Henry Abelove is Professor of English at Wesleyan University. He is the author of The Evangelist of Desire: John Wesley and the Methodists.Michèle Aina Barale is Assistant Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College. Her book Below the Belt: Essays in Queer Reading is forthcoming from Routledge.David M. Halperin is Professor of Literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love.

"At a moment when homosexual rights are at issue in school curricula, political party conventions, state and city referendums, religious institutions, the military, and even St. Patrick's Day parades, this book offers a broad, diverse, challenging, serious introduction to a wide range of scholarship in the emerging field of gay and lesbian studies." -- Barbara Johnson, Harvard University"Just a couple of decades ago the idea of a positive and creative lesbian and gay studies seemed a fantastical dream. Today it is an ever-expanding and exhilarating reality: a rivulet has become a mighty river, fertilizing all the traditional disciplines. This collection provides a valuable map of this new terrain, highlighting some of its most significant features, and pointing to exciting developments. Like all good guidebooks, it encourages us to explore further, to seek out the unknown, to see the old in fresh ways, and to cherish the new and innovative." -- Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Social Relations, University of West of England, Bristol, author of Sexuality and Its Discontents"It would be difficult to summarize the eclectic contents of The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, almost as difficult as it would be to summarize the subjects of study it seeks to document. The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader isn't an encyclopedia, nor does it pretend to be. It is however an excellent compendium of an emergin field whose full scope escapes us all." -- The Lesbian and Gay Studies Newsletter

• IntroductionUser's GuidePart I. Politics of Representation1. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, Gayle S. Rubin2. Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick3. Deviance, Politics, and the Media, Stuart Hall4. Some Reflections on Separatism and Power, Marilyn Frye5. Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?, Barbara Smith6. One is Not Born a Woman, Monique Wittig7. Silences: "Hispanics," AIDS, and Sexual Practices, Ana Maria Alonso and Maria Teresa Koreck8. From Nation to Family: Containing African AIDS, Cindy PattonPart II: Spectacular Logic9. Sexual Indifference and Lesbian Representation, Teresa De Lauretis10. Eloquence and the Epitaph: Black Nationalism and the Homophobic Impulse in Responses to the Death of Max Robinson, Phillip Brian Harper11. Television/Feminsm: HeartBeat and Prime Time Lesbiansim, Sasha Torres12. Commodity Lesbianism, Danae Clark13. The Spectacle of AIDS, Simon Watney14. Sontags Urbanity, D.A. Miller15. "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water . . .", Daniel J. SeldenPart III: Subjectivity, Discipline, Resistance16. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, Adrienne Rich17. Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior, Tomás Almaguer18. Lesbian Identity and Autobiographical Difference[s], Biddy Martin19. Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic, Sue-Ellen Case20. Imitation and Gender Insubordination, Judith Butler21. Spare Parts: The Surgical Construction of Gender, Marjorie GarberPart IV: The Uses of the Erotic22. The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Audre Lorde23. The Boys in My Bedroom, Douglas Crimp24. Looking for Trouble, Kobena Mercer25. Robert Mapplethorpe and the Discipline of Photography, Richard Meyer26. Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans, Henry AbelovePart V: "The Evidence of Experience"27. The Evidence of Experience, Joan W. Scott28. Is There a History of Sexuality?, David M. Halperin29. "They Wonder to Which Sex I Belong": The Historical Roots of the Modern Lesbian Identity, Martha Vicinus30. "Lines She Did Not Dare": Angelina Weld Grimke , Harlem Renaissance Poet, Gloria T. Hull31. Capitalism and Gay Identity, John D'EmilioPart VI: Collective Identities / Dissident Identities32. Androgynous Males and Deficient Females: Biology and Gender Boundaries in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century China, Charlotte Furth33. The Bow and the Burden Strap: A New Look at Institutionalized Homosexuality in Native North America, Harriet Whitehead34. Just One of the Boys: Lesbians in Cherry Grove, 1960-1988, Esther Newton35. Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman, Serena Nanda36. Tearooms and Sympathy or The Epistemology of the Water Closet, Lee EdelmanPart VII: Between the Pages37. Double Consciousness in Sapphos Lyrics, John J. Winkler38. De-Constructing the Lesbian Body: Cherríe Moraga's Loving in the War Years, Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano39. When Jack Blinks: Si(gh)ting Gay Desire in Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker, Michèle Aina Barale40. "It's Not Safe. Not Safe at All": Sexuality in Nella Larsen's Passing,Deborah E. McDowell41. Different Desires: Subjectivity and Transgression in Wilde and Gide, Jonathan Dollimore42. The Sonograms of Gertrude Stein, Catharine R. StimpsonSuggestions for Further Reading

Henry Abelove is Professor of English at Wesleyan University. He is the author of The Evangelist of Desire: John Wesley and the Methodists.Michèle Aina Barale is Assistant Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College. Her book Below the Belt: Essays in Queer Reading is forthcoming from Routledge.David M. Halperin is Professor of Literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love.

"At a moment when homosexual rights are at issue in school curricula, political party conventions, state and city referendums, religious institutions, the military, and even St. Patrick's Day parades, this book offers a broad, diverse, challenging, serious introduction to a wide range of scholarship in the emerging field of gay and lesbian studies." -- Barbara Johnson, Harvard University"Just a couple of decades ago the idea of a positive and creative lesbian and gay studies seemed a fantastical dream. Today it is an ever-expanding and exhilarating reality: a rivulet has become a mighty river, fertilizing all the traditional disciplines. This collection provides a valuable map of this new terrain, highlighting some of its most significant features, and pointing to exciting developments. Like all good guidebooks, it encourages us to explore further, to seek out the unknown, to see the old in fresh ways, and to cherish the new and innovative." -- Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Social Relations, University of West of England, Bristol, author of Sexuality and Its Discontents"It would be difficult to summarize the eclectic contents of The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, almost as difficult as it would be to summarize the subjects of study it seeks to document. The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader isn't an encyclopedia, nor does it pretend to be. It is however an excellent compendium of an emergin field whose full scope escapes us all." -- The Lesbian and Gay Studies Newsletter

• IntroductionUser's GuidePart I. Politics of Representation1. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, Gayle S. Rubin2. Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick3. Deviance, Politics, and the Media, Stuart Hall4. Some Reflections on Separatism and Power, Marilyn Frye5. Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?, Barbara Smith6. One is Not Born a Woman, Monique Wittig7. Silences: "Hispanics," AIDS, and Sexual Practices, Ana Maria Alonso and Maria Teresa Koreck8. From Nation to Family: Containing African AIDS, Cindy PattonPart II: Spectacular Logic9. Sexual Indifference and Lesbian Representation, Teresa De Lauretis10. Eloquence and the Epitaph: Black Nationalism and the Homophobic Impulse in Responses to the Death of Max Robinson, Phillip Brian Harper11. Television/Feminsm: HeartBeat and Prime Time Lesbiansim, Sasha Torres12. Commodity Lesbianism, Danae Clark13. The Spectacle of AIDS, Simon Watney14. Sontags Urbanity, D.A. Miller15. "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water . . .", Daniel J. SeldenPart III: Subjectivity, Discipline, Resistance16. Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, Adrienne Rich17. Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior, Tomás Almaguer18. Lesbian Identity and Autobiographical Difference[s], Biddy Martin19. Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic, Sue-Ellen Case20. Imitation and Gender Insubordination, Judith Butler21. Spare Parts: The Surgical Construction of Gender, Marjorie GarberPart IV: The Uses of the Erotic22. The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Audre Lorde23. The Boys in My Bedroom, Douglas Crimp24. Looking for Trouble, Kobena Mercer25. Robert Mapplethorpe and the Discipline of Photography, Richard Meyer26. Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans, Henry AbelovePart V: "The Evidence of Experience"27. The Evidence of Experience, Joan W. Scott28. Is There a History of Sexuality?, David M. Halperin29. "They Wonder to Which Sex I Belong": The Historical Roots of the Modern Lesbian Identity, Martha Vicinus30. "Lines She Did Not Dare": Angelina Weld Grimke , Harlem Renaissance Poet, Gloria T. Hull31. Capitalism and Gay Identity, John D'EmilioPart VI: Collective Identities / Dissident Identities32. Androgynous Males and Deficient Females: Biology and Gender Boundaries in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century China, Charlotte Furth33. The Bow and the Burden Strap: A New Look at Institutionalized Homosexuality in Native North America, Harriet Whitehead34. Just One of the Boys: Lesbians in Cherry Grove, 1960-1988, Esther Newton35. Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman, Serena Nanda36. Tearooms and Sympathy or The Epistemology of the Water Closet, Lee EdelmanPart VII: Between the Pages37. Double Consciousness in Sapphos Lyrics, John J. Winkler38. De-Constructing the Lesbian Body: Cherríe Moraga's Loving in the War Years, Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano39. When Jack Blinks: Si(gh)ting Gay Desire in Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker, Michèle Aina Barale40. "It's Not Safe. Not Safe at All": Sexuality in Nella Larsen's Passing,Deborah E. McDowell41. Different Desires: Subjectivity and Transgression in Wilde and Gide, Jonathan Dollimore42. The Sonograms of Gertrude Stein, Catharine R. StimpsonSuggestions for Further Reading