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The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader
by
Gay & Lesbian Studies, Homosexuality, Women's Studies
Paperback, 502 pages
Published
May 1st 1992
by Alyson Books
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Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
I've been looking for stories like these for a long time. I'm glad I finally found the time to read them.
I would love for there to be an ebook version someday so this text could reach a wider audience. Here are some quotes that jumped out at me:
"After I left home my brother found out that I hung out in the Starlet Lounge and he and his friends used to come and taunt us. There was nothing that could be done about that, because that’s what the bars were, that’s where they made their money—with th ...more
I would love for there to be an ebook version someday so this text could reach a wider audience. Here are some quotes that jumped out at me:
"After I left home my brother found out that I hung out in the Starlet Lounge and he and his friends used to come and taunt us. There was nothing that could be done about that, because that’s what the bars were, that’s where they made their money—with th ...more
Jul 25, 2011
Jessica
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
2011,
essays,
epistolary,
feminisms,
first-person,
love-stories,
mysaturnreturns,
nonfiction,
sociological
On a major Joan Nestle kick. Even though The Persistent Desire gets referenced all the time in newer books, I couldn't find it in any bookstore and had to special order. Well worth the postage, and a great one to read aloud. The book feels like a conversation held under a big warm tent that could only have been pitched by a great humanist editor like Nestle. Her busy mending and minding of these stories is evident in the way it's knitted all together, beautifully patterned by Nestle web-spinning
...more
Crucial to the femme-butch history, this anthology is diverse, incredible, and well written.
Some of my favorite pieces from this [for my reference]
Gayle Rubin "Of Calamities and Kings: Reflections on butch, gender, and boundaries"
Pat Califa "Diagnostic Tests"'
Bonni Barringer "When Butches Cry"
"Recollecting History, Renaming Lives: Femme Stigma and the Feminist 70s and 80s"
Rita Laporte "The Butch Femme Question"
Barbara Smith "The Dance of Masks"
Gayle Rubin "Of Calamities and Kings: Reflections on butch, gender, and boundaries"
Pat Califa "Diagnostic Tests"'
Bonni Barringer "When Butches Cry"
"Recollecting History, Renaming Lives: Femme Stigma and the Feminist 70s and 80s"
Rita Laporte "The Butch Femme Question"
Barbara Smith "The Dance of Masks"
I've never felt any affinity with a butch or femme label, but (to my surprise) I loved this. There is a great variety of talented voices captured here in a variety of prose and poetry, fiction and not.
I recently read a lesbian history book, and reading an overview of all the lesbian cultures that sprang up throughout the years made me tired. For the most part, the cultures came off as exhausting and restrictive. But this book shed a different light on Butch/Femme culture and hearing about differ ...more
I recently read a lesbian history book, and reading an overview of all the lesbian cultures that sprang up throughout the years made me tired. For the most part, the cultures came off as exhausting and restrictive. But this book shed a different light on Butch/Femme culture and hearing about differ ...more
💕💕💕
I place a high value on knowing where your community started and how far it has come, so this is a pretty important book for me. You should approach it as a history book, though, not a present day "reader" on butch/femme things, because it is a fairly dated perspective.
This book really synthesized and solidified my identity as a fem. I loved the historical perspective on queer culture. It's really affirming of the roles that queers have taken over the years that are not generally celbrated. Bless Joan Nestle!
MUST READ! without a doubt my favorite Butch/Femme book - a beautiful and powerful anthology that has held up to the test of time, core to a Butch/Femme literary cannon
oh joan, how could i have ever found femme without you? one of my favorite covers too.
Absolutely awesome
I am not someone who reads books a second time but I've read this one at least three times.
I am not someone who reads books a second time but I've read this one at least three times.
LOVED IT!!
Very good history of the butch/femme dynamic...obviously a bit out of date for current dynamics..but we should all know the stories of those who came before us.
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Joan Nestle writes and edits essays, erotic fiction, poetry, and short stories. She is an activist, and among many actions has co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives to preserve records of lesbian lives and communities and currently coordinates the Women in Black protests against Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
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