A POWERFUL LESBIAN WARM FRONT IS TROUBLING WESTERN SWITZERLAND

—“We oppose any political movement whose theories dare not cross the doorstep into private lives and whose members are revolutionaries in the street and sexists at home. For us, everything is political.”¹

—“We want assisted reproductive technology, not kids.”²

—“There’s no other way to escape because there is no other territory, no other bank of the Mississippi, no Palestine or Liberia for women. The only thing to do is to stand on one’s own feet as an escapee, a fugitive slave, a lesbian.”³

—“Warning: Heterosexuality can be harmful to your health.” ⁴

—“As long as our needs have not been met, as long as society is based on exploitation, there’s only one solution: reappropriation.”⁵

—“Needs a good fuck, but by who?”⁶

—“Men tend to speak up. Consequence: women shut up or admire men.” ⁷

—“Bullshit unions, piss-poor political parties – we don’t want to wipe the butts of every workers’ struggle.” ⁸

—“We women, yesterday’s prisoners and future prisoners, we want you to know that your whole repressive arsenal and even your ultramodern prisons won’t be enough to shut us up.” ⁹

—“Women of all countries: embrace !” ¹⁰

—“Since doctors refused to listen to a woman, a bunch of us went together, and we won. This kind of active confrontation is more effective and creative than voting and waiting. All we have to do is unite our inventiveness, our humor and our marginalities!”¹¹

—“When a feminist is accused of exaggerating, it’s because she’s on the right path.”¹²

—“Be demanding – become lesbians or at least learn to ignore the male gaze.” ¹³

An exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Women’s Liberation Movement organized by Rosa Brux, les Archives contestataires and Espace Femmes International (EFI), in collaboration with students of HEAD-Genève.

The exhibition is based on the periodical Clit 007 (Irresistibly Toxic Lesbian Concentrate, 1981-1986) produced by the political and feminist lesbian group vanille/fraise, which at the turn of the 1980s was no longer the reflection of a pre-existing movement, but rather the place where the sense of collective belonging to lesbian culture was structured and invented.

The way in which the exhibition is arranged echoes the way in which they brought together, within their publications, elements of varied origins: political leaflets, drawings and comics, feminist or esoteric symbols, critical, ironic or humorous comments and notes, offbeat classified ads, personal photographs, moments of sharing and experience. These collages bear witness to the development of an intimate, poetic form of self-writing that also seeks a collective narrative. A space in which to exist.