Nestled into Niches: Prefigurative Communities on Lesbian Land

Abstract

The contemporary U.S. lesbian land movement, known more recently as the landdyke movement, is analyzed. I argue that landdyke activists are creating a network of communities that are prefigurative and ecofeminist. Based on interviews with 32 activists in the movement, the article describes four aspects of landdyke ecofeminist praxis: developing an emotional and spiritual connection to land; facilitating personal liberation and transformation; living important values through everyday acts; and assurance of bodily freedoms that are largely unavailable outside of the movement. These lived aspects of the landdyke movement prefigure an ecofeminist future.