August 25, 2019

"The five members of HOWL's board... have begun weighing the possibility that their perfect place may not be long for this world."

"There are no clear inheritors of [The Huntington Open Women’s Land], which was designated a place for women and women only by a private donor in 1986.... Such stories of pending obsolescence are common among the living leaders of the womyn’s land movement, who began founding rural lesbian utopias in the 1960s. At the peak, in the late ’70s and early ’80s, there were an estimated 150 such intentional communities in the United States. The lands are now at risk of dying out, partly because of their virtues: They exist in remote, off-the-grid areas.... In the absence of the men, women often comfortably lounged around the premises in various states of undress. HOWL in particular was envisioned 'as a place where young women have role models of strong old women....'...  More recently, HOWL joined Hipcamp, an online camping booking platform, which has led to an uptick in visitors.... 'This is a business,' said Barbara Lieu, 74, who manages the properties. 'Some might say it’s not, but it is.... I don’t have a fantasy that young lesbians will want to come here. They have enough freedoms in the world that we never had. And they’re transitioning in all kinds of ways.'... Starting about a decade ago, HOWL began to welcome anyone who identifies as a woman. The move caused some longstanding members to bristle.... There have been rumors of new separatist communities springing up elsewhere. [There is word] of one run entirely by trans women in the South. The rumors place it on an alpaca farm...."

From "Why Doesn’t Anyone Want to Live in This Perfect Place?" (NYT).

61 comments:

Mark said...

Ultimately, when it comes down to it, the LG folks don't much like or appreciate the T folks (and they are suspicious of the B folks).

But it was awfully convenient to lump them all together for political purposes.

mccullough said...

So it peaked 40 years ago and they are trying to keep them afloat.

Put a gun range on them and you’ll get plenty of weekend visitors. Maybe a golf course or two as well.

Mark said...

Put a gun range on them and you’ll get plenty of weekend visitors. Maybe a golf course or two as well.

No, no, no. The social justice way is to berate the lesbians who don't much care to see women with penises walking around.

Rob said...

"The rumors place it on an alpaca farm."

From Wikipedia: "Alpacas use a communal dung pile, where they do not graze. This behaviour tends to limit the spread of internal parasites. Generally, males have much tidier, and fewer dung piles than females, which tend to stand in a line and all go at once. One female approaches the dung pile and begins to urinate and/or defecate, and the rest of the herd often follows."

I Callahan said...

This is what happens under a matriarchy. This is exactly why it should happen as little as possible.

Bay Area Guy said...

Generally, the idea of "rural Lesbian Utopias" conjures up some excellent theoretical imagery - perhaps a cross between a University of Alabama sorority house and Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills.

Alas, the concrete reality of "rural Lesbian Utopias" is quite different - 6 angry, 200 pound, embittered farm gals, working the ploughshare and rarely bathing.

rehajm said...

Places where young women in various states of undress paled around with strong old women in various states of undress? In the Adirondacks we called those places the Girl Scout camp.

Leland said...

Perfection isn't a bunch of 60+ woman laying around in various levels of undress.

Swede said...

Segregation is bad.

Unless it's self-segregation, then it's good.

Unless it's straight white males, then it's bad again.

Birkel said...

Those places sound just awful.

FWBuff said...

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

madAsHell said...

Rural Lesbian Utopias

Now available on DVD!!

Bill Peschel said...

Hemingway called it in his Paris memoir:

"The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself."

Seeing Red said...

The lands are now at risk of dying out, partly because of their virtues: They exist in remote, off-the-grid areas

With all the technology today, this should be booming. A retreat resort or something. Lots of yurts, solar panels, internet, etc.

AllenS said...

Who fixes the plumbing?

Quaestor said...

There is word...

i.e. There is a rumor of a fictional place — an alpaca farm in the South, in other words, a petting zoo — for fictional people.

Bob Boyd said...

[There is word] of one run entirely by trans women in the South. The rumors place it on an alpaca farm...where, having un-saddled themselves, guests roam contentedly among the grazing alpacas, forming friendships hitherto unimaginable to many.

Mr. Groovington said...

The skinny black chick in the photo is hot. What a waste.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nancy said...

Thank heavens Ann reads the NYT so we don't have to!

Bay Area Guy said...

The one good thing about Rural Lesbian Utopias, is that the gals are probably not bothering anyone else. There are chores to be done. Milking cows, feeding the livestock - they don't have time to ride into DC wearing pussy hats or disrupting Congressional hearings like Code Pink.

bagoh20 said...

It's not the matriarchy so much as the collectivism. It always fails long term to flourish and grow and eventually to even survive. Collectivism has an inherent lack of individual motivation, and despite the attempt to convince themselves otherwise, they are composed of individuals. Reduced individual motivation means a reduced accomplishment of the entire group which leads to envy and resentment, which in turn leads to even lower motivation and down the spiral goes. There is no self-sustaining energy. It runs only on the energy it starts with, and that of newcomers, but that slowly peters out and has no mechanism for regeneration. We are not ants or bees, and our nature can never be turned into something like theirs. Even people advocating collectivism, don't really want it for themselves. Who really would? The ideology is at its core self-delusion, and pushes lies all around the edges.

David Begley said...

I want to see the numbers on these utopias.

Michael K said...

Blogger AllenS said...
Who fixes the plumbing?


When I was a boy we used to visit my great aunt who was a nun at St Mary of the Woods college in Indiana.

It was located on a huge farm where they grew their own food and there was even a coal mine that supplied power. The college was all women but the farm and the coal mine and power plant were run by men. It was just an idyllic place. I suspect it is all PC and there are no nuns left.

bagoh20 said...

It sounds like a strip club with no customers. The ladies must have really bad management.

David Begley said...

Mighty nice for the NYT to run a free ad for HOWL.

Wince said...

...rural lesbian utopias...

We men will be the judge of that!

In the absence of the men, women often comfortably lounged around the premises in various states of undress.

"Oh, that's good. That's good. That's very, very good. Oh, it's hot in there. It's hot in there. So, just walk around a little bit. Don't be ashamed, don't be ashamed.. that's good, that's good.. yes, yes, yes.."

I don’t have a fantasy that young lesbians will want to come here.

Dhoo!

SGT Ted said...

"The skinny black chick in the photo is hot. What a waste."

She's probably crazy. Don't stick your dick in crazy.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"...the land, which was designated a place for women and women only."

In a deed restriction? Just wondering, and contemplating the implications/

Unknown said...

.. In the absence of the men, women often comfortably lounged around the premises in various states of undress. HOWL in particular was envisioned 'as a place where young women have role models of strong old women....'

Sounds like old lesbian privilege to me.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"Ms. Feltch holds a small sculpture of a vulva in the memorial garden of former HOWL women."

What a great idea! I'll go to Garden Ridge Pottery today to look for a ceramic phallus for Dad's grave.

gspencer said...

"Starting about a decade ago, HOWL began to welcome anyone who identifies as a woman."

Roosevelt put men on the beaches.

Obama put them in the women's rooms.

JaimeRoberto said...

Perfect place? Sounds awful to me, but I guess it's perfect for someone. Insofar as they are engaging in consensual acts of commerce, good for them.

Darrell said...

SJWs need to start a New Atlantis on the bottom of the ocean.

Beasts of England said...

According to the article, there’s one of these tongue and groove camps (Alapine) about forty miles from me. I’ll have to drive over this afternoon and check it out!! Just kidding...

Ann Althouse said...

"Who fixes the plumbing?"

Josephine.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Mark: "Ultimately, when it comes down to it, the LG folks don't much like or appreciate the T folks (and they are suspicious of the B folks)."

You have it wrong. It is Lemon Grass, Bacon, Tomato, Quinoa.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"Why Doesn’t Anyone Want to Live in This Perfect Place?"

Ummmmmm. No men?

gilbar said...

Let's Assume!

Let's assume that there was a idyllic place, out in the country; where people of one gender could get together and relax. A pretty place, with Grass, and Ponds and Trees (and some Sand!)

Now! Let's call it a Golf Course; and let's call the one gender: MALE
Would the NYT's still be writing an adoring piece about it ???

Sebastian said...

"rural lesbian utopias"

Althouse! We need a new word for this conjunction of ill-fitting words. Dual oxymoron?

William said...

I don't think diversity is their strength. Not too many lipstick lesbians would be attracted to such a place.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

what-- no one wants to go to TrigglyPuff's Armpit-hair Ranch??

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“The one good thing about Rural Lesbian Utopias, is that the gals are probably not bothering anyone else.”

I don’t know about RLU communities but in my generally conservative small-town-to-deeply-rural-to-wilderness part of the world, there is no shortage of undemonstrative lesbian couples making their own little rural utopias. And, yes, they won’t bother you and they don’t want to be bothered. It’s my impression that, beyond the usual interchanges of commerce and routine neighborliness, they don’t want to be part of anyone’s community. Many young couples but at least one couple dating back to the early ‘70’s. And they’re all gun owners.

RK said...

"women often comfortably lounged around the premises in various states of undress"

All this means is that women like to sun their boobs. Why is this considered news?

Darrell said...

We had our first crime committed in space with that lesbian astronaut cleaning out her mate's bank account. This would have happened a lot sooner if Hillary became an astronaut when she applied.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I don’t know about RLU communities but in my generally conservative small-town-to-deeply-rural-to-wilderness part of the world, there is no shortage of undemonstrative lesbian couples making their own little rural utopias. And, yes, they won’t bother you and they don’t want to be bothered. It’s my impression that, beyond the usual interchanges of commerce and routine neighborliness, they don’t want to be part of anyone’s community. Many young couples but at least one couple dating back to the early ‘70’s. And they’re all gun owners.”

The gay guys are no different. I remember getting into a discussing with one of our local gay guys, in the Home Depot in Sandpoint, 80 miles away, about the Pulse Nightclub shootings. It was about guns. What guns we had. That it was stupid that they all went to a gun free zone, defenseless. And that all gays should be armed - without actually admitting his sexual orientation. But we all know. Well, most of us - we know one gay couple who wouldn’t come out to either of their very religiously conservative fathers. Nobody talks about it, because pretty much no one (except those very religiously conservative parents) cares. Which is why the Matthew Shepherd murder was always suspect as having been caused by homophobia. That was Laramie, in the same state that Dick Cheney is from. Very much live and let live here in the rural west.

Unknown said...

Just when you think Weird Times™ can't get any weirder... well, something like this comes along,

n.n said...

the LG folks don't much like or appreciate the T folks (and they are suspicious of the B folks)

One degree (i.e. sexual orientation) of transgender supremacy. The transgender spectrum is progress too far for the homosexual purists.

Yancey Ward said...

Going the way of the Shakers- big surprise.

YoungHegelian said...

Lesbian Separatism in one form or another has been around a long time.

Aside from "Gorillas in the Mist" anthropological drive-bys like this article, the MSM likes to deny the existence of this strain of feminism, e.g. the reaction by mainstream feminism to claims by Evangelical tele-preachers in the 80s that lesbians wanted to "convert" their daughters to homosexuality.

Well, of course, the lesbian separatists wanted to "convert" their daughters. How the hell else could Jill Johnston stock her Lesbian Nation!

Michael The Magnificent said...

Is there a name for lesbian cougars?

rcocean said...

If only Hillary could've become a Marine. We would've won the Vietnam War.

rcocean said...

Lesbian separatism is a good thing. Best for everyone involved.

Doug said...

Who kills the spiders?

Michael K said...

Is there a name for lesbian cougars?

Thunderpussies.

Milwaukie guy said...

I once read that when the Shakers were down to two old maids, a gay couple converted and ended up with control of the sect. I hear they did it for the antiques. I should probably check in with Snopes.

ccscientist said...

The reason such rural utopias fail is that they always start out with a block of funding (maybe from divorces or trusts) but do not ever grasp that one cannot maintain any sort of lifestyle with a vegetable garden. You need a real business but if you think lounging around half-naked is a business, then fade away you must. It doesn't even have much to do with it being a lesbian utopia. Other utopias (and I visited a few back in the day) always fade away unless they get serious about making money.

Fen said...

The lands are now at risk of dying out, partly because of their virtues:

Sure they are.

Josephbleau said...

When the land dies out I wonder where it goes.

tim in vermont said...

There was for a while a place similar to this around here. Somebody bought an old resort and every summer for a couple of weeks there were a lot of slovenly dressed lesbians buying beer in the local store, but I haven’t seen them for a couple of years.

Good for them if they can make it work. Amurica! Freedom!

Skippy Tisdale said...

Is there a name for lesbian cougars?

Hen-hawks?