Social trends Since the s, Internet dating has become more popular with smartphones. The stigma associated with online dating dropped over the years and people view online dating more positively. Further, during this period, the usage among to year-olds tripled, while that among to year-olds doubled. Online introduction services In , a variation of the online dating model emerged in the form of introduction sites, where members have to search and contact other members, who introduce them to other members whom they deem compatible.

Sure, there are a lot of places out there to meet other lesbians for dating on the internet. But most of them cost money. Try typing “Free Lesbian Personals” into a search engine and you’ll get some questionable sites.

Queer nationalism Lesbian separatism is a form of separatist feminism specific to lesbians. Separatism has been considered by lesbians as both a temporary strategy, and as a lifelong practice but mostly the latter. In , seven women including Del Martin confronted the North Conference of Homophile Organizations about the relevance of the gay rights movement to the women within it. The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women’s liberation, but Del Martin felt they had not done enough and wrote “If That’s All There Is”, an influential essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist.

In addition to advocating withdrawal from working, personal or casual relationships with men, “The Furies” recommended that Lesbian Separatists relate “only with women who cut their ties to male privilege ” and suggested that “as long as women still benefit from heterosexuality, receive its privileges and security, they will at some point have to betray their sisters, especially Lesbian sisters who do not receive those benefits”. Towards a New Value, lesbian philosopher Sarah Lucia Hoagland alludes to lesbian separatism’s potential to encourage lesbians to develop healthy community ethics based on shared values.

Hoagland articulates a distinction originally noted by Lesbian Separatist author and anthologist, Julia Penelope between a lesbian subculture and a lesbian community; membership in the subculture being “defined in negative terms by an external, hostile culture”, and membership in the community being based on “the values we believe we can enact here”. Some individuals who identify as Lesbian separatists are also associated with the practice of Dianic paganism.

Marilyn Frye ‘s essay Notes on Separatism and Power is one such example. She posits female separatism as a strategy practiced by all women, at some point, and present in many feminist projects one might cite women’s refuges, electoral quotas or women’s studies programmes. She argues that it is only when women practice it, self-consciously as separation from men, that it is treated with controversy or as she suggests hysteria.

On the other hand, male separatism one might cite gentleman’s clubs, labour unions, sports teams, the military and, more arguably, decision-making positions in general is seen as quite a normal, even expedient phenomenon. Still, other lesbian feminists put forward a notion of “tactical separatism” from men, arguing for and investing in things like women’s sanctuaries and consciousness-raising groups, but also exploring everyday practices to which women may temporarily retreat or practice solitude from men and masculinity.

Margaret Sloan-Hunter compared lesbian separatism to black separatism.