The Lesbian Project is a new initiative that highlights and champions the experiences, insights and sensibilities of lesbians in all their diversity.
Led by Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock, The Lesbian Project intends to give voice and influence to women whose stories are too often overlooked. The Lesbian Project works to build a knowledge base about lesbian lives, promote sensible and evidence-based policy, and contribute to building lesbian community in the UK and internationally. A not-for-profit organisation, The Lesbian Project is non-partisan.
Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock discuss why The Lesbian Project is needed
Who we work with
We are interested in collaborating with any group or individual whose work or experiences are relevant to the lives of lesbians.
These include: UK lesbians; families of UK lesbians; grassroots lesbian-specific organisations; women’s organisations; LGBTQ+ charities and campaigning groups; policymakers, politicians, civil servants, political parties, and government bodies; journalists and media correspondents, including LGBTQ+ correspondents; international lesbian organisations.
Why The Lesbian Project is needed
The consequences for lesbians of at least 20 years of institutional neglect are clear.
We have little reliable knowledge about the lives of same-sex-attracted females in the UK today (or internationally). We lack detailed information in such crucial areas as: the specific health needs of lesbians; lesbian parenting; lesbians and the housing crisis; young lesbians in the education system; lesbians in minoritised communities; lesbians and ageing; and more.
There is currently little effective lobbying or political campaigning on behalf of lesbians specifically, except at the grassroots. Lesbian needs and interests are not specifically represented in government, in the judicial system, in education, in the third sector, or in corporate life. The mainstream LGBTQ+ organisations assumed to serve those interests are failing lesbians.
Lesbians considered as a group with their own sex-specific interests are not well-represented in mainstream media and have practically no voice as such. With a few recent exceptions, there is little consideration of how lesbian interests might differ from other members of the LGBTQ+ coalition in response to current affairs.
There is an urgent need for the reinvigoration of single-sex lesbian social spaces and networks, to reconnect members of this disparate and beleaguered community, both nationally and internationally.