ellacaitlin's review
4.0
I found the first chapter of the book really informative and an easy, though somewhat sour introduction into lesbian history in that there isn’t a great deal that isn’t based on inferences and is heavily contested or actively dismissed.
I found the discourse on the definition of lesbianism highly enjoyable and thought provoking as with the second chapter on Charlotte bronte. Very surprising and also frustrating that so much of our history has been erased, moulded and manipulated to fit a heteronormative narrative.
I found the rest of the book informative yet slightly laborious to read and a lot less focus on lesbians and more on women and their friends with some allusion to lesbianism, though I perhaps this is due to my preconceived ideas of the modern freedom and somewhat acceptance of lesbianism and our own definition of such. However since some out lesbians were referred to but not focused on I found the chapters somewhat boring at times and without real focus.
The final chapter is more along the lines of what I was hoping for an expected from the book. There was serious lesbian feminist discussion and debate and although some of the content was slightly dated it was a highly informative and thought provoking read, especially in terms of sex and the misstep in the hyper-sexualisation and focus on SM and dom sub relationships that lesbian culture has reared into rather than the more positive and self affirming mutual connection to make love without the heteronormative dom sub roles.
My favourite part of the book is the inclusion of a lengthy list of lesbian literature broken down into sub categories and complete with a description of the title, something I’m definitely going to make good use of!
Overall it’s a book not without faults but with such a blatant lack of lesbian history and collection of such not without obvious merit either. The book also allows an interesting insight into the lesbian feminist mindset of the time of writing and also interestingly focuses on the differing viewpoints and ideals within the lesbian and feminist community.
I found the discourse on the definition of lesbianism highly enjoyable and thought provoking as with the second chapter on Charlotte bronte. Very surprising and also frustrating that so much of our history has been erased, moulded and manipulated to fit a heteronormative narrative.
I found the rest of the book informative yet slightly laborious to read and a lot less focus on lesbians and more on women and their friends with some allusion to lesbianism, though I perhaps this is due to my preconceived ideas of the modern freedom and somewhat acceptance of lesbianism and our own definition of such. However since some out lesbians were referred to but not focused on I found the chapters somewhat boring at times and without real focus.
The final chapter is more along the lines of what I was hoping for an expected from the book. There was serious lesbian feminist discussion and debate and although some of the content was slightly dated it was a highly informative and thought provoking read, especially in terms of sex and the misstep in the hyper-sexualisation and focus on SM and dom sub relationships that lesbian culture has reared into rather than the more positive and self affirming mutual connection to make love without the heteronormative dom sub roles.
My favourite part of the book is the inclusion of a lengthy list of lesbian literature broken down into sub categories and complete with a description of the title, something I’m definitely going to make good use of!
Overall it’s a book not without faults but with such a blatant lack of lesbian history and collection of such not without obvious merit either. The book also allows an interesting insight into the lesbian feminist mindset of the time of writing and also interestingly focuses on the differing viewpoints and ideals within the lesbian and feminist community.
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