Jill Johnston launched her career as a writer tracking downtown’s postmodern dance scene to becoming one of the most prominent voices of lesbian feminism with a column in the Village Voice and a bestselling book, Lesbian Nation. Her writing has been arguably under-examined, yet in recent years a movement to uncover many of these archives has taken shape. Explore some of this work below, and mark your calendars for an event honoring Johnston at Skirball on February 8th.
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RELATED EVENTS
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GET INTO IT
An archival interview from “Making Gay History” with Jill Johnston and Studs Terkel in 1973.
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GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY
Recommended resources on Jill Johnston’s work.
- Dwight Garner, What Was The Village Voice?, 2024
- Frances Chapman, talking it out in new york city: is the sexual political?, 1973
- Jill Johnston, The New American Modern Dance, 1976
- The Gay and Lesbian Review, Was Lesbian Separatism Inevitable?, 2006
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Jill Johnston, Critic Who Wrote ‘Lesbian Nation,’ Dies at 81
“In the early 1970s she began championing the cause of lesbian feminism, arguing in “Lesbian Nation” (1973) for a complete break with men and with male-dominated capitalist institutions.”
The Revolutionary Dance Critic Jill Johnston
“‘She has this complete candor and gives me the license to say anything. When I started, I took that freedom.’”
Jill Johnston: ‘A Woman Like Bella’
“Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives.”
Jill Johnston Obituary
“Feminist writer who gained notoriety with Lesbian Nation: the Feminist Solution”
