When I was at Oberlin, the ’second wave’ of feminism was really just in its infancy. Ms. Magazine was new; Gloria Steinem was hot. So a lot of the self-discovery process for lesbians was wrapped up in identifying as a feminist, establishing independence from men, etc. This made things rather confusing: am I a lesbian because I hold a political belief of independence / freedom / self-determination /self-reliance / strength? Or am I gravitating toward those beliefs because I am a lesbian? What am I if I really prefer hanging out with women and bond with them emotionally, feel kinship, oneness, intimacy, but sexually I’m still into men? Can I be homo-emotional but not homo-sexual? If I reject the roles - I do the dishes, he takes out the garbage - am I rejecting men?

Then there was the whole ‘lavender menace’ thing in the broader culture: the women’s movement not wanting to be identified with lesbianism, feeling endangered if too many feminists also identified as lesbian.

Then there were women, ardent feminists, who wanted to be lesbian because it was the purest feminism. A women’s collective started somewhere down by the language dorms. I didn’t hang out there, but I did have many ‘questioning’ women friends.

For some of them, it wasn’t so much about being gay as wanting to reject stereotypes. This was perceived as threatening by some of the ‘really gay’ lesbians who were looking for a real relationship, and not wanting to be an experiment for someone who was really straight.

[excerpted from an oral history with Joey Plaster]

The whole ethos of sex was so different…The seventies, not only for gay people, but for straight people as well, was a time of great sexual liberation…That said, though, straight people were always allowed to have sex, but gay people weren’t. So it was kind of a double fabulous whammy for us. Because we began viewing it as such a positive thing; something that was fun, something that was affirming, and as opposed to, you know, sinful or dark or disgusting, or immoral…

Jay Gorney [OC 73] had been to New York [in 1972]…In the [Oberlin Review], he published a list of things that were gay and not gay. And this was the first consciousness of camp that I had. In a way, these were camp concepts. But more importantly, Bette Midler’s Do You Wanna Dance, became a hit…He came back from New York, this song was playing and he said, “That’s Bette Midler, I saw her at the Continental Baths in New York City.” I didn’t know what Continental Baths were, I’d never been to New York City, and here was this guy who’s heard this artist you know…And he scared the shit out of me. He scared me to death when I first met him. Because he was so out, [and] I wasn’t out…So Jay Gorney was the first taste of the out-loud, didn’t give a shit what anybody thought, early seventies homosexual…I always thought back to Jay, when I scared people off, which I did a lot in the next, let’s say ten years. Because I was out after that…