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The Lesbian Menace: Ideology, Identity, and the Representation of Lesbian Life
Sherrie A. Inness
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Electroshock. Hysterectomy. Lobotomy. These are only three of the many "cures" to which lesbians have been subjected in this century. How does a society develop such a profound aversion to a particular minority? In what ways do images in the popular media perpetuate cultural stereotypes about lesbians, and to what extent have lesbians been able to subvert and revise those images? This book addresses these and other questions by examining how lesbianism has been represented in American popular culture in the twentieth century and how conflicting ideologies have shaped lesbian experiences and identity.
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Title Page
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Copyright Page
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Dedication
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Table of Contents
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Acknowledgments
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Introduction
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PART ONE. Inventing the Lesbian
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1. Who's Afraid of Stephen Gordon?: The Lesbian in the United States Popular Imagination of the 1920s
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2. “Malevolent, neurotic, and tainted”: The Lesbian Menace in Popular Women’s College Fiction
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3. “They’re here, they’re flouncy, don’t worry about them”: Depicting Lesbians in Popular Women's Magazines, 1965-1995
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PART TWO. Forms of Resistance
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4. Is Nancy Drew Queer?: Popular Reading Strategies forthe Lesbian Reader
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5. “Candy-coated cyanide”: Children’s Books and Lesbian Images
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3. Writing in the Margins
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6. Lost in Space: Queer Geography and the Politics of Location
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7. To Pass or Not to Pass: Thoughts on Passing and Lesbian Identities
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8. GI Joes in Barbie Land: Recontextualizing the Meaning of Butch in Twentieth-Century Lesbian Culture
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Notes
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Works Cited
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Index
Citable Link
Published: 1997
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- 9781558490918 (paperback)