ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: How have the Radical Faeries, a new religious movement originally premised upon a gay male (or “faggot”) spirituality, transitioned their membership to include women? While some gay men invited women into the movement based on an open-ended definition of Faerie identity, others defended the movement’s “faggot-only space” as paramount. Based on years of field observations and open-ended, indepth interview accounts, I highlight a boundary-making process by which inclusive membership policies friendly to women co-exist with exclusive membership designed to maintain faggot-only space. Among the Faeries these boundaries-what I term universal versus provincial, in hopes of future testing-highlighted sexist attitudes towards women, feelings of reification for some men, as well as frustration and disappointment for all.
