What is lesbian/feminist baiting, and how does it contribute to women’s oppression?
Lesbian/feminist baiting is used to control the actions of women who dare to step out of their gender role, fight back against the patriarchy, and commit to helping women, especially when these actions are considered to be “against men” or “man-hating.” It is when someone of any gender calls a woman a “lesbian” or a “feminist” in a derogatory fashion. When they use these words in this way, what they’re really trying to do is create a fearful atmosphere around this woman in the hopes that she will step back into her gender role, conform to the way of patriarchy, and change the way she contributes to women’s rights.
Specifically being called a “lesbian” has nothing to do with actual sexuality, and everything to do with mysogyny weaponizing homophobia in order to control women who resist patriarchal dominance. It comes with a perception of having stepped out of line in an unacceptable way, and homophobia uses this labelling to attack women with potential losses, such as: loss of family and friends, loss of safety, and loss of mental health in a still homophobic world. Being labelled a “lesbian” basically means that, according to patriarchy, your behaviour is unacceptable, and it’s the same thing with being negatively labelled a “feminist.”
Women can be labelled a “lesbian”/“feminist” for anything and everything that threatens the status quo and that doesn’t suggest subordination and submission. Here’s a brief list:
Saying no violence, fighting for our rights, being financially and personally independent, demanding equal pay and better working conditions, being self-assertive, assuming the right to our bodies, standing up for ourselves, bonding with and loving the company of women, insisting upon our own authority, accepting and training for a job in a traditionally male dominated field, and above all, working for the equality and rights of women.
When women give in to the fear of being labelled “lesbian”/“feminist,” they let patriarchal power control their lives and stop their work for women’s rights. Often these women modify their work, but in doing so it can no longer be considered reformist, as it no longer looks to change the cause of the problem, and instead looks at treating only the symptoms. Real change can never thrive, flourish, and advance if this happens. It is only in tackling the root cause of the problem in addition to the symptoms that we can create true and lasting change.
These ideas were adapted and this list was taken directly from Suzanne Pharr’s wonderful essay Homophobia and Sexism written in 1988.