Odd girls and twilight lovers : a history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America /
This compelling story of lesbian life in the twentieth century traces the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from the early years of the century--when career opportunities first enabled women to support themselves and spend their lives in "romantic friendships" with other women-...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Columbia University Press,
[1991]
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| Series: | Between men--between women.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | This compelling story of lesbian life in the twentieth century traces the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from the early years of the century--when career opportunities first enabled women to support themselves and spend their lives in "romantic friendships" with other women--to the diversity of today's life styles. Faderman uses journals, unpublished manuscripts, songs, news accounts, novels, medical literature, and numerous personal interviews with lesbians of all races, ages, and classes, to uncover and relate this often surprising narrative of lesbian life in America. Lesbian identity could emerge, Faderman maintains, only during that time, with the sexual freedom of the 1920s and the 1960s, as well as the social freedom made possible by World War II, the education of women, and the civil rights and women's movements. The term "lesbian" did not become current until the late nineteenth century, when European sexologists began to explore female same-sex loving. Where close relationships between women had once been accepted--even encouraged--the sexologists stigmatized same-sex pairing as deviant, but at the same time fostered a lesbian consciousness which was necessary before lesbian communities could be formed. This book tells how women who accepted the label "lesbian" altered the sexologists' definitions, creating identities and ideologies for themselves.--Adapted from book jacket. |
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| Item Description: | One of the Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copies was acquired as part of The Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture. One of the Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copies was acquired as part of The Arden Eversmeyer Collection; is inscribed by the author. |
| Physical Description: | viii, 373 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Awards: | Gay and Lesbian Book Award (American Library Association), 1992 Lambda Literary Award, 1991 |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-361) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0231074883 9780231074889 0231074891 9780231074896 |