Revision 811832840 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 activists [[Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon]]. The book was influential and is considered a foundational text of [[lesbian feminism]].

==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 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===
''Lesbian/Woman'' received a positive review from Carol Leard in ''[[The Body Politic (magazine)|The Body Politic]]'' and a mixed review from Diane Trzcinski in ''[[Lesbian Tide]]'',{{sfn|Leard|1972|page=15}}{{sfn|Trzcinski|1972|pages=10–11}} and was reviewed by Julia P. Stanley in the ''[[Journal of Homosexuality]]''.{{sfn|Stanley|1974|pages=220–223}} The book also received reviews in ''Sisters'',{{sfn|''Sisters''|1972|pages=5–8}} ''Amazon Quarterly'',{{sfn|''Amazon Quarterly''|1972|pages=16–18}} and the ''[[Journal of Sex Research]]''.{{sfn|''Journal of Sex Research''|1973|page=355}}

Leard considered ''Lesbian/Woman'' "positive and enlightened", and credited Martin and Lyon with providing "a full and realistic appreciation of what it means to be a woman and a Lesbian in contemporary society."{{sfn|Leard|1972|page=15}}

Trzcinski wrote that ''Lesbian/Woman'' would prove useful to feminists because of its history of the lesbian and lesbian feminist movements in the United States. She maintained that it benefited from Martin and Lyon's personal experience as lesbians, and credited them with accurately assessing the "three main sources of institutionalized oppression of lesbians" as organized religion, the medical profession, and the government. She also endorsed Martin and Lyon's criticism of psychoanalytic theories of lesbianism. However, she found that the book "too often reads as an apology", and believed that Martin and Lyon were wrong to demand that society give lesbians love and respect, writing that this was impossible given "the way society is presently constituted". She also questioned why lesbians should want the love and respect of society, given the way it treated them. She also maintained that while Martin and Lyon's account of lesbianism was accurate as far as it went, it ignored "the various alternatives now open to lesbians."{{sfn|Trzcinski|1972|pages=10–11}}

===Other evaluations===
Jennifer Terry described ''Lesbian/Woman'' as "a foundational text of lesbian-feminism" and commented 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 added 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}}

In 2004, ''[[The Advocate]]'' listed ''Lesbian/Woman'' as one of the "100 Best Lesbian and Gay Nonfiction Books" ever written.{{sfn|''The Advocate''|2004|pages=172–177}} 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." Gianoulis added that it was Martin and Lyon's "most significant book" and that it "remains a crucial account of American lesbian life in the twentieth century".{{sfn|Gianoulis|2015|pages=1–2}}

==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}}

;Journals
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |title=Lesbian/Woman |last1=Leard|first1=Carol |journal=[[The Body Politic (magazine)|The Body Politic]] |volume= |issue=6 |year=1972 |doi= |ref=harv}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Sappho Was a Right-On Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism / Woman Plus Woman: Attitudes Toward Lesbianism / Lesbian/Woman (book) |last1=Stanley|first1=Julia P. |journal=[[Journal of Homosexuality]] |volume=1 |issue=2 |year=1974 |doi= |ref=harv}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Lesbian/Woman |last1=Trzcinski|first1=Diane |journal=[[Lesbian Tide]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |year=1972 |doi= |ref=harv}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Lesbian/Woman: A Review |journal=Amazon Quarterly |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=1972 |doi= |ref={{harvid|Amazon Quarterly|1972}}}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Lesbian Woman |journal=Journal of Sex Research |volume=9 |issue=4 |year=1973 |doi= |ref={{harvid|Journal of Sex Research|1973}}}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Lesbian/Woman |journal=Sisters |volume=3 |issue=8 |year=1972 |doi= |ref={{harvid|Sisters|1972}}}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
* {{cite journal |title=Simply the best |journal=The Advocate |volume= |issue=917 |year=2004 |doi= |ref={{harvid|The Advocate|2004}}}} {{subscription needed|via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}
{{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]]