1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910458561803321

Autore

Rupp Leila J. <1950->

Titolo

Sapphistries [[electronic resource] ] : a global history of love between women / / Leila J. Rupp

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New York University Press, c2009

ISBN

0-8147-7745-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (316 p.)

Collana

Intersections: transdisciplinary perspectives on genders and sexualities

Disciplina

306.76/6309

Soggetti

Lesbianism - History

Lesbians - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Introduction -- 2. In the Beginning (40,000–1200 BCE) -- 3. In Ancient Worlds -- 4. In Unlikely Places -- 5. In Plain Sight -- 6. Finding Each Other -- 7. What’s in a Name? -- 8. In Public -- 9. A World of Difference -- 10. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

From the ancient poet Sappho to tombois in contemporary Indonesia, women throughout history and around the globe have desired, loved, and had sex with other women. In beautiful prose, Sapphistries tells their stories, capturing the multitude of ways that diverse societies have shaped female same-sex sexuality across time and place. Leila J. Rupp reveals how, from the time of the very earliest societies, the possibility of love between women has been known, even when it is feared, ignored, or denied. We hear women in the sex-segregated spaces of convents and harems whispering words of love. We see women beginning to find each other on the streets of London and Amsterdam, in the aristocratic circles of Paris, in the factories of Shanghai. We find women’s desire and love for women meeting the light of day as Japanese schoolgirls fall in love, and lesbian bars and clubs spread from 1920's Berlin to 1950's Buffalo. And we encounter a world of difference in the twenty-first century, as transnational concepts and lesbian identities meet local understandings of how two women might love each other. Giving voice to words from the mouths



and pens of women, and from men’s prohibitions, reports, literature, art, imaginings, pornography, and court cases, Rupp also creatively employs fiction to imagine possibilities when there is no historical evidence. Sapphistries combines lyrical narrative with meticulous historical research, providing an eminently readable and uniquely sweeping story of desire, love, and sex between women around the globe from the beginning of time to the present.