The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader

The biggest and most comprehensive multi-disciplinary anthology of critical work in lesbian/gay studies brings together 42 groundbreaking essays which extensively illustrate the range, scope, diversity, appeal, and power of the work currently being done in the field. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of sexuality, sexual politics, and gender studies.

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. Miller15. "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: ACartography 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 Identities32. 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

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.