# Womyn-born womyn

Part of a series on :
Radical feminism :
Women's liberation movement :
People
Wim Hora Adema
Chude Pam Allen
Ti-Grace Atkinson
Kathleen Barry
Rosalyn Baxandall
Linda Bellos
Julie Bindel
Jenny Brown
Judith Brown
Susan Brownmiller
Phyllis Chesler
D. A. Clarke
Nikki Craft
Kimberlé Crenshaw
Mary Daly
Christine Delphy
Gail Dines
Andrea Dworkin
Melissa Farley
Shulamith Firestone
Marilyn French
Marilyn Frye
Germaine Greer
Carol Hanisch
Merle Hoffman
bell hooks
Sheila Jeffreys
Robert Jensen
Lierre Keith
Anne Koedt
Marjorie Kramer
Holly Lawford-Smith
Audre Lorde
Catharine A. MacKinnon
Sheila Michaels
Kate Millett
Robin Morgan
Meghan Murphy
Irene Peslikis
Janice Raymond
Rosetta Reitz
Adrienne Rich
Florence Rush
Kathie Sarachild
Alix Kates Shulman
Valerie Solanas
Gloria Steinem
John Stoltenberg
Michele Wallace
Marilyn Salzman Webb
Ellen Willis
Harriet Wistrich
Monique Wittig
Laura X :
Groups
Cell 16
Chicago Women's Liberation Union
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Deep Green Resistance
Lesbian Organization of Toronto
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
Mountain Moving Coffeehouse
New York Radical Feminists
New York Radical Women
Redstockings
Stop Porn Culture
The Feminists
The Furies Collective
WOMAD
Women Against Pornography
Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) :
Issues
4 NOs
Child sexual abuse
False consciousness
Feminism
Lesbian
Second wave
Feminist separatism
Feminist views on transgender topics
Gender role
Male privilege
Patriarchy
Political lesbianism
Pornography
Feminist views on pornography
Postgenderism
Prostitution
Feminist views
Reproductive rights
Sexism
Misogyny
Internalized sexism
Social construction of gender
Violence against women :
Media
Books
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970)
Sexual Politics (1970)
Sisterhood Is Powerful (1970)
"The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm" (1970)
The Female Eunuch (1970)
Lesbian Nation (1973)
Woman Hating (1974)
Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1974)
Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981)
Ain't I a Woman? (1981)
Against Sadomasochism (1982)
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)
Sisterhood Is Global (1984)
Intercourse (1987)
Feminism Unmodified (1987)
Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989)
The Straight Mind and Other Essays (1992)
Only Words (1993)
Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000)
Sisterhood Is Forever (2003)
The Industrial Vagina (2008)
Other
Off Our Backs (1970–2008)
SCUM Manifesto (1967)
She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014) :
Other
Consciousness raising
Herstory
Miss America protest (1968)
Radical lesbianism
Womyn's land :
Feminism portal :
vte :
Part of a series on :
Lesbian feminism :
Women's liberation movement :
People
Paula Gunn Allen
Dorothy Allison
Ti-Grace Atkinson
Alison Bechdel
Evelyn Torton Beck
Miriam Ben-Shalom
Julie Bindel
Ivy Bottini
Charlotte Bunch
Cheryl Clarke
Michelle Cliff
Kate Clinton
Jeanne Córdova
Mary Daly
Max Dashu
Stormé DeLarverie
Diane DiMassa
Alix Dobkin
Andrea Dworkin
Elana Dykewomon
Lillian Faderman
Ferron
Marilyn Frye
Michiyo Fukaya
Carolyn Gage
Donna Gottschalk
Sarah Hoagland
Karla Jay
Sheila Jeffreys
Jill Johnston
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz
Joan Larkin
Anna Livia
Audre Lorde
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Cherríe Moraga
Bonnie J. Morris
Ruth Mountaingrove
Jean O'Leary
Pat Parker
Julia Penelope
Janice Raymond
Adrienne Rich
Margaret Sloan-Hunter
Barbara Smith
Cris Williamson
Monique Wittig
Bonnie Zimmerman :
Groups
AMASONG
Amazon Bookstore Cooperative
Anjaree
Artemis Singers
Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance
Bi-National Lesbian Conference
Chicago Lesbian Liberation
Combahee River Collective
Connexxus Women's Center/Centro de Mujeres
Daughters of Bilitis
Daughters of Bilitis (Australia)
The Feminists
First Black Lesbian Conference
The Furies Collective
Gay Women's Alternative
Gouines rouges
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
Lavender Menace
Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group
Lesbian Art Project
Lesbian Avengers
Lesbian Feminist Liberation
Lesbian Herstory Archives
Lesbian Movement (Denmark)
Lesbian Organization of Toronto
Lesbians Against Pit Closures
Lincoln Legion of Lesbians
Mujeres Creando
Oregon Women's Land Trust
Salsa Soul Sisters
Sister Spit
Sisters for Homophile Equality
Van Dykes :
Key issues
Butch
Butch and femme
Compulsory heterosexuality
Corrective rape
Dyke
Feminist separatism
Femme
Gender-critical feminism
Lesbian bed death
Lesbian erasure
Lesbians in Francoist Spain
Lesbians in the Spanish Second Republic
Lesbophobia
Lipstick lesbian
Political lesbianism
Radical lesbianism
Separatist feminism
Soft butch
Stone butch
Stone femme
U-Haul lesbian
Womyn-born womyn
Womyn's land :
Media
Books
Les Guérillères (1969)
Le Corps Lesbien (1973)
Lesbian Nation (1973)
Lover (1976)
The Wanderground (1979)
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982)
Lesbian/Woman (1991)
The Straight Mind and Other Essays (1992)
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold (1993)
Your Silence Will Not Protect You (2017)
Other
Die Freundin (1924–1933)
Vice Versa (1947–1948)
The Ladder (1956–1972)
Arena Three (1963-1972)
The Woman-Identified Woman (1970)
Off Our Backs (1970–2008)
Lavender Woman (1971–1976)
Lesbian Tide (1971–1980)
Dykes & Gorgons (1973–1976)
Lesbian Feminist Circle (1973–1986)
WomanSpirit (1974–1984)
Lesbian Connection (1974–present)
Conditions (1976–1990)
Sinister Wisdom (1976–present)
Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians (1977–1983)
Common Lives/Lesbian Lives (1980–1996)
Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter (1982–1984)
Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui (1982–present)
Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008)
Hothead Paisan (1991–1998)
Diva (1994–present)
Journal of Lesbian Studies (1997–present)
Jane's World (1998–2018)
Curve (2000–present)
AfterEllen (2002–present)
Velvetpark (2007–present)
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2017) :
Actions and ideas
Cineffable
Dyke march
Lesbian bar
Lesbian flags
Lesbian literature
Lesbian pulp fiction
Maud's (bar)
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
Motherpeace Tarot
Mountain Moving Coffeehouse
Olivia Records
Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival
Peg's Place (bar)
Some Prefer Cake
Women's music
Women's Week Provincetown :
Feminism portal :
vte :
Womyn-born womyn (WBW) is a term developed during second-wave feminism to designate women who were assigned female at birth, were raised as girls, and identify as women (or womyn, a deliberately alternative spelling meant to challenge the centering of male as norm). The policy is noted for exclusion of trans women. Third-wave feminism and fourth-wave feminism have generally done away with the idea of WBW.
Events and organizations that have womyn-born-womyn-only policies bar access to anyone who was assigned male at birth: cis men, trans women, and male children older than a determined age.

## Second-wave feminism

The term womyn-born womyn gained usage and popularity during the second wave feminist movement. In 1978, the Lesbian Organization of Toronto adopted a womyn-born womyn-only policy in response to a request for admittance by a transgender woman who identified as lesbian. Womyn-born womyn policies held that the nature of the feminine experience over the course of a lifetime could only be experienced by someone who experienced life presenting as a woman. The intent was to create a space for only women, defined not by identity but experience, excluding transgender women as a result.
Key anti-trans proponents in the second wave feminist movement included Janice Raymond, Robin Morgan, Germaine Greer, Andrea Dworkin, and Mary Daly, who were proponents of womyn-born womyn policies. These policies created controversy and scholarly discussion.
Raymond's The Transsexual Empire (1979) is often seen as the characterizing work of this movement; Julia Serano criticizes it as an "anti-trans screed". It is known for its view of trans women as privileged men who did not previously live in the oppression of the patriarchy, stating, "We know who we are. We know that we are women who are born with female chromosomes and anatomy, and that whether or not we were socialised to be so-called normal women, patriarchy has treated and will treat us like women. Transsexuals have not had this same history."
Sheila Jeffreys was similarly outspoken in her criticisms of trans women, arguing that the feminine characteristics they were adopting are simply those that women must adopt to avoid punishment from the patriarchy. She believed trans women adopt stereotypical attributes that are enforced by the patriarchy and were political signifiers of the oppression of women (see social construction of gender).
Judith Butler (regarded as the "most significant theorist" of third-wave feminism) is opposed to womyn-born-womyn policies, yet is often used as an argument for them by modern second-wave feminists. Butler's 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity contained discussion of performativity versus performance, which second-wave feminists used to exclude trans women on account of their performativity through repetition of gender norms, which is "real only to the extent that it is performed", which was used as a separator from experience.

### Third and fourth wave perspectives

Julia Serano, writing in 2007, sharply criticized WBW as transmisogyny. She points to a double standard: trans men were allowed in WBW spaces, but trans women were not. In effect, this meant that trans men were treated as if they were women. Serano criticizes the WBW idea as inherently sexist against women, which goes against the very idea of feminism. Preventing pre-op trans women, she says, is phallocentric and objectifies trans women, and countered that butches are well tolerated in the feminist community despite their mannishness. If women can transcend their socialization, she argues so too can women assigned male at birth, adding that the idea that trans women, having been socialized as men, have some unique "male energy" is in fact just making the case that men have abilities women do not, which is anti-feminist.
Author Nadia Khayrallah finds the WBW idea at odds with itself. They wonder how one can choose to be labelled a "womyn", but then claim biological determinism by stating one is born a "womyn".

## Women-only spaces

A women-only space is an area where only women are allowed, thus providing a place where they do not have to interact with men. Historically and globally, many cultures had, and many still have, some form of female seclusion. Organizations and events with womyn-born womyn policies specifically exclude trans women from these spaces, restricting access to only cisgender women. This exclusionary practice reflects a contested understanding of womanhood and has been criticized for perpetuating transphobia and failing to recognize the diversity of women’s lived experiences.

### Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

Throughout the final quarter of the twentieth century, women's music festivals often enacted womyn-born womyn policies. After the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MichFest) was described as a gathering for "women born as women and living as women", these intentions garnered wider attention in response to the exclusion of trans women from such events.
In 1977, MichFest's primary owner, Lisa Vogel, signed a letter (together with 21 other signatories) to the feminist music collective Olivia Records, objecting to the inclusion of production employees at the festival that were not born female, notably Sandy Stone:
   We are writing concerning your decision to employ Sandy Stone...as your recording engineer and sound technician. We feel that it was and is irresponsible of you to have presented this person as a woman to the women's community when in fact he is a post-operative transsexual. The decision to work with a transsexual is one issue in itself; but the omission of this information from the public of women who support you was an unwise choice....We do not believe that a man without a penis is a woman any more than we would accept a white woman with dyed skin as a Black woman. Sandy Stone grew up as a white male in this culture, with all the privileges and attitudes that that insures [sic]. It was his white male privilege that gave him access to the recording studio and the opportunity to gain engineering practice in the first place. He has never had to suffer the discrimination, self-hatred or fear that a woman must endure and survive in her life...How can we share feelings of sisterhood and solidarity with someone who has not had a woman's experience?
After 40 years, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival held its last event in 2015. This final gathering followed the withdrawal of support by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, National LGBTQ Task Force, and The TransAdvocate nonprofit website, for a boycott against MichFest and its womyn-born womyn intention.

### The RadFem Collective

The RadFem Collective, a UK-based radical feminist group, describes its membership as "restricted to 'women born women and living as women'" and promotes womyn-born womyn policies. The statement for the 2015 conference was rephrased in explanatory form to read "RadFems Resist is a women only, feminist event. Our conference is a space for women to share our experiences as women, to politically self organise for women's liberation and to celebrate womanhood in a safe environment. We welcome all women who were raised and socialized as girls to join us...We are gender abolitionists who have been raised and socialized as girls and women *because of our female bodies* in the context of patriarchy."