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 StudiesReader 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: Cherrķe 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
