1st Edition

Classics in Lesbian Studies

By Esther D Rothblum Copyright 1997
    294 Pages
    by Routledge

    294 Pages
    by Routledge

    Classics in Lesbian Studies takes a major step in giving the lesbian experience its own unique voice within scholarship and the larger world society. Thus, it is devoted exclusively to the lesbian experience and serves as a vehicle for the promotion of scholarship and commentary on lesbianism from an international perspective. Not only does it ensure that “classic” pieces are not forgotten by new generations of students and scholars, it also spurs further lesbian research, writing, theory, and scholarship.

    In Classics in Lesbian Studies, you are introduced to descriptive, theoretical, empirical, applied, and multicultural perspectives in the field of lesbian studies. Interdisciplinary, the book presents pieces from various academic areas in multiple formats, including personal accounts, poetry, editorials, debates, and commentaries. For your convenience, the chapters are organized primarily across four categories: identity, history and literature, physical and social sciences, and “back to lesbian politics.” You will find the discussions of the following issues and subjects provocative and insightful:

    • ways black women in the diaspora construct and name their sexual and romantic feelings for other women
    • lesbian identity formation in a changing social environment
    • how lesbians maneuver in the dominant culture and their own subculture
    • lesbianism as a political movement
    • the experiences of lesbian adolescents
    • teaching lesbian studies
    • lesbians and societal institutions, including the work place, the media, the political arena, the legal system, and religion
    • using lesbian-feminist scholarship to reexamine women's lives in the past

      Students, scholars, lesbian feminists, and others interested in lesbian studies will find Classics in Lesbian Studies a vital examination of lesbianism since its grass roots. Not only does it consider the progress made since the initial days of fighting for liberation, it also explores a more distant, repressed past and anticipates future possibilities lying before us. This powerful, insightful collection is sure to become a classic as it grapples with virtually all aspects of lesbianism, from its inception as a political movement to its identity as a lifestyle choice to its implications of community.

    • Introduction: What Are “Classics” in Lesbian Studies? (Esther D. Rothblum)
    • Some Like Indians Endure (Paula Gunn Allen)
    • Mati-ism and Black Lesbianism: Two Idealtypical Expressions of Female Homosexuality in Black Communities of the Diaspora (Gloria Wekker)
    • “Coming Out” in the Age of Social Constructionism: Sexual Identity Formation Among Lesbian and Bisexual Women (Paula C. Rust)
    • A Study of Lesbian Lifestyles in the Homosexual Micro-Culture and the Heterosexual Macro-Culture (Joyce C. Albro and Carol Tully)
    • Sappho Was a Right-On Adolescent: Growing Up Lesbian (Margaret Schneider)
    • Growing Older Female: Heterosexual and Homosexual (Mary Riege Laner)
    • Lesbianism in Female and Coed Correctional Institutions (Alice M. Propper)
    • Lesbian Women of Color: Triple Jeopardy (Beverly Greene)
    • Who Hid Lesbian History? (Lillian Faderman)
    • “Imagine My Surprise”: Women’s Relationships in Historical Perspective (Leila J. Rupp)
    • Zero Degree Deviancy: The Lesbian Novel in English (Catharine R. Stimpson)
    • Lesbian Ethics and Female Agency (Sarah Lucia Hoagland)
    • Toward a Laboratory of One’s Own: Lesbians in Science (H. Patricia Hynes)
    • National Lesbian Health Care Survey: Implications for Mental Health Care (Judith Bradford, Caitlin Ryan, and Esther D. Rothblum)
    • Negative Sexual Experiences With Men Among Heterosexual Women and Lesbians (JoAnn C. Brannock and Beata E. Chapman)
    • Therapy for Lesbians?: The Case Against (Rachel Perkins)
    • Putting the Politics Back Into Lesbianism (Janice G. Raymond)

    Biography

    Rothblum, Esther D