A 2018 Over the Rainbow Selection presented by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table (GLBTRT) of the American Library Association
LGBT Americans now enjoy the right to marry—but what will we remember about the vibrant cultural spaces that lesbian activists created in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s? Most are vanishing from the calendar—and from recent memory.
The Disappearing L explores the rise and fall of the hugely popular women-only concerts, festivals, bookstores, and support spaces built by and for lesbians in the era of woman-identified activism. Through the stories unfolding in these chapters, anyone unfamiliar with the Michigan festival, Olivia Records, or the women’s bookstores once dotting the urban landscape will gain a better understanding of the era in which artists and activists first dared to celebrate lesbian lives. This book offers the backstory to the culture we are losing to mainstreaming and assimilation. Through interviews with older activists, it also responds to recent attacks on lesbian feminists who are being made to feel that they’ve hit their cultural expiration date.
Table des matières
Introduction. The Treasure Hunt
1. The Soundtrack of Our Awakening
2. By the Time I Got to Wombstock
3. Hunting and Gathering. A Literacy of One’s Own
4. Imagining an Eruv
5. Points of Erasure. Remembering Generation Flannel
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A propos de l’auteur
Bonnie J. Morris is Adjunct Professor of Women’s Studies at both George Washington University and Georgetown University. She is the author of several books, including
Eden Built by Eves: The Culture of Women’s Music Festivals and
Lubavitcher Women in America: Identity and Activism in the Postwar Era, also published by SUNY Press.