688 Pages
    by Routledge

    Bringing together forty-two groundbreaking essays--many of them already classics--The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader provides a much-needed introduction to the contemporary state of lesbian/gay studies, extensively illustrating the range, scope, diversity, appeal, and power of the work currently being done in the field. Featuring essays by such prominent scholars as Judith Butler, John D'Emilio, Kobena Mercer, Adrienne Rich, Gayle Rubin, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader explores a multitude of sexual, ethnic, racial, and socio-economic experiences.

    Ranging across disciplines including history, literature, critical theory, cultural studies, African American studies, ethnic studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, classics, and philosophy, this anthology traces the inscription of sexual meanings in all forms of cultural expression. Representing the best and most significant English language work in the field, The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader addresses topics such as butch-fem roles, the cultural construction of gender, lesbian separatism, feminist theory, AIDS, safe-sex education, colonialism, S/M, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, children's books, black nationalism, popular films, Susan Sontag, the closet, homophobia, Freud, Sappho, the media, the hijras of India, Robert Mapplethorpe, and the politics of representation. It also contains an extensive bibliographical essay which will provide readers with an invaluable guide to further reading.

    Contributors: Henry Abelove, Tomas Almaguer, Ana Maria Alonso, Michele Barale, Judith Butler, Sue-Ellen Case, Danae Clark, Douglas Crimp, Teresa de Lauretis, John D'Emilio, Jonathan Dollimore, Lee Edelman, Marilyn Frye, Charlotte Furth, Marjorie Garber, Stuart Hall, David Halperin, Phillip Brian Harper, Gloria T. Hull, Maria Teresa Koreck, Audre Lorde, Biddy Martin, Deborah E. McDowell, Kobena Mercer, Richard Meyer, D. A. Miller, Serena Nanda, Esther Newton, Cindy Patton, Adrienne Rich, Gayle Rubin, Joan W. Scott, Daniel L. Selden, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Barbara Smith, Catharine R. Stimpson, Sasha Torres, Martha Vicinus, Simon Watney, Harriet Whitehead, John J. Winkler, Monique Wittig, and Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano

    Introduction

    User's Guide

    Part I. Politics of Representation

    1. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, Gayle S. Rubin

    2. Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

    3. Deviance, Politics, and the Media, Stuart Hall

    4. Some Reflections on Separatism and Power, Marilyn Frye

    5. Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?, Barbara Smith

    6. One is Not Born a Woman, Monique Wittig

    7. Silences: "Hispanics," AIDS, and Sexual Practices, Ana Maria Alonso and Maria Teresa Koreck

    8. From Nation to Family: Containing African AIDS, Cindy Patton

    Part II: Spectacular Logic

    9. Sexual Indifference and Lesbian Representation, Teresa De Lauretis

    10. Eloquence and the Epitaph: Black Nationalism and the Homophobic Impulse in Responses to the Death of Max Robinson, Phillip Brian Harper

    11. Television/Feminsm: HeartBeat and Prime Time Lesbiansim, Sasha Torres

    12. Commodity Lesbianism, Danae Clark

    13. The Spectacle of AIDS, Simon Watney

    14. Sontags Urbanity, D.A. Miller
    15. "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water . . .", Daniel J. Selden

    Part III: Subjectivity, Discipline, Resistance

    16. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, Adrienne Rich

    17. Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior, Tomás Almaguer

    18. Lesbian Identity and Autobiographical Difference[s], Biddy Martin

    19. Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic, Sue-Ellen Case

    20. Imitation and Gender Insubordination, Judith Butler

    21. Spare Parts: The Surgical Construction of Gender, Marjorie Garber

    Part IV: The Uses of the Erotic

    22. The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Audre Lorde

    23. The Boys in My Bedroom, Douglas Crimp

    24. Looking for Trouble, Kobena Mercer

    25. Robert Mapplethorpe and the Discipline of Photography, Richard Meyer

    26. Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans, Henry Abelove

    Part V: "The Evidence of Experience"

    27. The Evidence of Experience, Joan W. Scott

    28. Is There a History of Sexuality?, David M. Halperin

    29. "They Wonder to Which Sex I Belong": The Historical Roots of the Modern Lesbian Identity, Martha Vicinus

    30. "Lines She Did Not Dare": Angelina Weld Grimke , Harlem Renaissance Poet, Gloria T. Hull

    31. Capitalism and Gay Identity, John D'Emilio

    Part VI: Collective Identities / Dissident Identities
    32. Androgynous Males and Deficient Females: Biology and Gender Boundaries in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century China, Charlotte Furth

    33. The Bow and the Burden Strap: A New Look at Institutionalized Homosexuality in Native North America, Harriet Whitehead

    34. Just One of the Boys: Lesbians in Cherry Grove, 1960-1988, Esther Newton

    35. Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman, Serena Nanda

    36. Tearooms and Sympathy or The Epistemology of the Water Closet, Lee Edelman

    Part VII: Between the Pages

    37. Double Consciousness in Sapphos Lyrics, John J. Winkler

    38. De-Constructing the Lesbian Body: Cherríe Moraga's Loving in the War Years, Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano

    39. When Jack Blinks: Si(gh)ting Gay Desire in Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker, Michèle Aina Barale

    40. "It's Not Safe. Not Safe at All": Sexuality in Nella Larsen's Passing,Deborah E. McDowell

    41. Different Desires: Subjectivity and Transgression in Wilde and Gide, Jonathan Dollimore

    42. The Sonograms of Gertrude Stein, Catharine R. Stimpson

    Suggestions for Further Reading

    Biography

    Henry Abelove is Professor of English at Wesleyan University.  He is the author of The Evangelist of Desire: John Wesley and the Methodists.

    Michèle Aina Barale is Assistant Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College.  Her book Below the Belt: Essays in Queer Reading is forthcoming from Routledge.

    David M. Halperin is Professor of Literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is the author of One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love.

    "At a moment when homosexual rights are at issue in school curricula, political party conventions, state and city referendums, religious institutions, the military, and even St. Patrick's Day parades, this book offers a broad, diverse, challenging, serious introduction to a wide range of scholarship in the emerging field of gay and lesbian studies." -- Barbara Johnson, Harvard University

    "Just a couple of decades ago the idea of a positive and creative lesbian and gay studies seemed a fantastical dream. Today it is an ever-expanding and exhilarating reality: a rivulet has become a mighty river, fertilizing all the traditional disciplines. This collection provides a valuable map of this new terrain, highlighting some of its most significant features, and pointing to exciting developments. Like all good guidebooks, it encourages us to explore further, to seek out the unknown, to see the old in fresh ways, and to cherish the new and innovative." -- Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Social Relations, University of West of England, Bristol, author of Sexuality and Its Discontents

    "It would be difficult to summarize the eclectic contents of The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, almost as difficult as it would be to summarize the subjects of study it seeks to document. The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader isn't an encyclopedia, nor does it pretend to be. It is however an excellent compendium of an emergin field whose full scope escapes us all." -- The Lesbian and Gay Studies Newsletter