion that sexual identity is a matter of personal choice or the product of socialization as a threat to the campaign for legal and social equality. Gender is a familiar concept today, but it did not come into widespread popular use until the 1970s. Unlike lesbian and gay rights advocates who defend biological determinism in order to deny personal or social accountability for the production of lesbian and gay identities, liberal feminists use the distinction between sex and gender to deny biological determinism.
