Lesbian ethics advocate the creation and maintenance of community among lesbians, independent from maledefined social structures, policies, attitudes, and laws. Lesbian approaches to ethics are varied and do not subscribe to a systematic set of rules but rather support practices that enable women to break away from patriarchal dominance, including patriarchal ethical theories. Traditional ethical theory articulates rules by which men can live together, respecting each other's rights and property, fulfilling duties that accompany particular social roles, and adhering, with some exceptions, to commonly shared norms such as honesty, protection of human life, and promise keeping.

Lesbian ethicists recognize that traditional ethical theory supports the status quo of structures that are sexist, racist, ageist, classist, and heterosexist, to name a few of the isms that lesbian ...