It’s easy to write off women’s lands as an artifact of the past, and the dykes are particularly sensitive on the subject. “We’re still here,” more than one lesbian has told me. “We still exist!” Despite the toll of time, women’s land communities persist, and they’re trying to adapt. The landdykes are afraid of being forgotten, and with good reason:... See more

Living on women’s land was an experiment in building paradise. The landdykes terraced mountain hillsides into gardens. They pooled unemployment and food stamps. They built yurts, cabins, and houses by hand. They shat in 5-gallon buckets and pissed wherever they liked. In the winter, they stoked fires in wood stoves to keep warm; in the summer, they... See more

In fact, communities that are matrilineal — where descent is traced through the female line — matrilocal — where women remain near their families after marriage — or matricentric/matrifocal — with women heading the household — are usually egalitarian, with both women and men playing significant roles. As Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor note in their... See more