1st Edition
Whistling Women A Study of the Lives of Older Lesbians
Gain first-hand knowledge of how today's lesbians aged 60 and over survived the 20th century!
I didn’t know we were lesbians. We lived together 13 years!
Whistling Women is a unique, candid collection of the life experiences of 44 lesbians between 62 and 82 years of age. This book explores new ground with interviews about their memories, feelings, and thoughts on a diversity of perspectivesfrom growing up during the Depression and World War II, to retirement and old age at the height of the gay liberation movement. This unprecedented resource captures a first-person view of lesbian history and documents the struggles and achievements of the women who lived it.
All my schooling was women-oriented
so I was able to see what women and girls could give to each other.
In Whistling Women, these older women share their views on:
- childhood and young adulthoodfamily, social factors, religion, schooling
- marriagehusbands, children, divorce
- lesbian relationshipscoming out/closet relationships, role playing, butch and fem practices
- conventional politicsparty affiliation, activities, concerns, degree of feminism
- work and moneyfinancial arrangements, home ownership, investment properties
- life after 60retirement, health, activities, communities
- and much more!
Whistling Women offers you unprecedented statistics on these women and comparisons with statistics gathered in other analyses on lesbian and heterosexual women. This research includes studies of:
- socioeconomic class in childhood, mid-life, and at retirement
- level of education of participants
- number and duration of long-term relationshipsboth heterosexual marriages and lesbian lover relationships
- age of first lesbian relationship
- retirement statisticsyear retired, age at retirement
- economic resources after retirement (compared to general US population)
This book is significant for sociologists, gay and lesbian researchers, and gerontologists, as well as anyone interested in women’s history. It also presents recollections of lesbian/mixed barssome famousstarting in the 1930s, memories of the notorious Greenwich Village, the early development of lesbian social groups, and lesbian friendships with gay men. Whistling Girls identifies many of the organizations that cater specifically to older lesbians, such as OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) and SOL (Slightly Older Lesbians).
- Chapter 1. Narrators and Friends
- The Study Sample
- The Historic Setting of the Narrators
- Previous Studies of Gay Women
- Whistling Women Statistics
- Writing This Book
- Chapter 2. Coming to Be
- Family Situations
- Tales of Moms and Dads
- Leaving Home
- Summary
- Chapter 3. Marriage and Families
- Dating Men
- Marriage
- Children
- Divorce
- Summary
- Chapter 4. Lesbian Relationships
- Overview of Lesbian History in the United States
- Coming to Recognition
- Coming Out
- Narrators’ Tales of Coming Out
- Relationships
- Politics
- Summary
- Chapter 5. Work and Money
- Women, Money, and Men
- Careers and Jobs
- Financial Education
- Summary
- Chapter 6. Life After Sixty
- The Decision to Retire
- Financing Retirement
- Lesbian Communities
- Retirement Activities
- Health
- Plans for Self, Partners, and Families
- Summary
- Chapter 7. Words and Us
- Being Wordless
- Learning Words
- Other People’s Words
- Coming Out
- Chapter 8. Lesbian Spaces, Gay Faces
- Greenwich Village
- The Subculture of Lesbian/Mixed Gay Bars
- Gay Community?
- Chapter 9. Conclusion
- Notes for the Conservative Right, Gay Studies Scholars, and Ourselves
- Do Age Differences Matter in Studies of Older Lesbians?
- References
- Index
Biography
J Dianne Garner, Cheryl Claassen