Columnist Rosemary McLeod has delivered a stinging backhander to same-sex parenting couples and politically-minded lesbians.

The attack came within a retrospective on the 70s feminist movement, which also came in for sharp criticism. On gay parenting, McLeod sniped at conception techniques as well as questioning the ability of same-sex couples to stay together: "Future generations will rejoice at being the turkey baster products of gay men and women who never had emotional ties," she wrote.

"I know women, fanatical about animal rights and genetic engineering, who've dashed with warm sperm in teaspoons - or turkey basters - to their waiting girlfriends. They say teaspoon conception is spiritual and romantic, when done with incense and candlelight, but I've noticed that all-female 'parents' separate as often as anyone else, and someone's still left holding the baby."

In reflecting on how the feminist movement's successes have been felt today, McLeod wrote: "To be a woman has become an advantage anywhere near policymaking and power; to be a politicised lesbian a passport to success."

McLeod lamented the plight of the women who have missed out on the advantages wrought by the feminist revolution, the less advantaged but "less interesting" heterosexuals, who were too busy bringing up children in the 70s to get involved.