Revision 811801322 of "Lesbian/Woman" 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 about [[lesbianism]] by the [[feminist]] and [[gay-rights]] [[activist]]s [[Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon]]. The book was influential and is considered a foundational text of [[lesbian feminism]].

==Publication history==
First published in 1972, ''Lesbian/Woman'' was republished in a revised edition in 1991.{{sfn|Martin|Lyon|1991|page=285}}

==Summary==
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 believe that lesbian relationships are appealing because of the absence of clearly defined gender roles.{{sfn|Bell|Weinberg|1978|pages=84, 488}}

==Reception==
Jennifer Terry, Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University, describes the book as "a foundational text of lesbian-feminism" and comments that in many respects it, "resembles previous social scientific surveys and early psychiatric case histories produced as a result of voluntary lesbian participation in studies." She adds that, "One can identify a similarity in the discursive structure of the subjects' self-descriptions reported in ''Lesbian/Woman'' and those of the early psychiatric interviews that were part of the Sex Variants study of the 1930s."{{sfn|Terry|1997|pages=278–279, 299}}

Tina Gianoulis, writing for ''GLBTQ Social Sciences'', described ''Lesbian/Woman'' as an influential book, adding that Martin and Lyon's understanding of what it means to be a lesbian "not only opened the door for women who had never been sexual with women to see themselves as lesbians, but it also laid the foundation for a woman-identified subculture that became the basis for the lesbian movement of the 1970s."{{sfn|Gianoulis|2015|pages=1–2}}

==See also==
* ''[[Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women]]''
* ''[[Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry]]''

==References==

===Footnotes===
{{reflist|20em}}

===Bibliography===
;Books
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bell|first1=Alan P. |last2=Weinberg|first2=Martin S. |title=Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men And Women |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|The Macmillan Company of Australia]] |location=South Melbourne |year=1978 |isbn=0 333 25180 6 |oclc= |doi= |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Martin|first1=Dell |last2=Lyon|first2=Phyllis |title=Lesbian/Woman |publisher=Volcano Press |location=Volcano, California |year=1991 |isbn=978-0912078915 |oclc= |doi= |ref=harv}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ruse|first1=Michael |title=Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Basil Blackwell]] |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0 631 15275 X |oclc= |doi= |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Terry|first1=Jennifer |last2=Rosario|first2=Vernon A., Editor |title=Science and Homosexualities |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-91502-3 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate= |ref=harv}}
{{refend}}

;Online articles
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |last1=Gianoulis|first1=Tina |url = http://www.glbtq.com/ | title = Lyon, Phyllis, (b. 1924) and Del Martin (1921-2008) |date=2015 |work=[glbtq.com|[GLBTQ Social Sciences]] |accessdate = 24 November 2017 |ref=harv}}
{{refend}}

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