From “Lesbian Separatism” to “Muslim Separatism” : Weaponizing (Feminist) Universalism Against Minority Subjects

In 1980, a fierce controversy erupted within the French women’s liberation movement (MLF) over the place of lesbianism, following the rise of a radical lesbian movement that, for the first time, described the MLF as a “hetero-feminist” movement. Their critique was swiftly condemned as “separatist,” “extremist,” or even “totalitarian.” Four decades later, Muslim visibility (particularly through the wearing of the headscarf), Afro-feminist organizing, and intersectional mobilizations more broadly, have been attacked using remarkably similar rhetoric, in the name of republican/feminist universalism. These attacks have intensified since President Macron’s 2021 law aimed at “combating all forms of separatisms,” which primarily targeted Muslim minorities. This paper examines how universalist discursive practices reverberate across time: from the rhetoric deployed against lesbian activists within the MLF to contemporary accusations of separatism directed against Muslim and racialized minorities, in order to delegitimize their politicization and public visibility. The striking parallels between the early 1980s “anti-lesbian” panic and today’s “anti-separatism” crusade reveal that the current (conservative) opposition between “universalist” and “intersectional” politics has a longer history since it was already being framed, almost identically, against lesbian activists in the early 1980s. Revisiting these controversies through the lens of second-wave feminism’s heteronormativity allows us to trace an unexpected feminist (even revolutionary) genealogy of French conservatism.