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Political lesbianism, an outgrowth of the current feminist movement, appears to have been a transitory phenomenon born on the rising tide of feminism and nurtured by the power of that movement to spark the imaginations and stimulate the idealism of students on campuses across the country. The movement ideology to which many college students of the early 1970's responded with the fervor and passion so typical of reform movements no longer seems as readily able to inspire an uncritical lesbian sex-preference in certain students as it did during the peak of its popularity.
In its heyday political lesbianism, the interface between political action and sexual behavior, was perceived as an exciting and novel phenomenon for certain students seeking either a justification for their homosexual tendencies under the aegis of an avant garde cause or conversely, using allegiance to the cause to act out prematurely their still uncertain sexual direction. In the light of actual experience, often disappointing and disillusioning, ideology rapidly seemed to lose credulity.
The early 1970's saw the full scale arrival of the feminist movement into large urban university centers as well as small elite womens' colleges. It was not therefore unusual for women students immersed in movement activities to discuss in therapy various aspects of their involvement with the movement. For a number of intensely involved students the ideology of feminism and its relationship to sexual preference became central issues in therapy.