DYKES and DECRIM

It's so awesome to see so much going on around the 50th anniversary of decriminalisation. The focus, of course, has been on gay men - who were so terribly criminalised.

Sex between women has never been illegal in the UK. The erasure of lesbians affects - all - women deeply to this day and sits at the heart of patriacharcal thinking around gender and sexuality. That sex without a penis is not sex at all.

Those who think that lesbians have suffered less should walk a day in my shoes. To walk the road of being a different kind of women, one who looks different or lives without a man can result in some of the harshest punishments of all.

Like so many women suffering domestic and sexual violence all over the world - lesbians have suffered in silence.

Until we all start to understand the societal wide gender conspiracy that is the silencing of women who are suffering violence at the hands of men (2 women a week are killed by men in the UK) - attitudes to lesbians - and all queer people - won't change.

The fight continues.