Difference between revisions 862579862 and 862580631 on enwiki

{{Infobox book
| name             = Lesbian/Woman
| image            = File:Lesbian-Woman (first edition).jpg
| caption          = Cover of the first edition
| authors          = [[Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon]]
| illustrator      = 
| cover_artist     = 
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| series           = 
| subject          = [[Lesbian feminism]]
| publisher        = Glide Publications
| pub_date         = 1972
| media_type       = Print ([[Hardcover]] and [[Paperback]])
| pages            = 283
| isbn             = 978-0553235975
| oclc             = 506556
| dewey            = 
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      = 
}}

'''''Lesbian/Woman''''' (1972; second edition 1991) is a work by the feminist and gay rights activists [[Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon]], in which the authors discuss what it means to be a [[lesbian]]. They provide a subjective account of lesbianism based on personal experience. The book was influential and is considered a foundational text of [[lesbian feminism]]. Reviewers believed that it benefited from its authors personal experience as lesbians, and endorsed its criticisms of the treatment of lesbians by religious and professional organizations.

==Summary==
{{cleanup section||reason=Section is currently based on secondary sources discussing the work. It should be based principally on the book itself|date=June 2018}}
Martin and Lyon describe their book as a subjective account of lesbianism. They try to recuperate the experiences of lesbians from what they see as the distortions of most medical and scientific accounts. They claim to have produced neither a true confession nor a scientific book, but one written from subjective experience. Rejecting the idea of objectivity and scientific neutrality, they affirm the book as partisan and argue that lesbians must speak in their own terms, not through those set out in the experts' frameworks.{{sfn|Terry|1997|page=278}}

The authors argue that a woman's sexual orientation as a political choice.{{sfn|Ruse|1988|page=172}} They define a lesbian as "as a woman
whose primary erotic, psychological, emotional and social interest is in a member of her own sex, even though that interest might not be overtly expressed."{{sfn|Gianoulis|2015|page=1}} They believe that lesbian relationships are appealing because of the absence of clearly defined gender roles.{{sfn|Bell|Weinberg|1978|pages=84, 488}}⏎
⏎
==Publication history==
First published in 1972, ''Lesbian/Woman'' was republished in an expanded edition in 1991.{{sfn|Martin|Lyon|1991|page=285}}

==Reception==
===Early reviews===
(contracted; show full){{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesbian Woman}}
[[Category:1970s LGBT literature]]
[[Category:1972 books]]
[[Category:English-language books]]
[[Category:Feminist books]]
[[Category:Lesbian feminist books]]