Who Counts as "We"? Class and Sexuality in the Geneva Women's Liberation Movement (1970-1977)

This paper is based on archival research and interviews with members of the vibrant women's liberation movement (Mouvement de libération des femmes - MLF) based in Geneva in the 1970s. It focuses on how the composition of the movement was a constant topic of discussion and anxiety. Debates over the movement's demographics were not framed in terms of identity but rather tightly articulated with persistent difficulties in defining the goals and political aims of the movement, as well as attempts at understanding the concrete articulation of various modalities of oppression and their political consequences. In particular, MLF activists constantly discussed the issue of class and the emancipation of working-class women, who were considered to be absent from the movement. Here the discussions revolved around the possibility of building a movement that would be "attractive" to working-class women and responsive to their needs. The second object of discussion was sexuality, as lesbians fought to counter the invisibility imposed onto them and the persistence of lesbophobia in the movement. The paper discusses the political work that treating the feminist "we" as uncertain played in building the Geneva MLF, in defining its political strategies and its priorities.