Femme: Feminists, Lesbians and Bad Girls

by Laura Harris (Editor), Elizabeth Crocker (Editor)

Overview

Femme seeks to redress the ways that femme identities have been elided, idealized, or not fully historicized in a productive reconsideration of lesbian and butch-femme history, of feminism, and of queer thought. As a feminist project, Femme offers an alliance between many communities of women previously passed over by feminism. Contributors: Leah Lilith Albrecht-Samarasinha, Barbara Cruikshank, Madeline Davis, Heather Findlay, Jewelle Gomez, Kelly Hankin, Leslie Henson, Amber Hollibaugh, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Mabel Maney, Katherine Millersdaughter, Joan Nestle, Lisa Ortiz, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Rebecca Ann Rugg, Gaby Sandoval, Marcy Sheiner, Alex Robertson Textor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135254438
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/08/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	236
File size:	505 KB

About the Author

Laura Alexandra Harris is Lecturer in Women's Studies at California State University. Liz Hutchinson Crocker is Instructor of Writing Composition, Creative Writing, and Literature at the University of California, San Diego.

Table of Contents

1. Histories: Creating an Archive Compiled and introduced by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy -- The Hidden voice: Fems in the 1940s and 1950s Laura Harris and Liz Crocker -- Fish Tales: Revisiting A Study of a Public Lesbian Community Kelly Hankin -- Femme Icon: An Interview with Madeline Davis Leslie J. Henson -- Articulate Silence(s): Femme Subjectivity and Class Relations in The Well of Loneliness Laura Harris and Liz Crocker -- Mysteries, Mothers, and Cops: An Interview with Mable Maney Lisa Oritz -- Dresses for My Round Brown Body Laura Harris and Liz Crocker -- Bad Girls: Sex, Class, and Feminist Agency 2. Generations: A Feminist Genealogy Joan Nestle and Barbara Cruikshank -- I'll be the Girl: Generations of Fem Katherine Millersdaughter -- A Coincidence of Lipstick and Self-Revelation Marcy Sheiner -- A Woman's Prerogative Leah Lilith Albrecht-Samarasinha -- On Being a Bisexual Femme Heather Findlay -- Fishes in a Pond: An Interview with Jewelle Gomez 3. Futures: The Queerest of the Queer Madeline Advise -- Forever Femme: A Soap Opera in Many Acts and an Agony of Analysis Gaby Sandoval -- Passing Loquería Rebecca Ann Rugg -- How Does She Look? Minnie Bruce Pratt -- Pronouns, Politics, and Femme Practice: An Interview With Minnie Bruce Pratt Alex Rovertson Textor -- Marilyn, Mayhem, and the Mantrap: Some Particularities of Male Femme Leah Lilith Albrecht-Samarasinha -- Gender Warriors: An Interview with Amber Hollibaugh

Editorial Reviews

"Harris and Crocker's femme, newly liberatied from the butch-femme dyad, flaunts her lipstick, her sexual agency, and her association with the historical practices of "women" as "a liberatory model." -- Sue-Ellen Case, Signs
"Harris and Crocker proffer butch-femme role playing as a continuing corrective to the gendered critique of feminism." -- Sue-Ellen Case, University of California, Signs

From the Publisher

Eighteen contributions construct a theory of femme as a sustained gender identity. The authors respond to the elision or idealization of femmes in the past (and particularly in histories) by offering a productive reconsideration of lesbian and butch-femme history, feminism, and queer thought. The editors include interviews with Mabel Maney, Madeline Davis, Jewelle Gomez, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Amber Hollibaugh. They assert that femme sexual politics provides a liberating model for both lesbians and women in general. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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