Bernadette J. Brooten – författare

In this text Bernadette Brooten examines female homoeroticism and the role of women in the ancient Roman world. Employing a range of cultural sources, from medical texts to astrological horoscopes, Brooten finds evidence of marriages between women, and discusses the surgical procedure of clitoridectomy as a method of controlling female homoeroticism. She establishes the fact that condemnations of female homoerotic practices were based on widespread awareness of sexual love between women. Contrary to the common scholarly notion that early Christian sexual ethics were fundamentally different from those of the surrounding culture, Brooten contends that early Christians and their Roman neighbours shared a view of the "natural order" of society.

Love Between Women examines female homoeroticism and the role of women in the ancient Roman world. Employing an unparalleled range of cultural sources, Brooten finds evidence of marriages between women and establishes that condemnations of female homoerotic practices were based on widespread awareness of love between women. "An extraordinary accomplishment. . . . A definitive source for all future discussion of homoeroticism and the Bible."—Mary Rose D''Angelo, Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review "[Brooten''s] convincing analysis . . . not only profoundly reshapes our understanding of the past, but it should also shape the way in which that past, particularly the early Christian texts with their immense normative weight, will be used for the future."—Anne L. Clark, Journal of Lesbian Studies "Love Between Women gives contemporary debates on sexuality a carefully delineated past. It boldly insists upon a different future, one informed by history but not tyrannized by it."—Susan Ackerman, Lambda Book Report "Fascinating, provocative and lucid. . . . Brooten has made a fundamental contribution to women''s and gender studies, gay and lesbian studies, and classics."—Elizabeth A. Castelli, Women''s Review of Books Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Studies Book, 1997