Women’s Liberation Movement
1973
The Women’s Liberation Movement was a life-transforming experience.
Barbara
compared the old butch/femme stereotypes with the way she came out. “That
interestingly was very different from how I got into recognising my sexuality,
which was through feminism and women’s liberation. I studied English at
Birmingham University and very soon got involved with Women’s Liberation which
had by now hit Birmingham, and I joined the Women’s Liberation Group at the
University in the first year in 1973 and it just opened my eyes, not just about
my sexuality, but about politics generally, it was just a totally
life-transforming experience for me. I got absolutely whole-heartedly swept up
in it. There were other lesbians, not so much at University but in the wider
women’s liberation movement in Birmingham and it was really through that that I
started making the connections between the feelings I was having for other
women, that connected the two things and gave me permission to feel the way I
did; to explore my sexuality and start having relationships.”
Contributed by: Barbara Carter, 53, Bridget Malin, 62