Lesbian Herstory Archives AudioVisual Collections

Alix Dobkin video recordings, 1976

Title

Alix Dobkin video recordings, 1976

Description

Alix Dobkin was a celebrated folk musician, composer and feminist activist involved in the women’s liberation movement of the early 1970s. After the birth of her daughter and an amicable divorce she began listening to countercultural radio shows and worked to become a leading voice, meeting her lifelong partner Liza Cowan along the way. She wrote how she initially focused on “a traditional, international, and contemporary/protest repertory, [coming] out as lesbian in 1972 and turned to writing and singing for women … to [build] lesbian culture in particular.” Dobkin found her voice while immersing herself in the Greenwich Village folk scene then moved on to bigger, women-centered crowds around the world. In 1973, Dobkin–as part of the group Lavender Jane, released the album Lavender Jane Loves Women, arguably the first lesbian album made by and for women. Over the years, her influential songs such as “Woman to Woman,” “My Lesbian Wars,” and “Lesbian Code” spoke to crowds of women foregoing their way in the world, preaching to never be ashamed of identifying as lesbian. Dobkin passed away due to a brain aneurysm and stroke; she was surrounded by her family in Woodstock, NY.

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