Customer Reviews

The Femme Mystique

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a poignant analysis of the often dichotomized butch-femme roles within the lesbian community. Via a collection of independent writings, the work highlights an often stigmatized and misunderstood group--the femme lesbian. Through touching, and often sensual stories of love and the search for an identity as "a femme," this book allows a rarely viewed glimpse into the hearts, minds, and bodies of these women. Despite the quality of this book, I would have liked to see more explicit discussion of the lives of femme women of color. Sadly, their absence risks recapitulating the same "othering" that many women in this book discuss. The familiar arguments of feminist/womanist women of color--that we are largely absent from important discourse on women-- can be asserted with this text as well. Nevertheless, it is a powerful book and hopefully future editions will more directly address such issues.

The book was good and I don't regret buying it but I tried to sit down and read it all the way through and soon was bored and frustrated. There are some great essays in there about the butch/femme dynamic and what it means to be a femme in the lesbian community but theres a great deal of repetition and I started feeling like I was reading the same essay over and over.. and over again. It's a nice book, but I won't be re-reading it anytime soon. If I could recommend a book it would be 'Out of the Closet and Nothing to Wear' instead.

I liked this book. OTOH, I've *loved* all the Leslea Newman books I've read. This work was not written by LN, but edited by her. It has some excellent moments, but if you want a great treatise about what it means to be femme, choose 'Out of the Closet and Nothing to Wear'.

i resisted my femme identity for a few years- then, i read this book. too often, in the lesbian community, femme women are dismissed as 'lesbians until graduation', 'six-pack lesbians', or dimissed as being straight. too often, we are ridiculed, oppressed, and negatively stereotyped.

for the 1st time in years, i feel proud and confident about my femme identity.

I gave this collection to my would-be girlfriend and she came fiercely out of the femme closet. She understands what other femmes feel, and I as a butch, undrstand what femmes need. Highly reccomended. Leslea is the diva femme goddess of the highest supreme shopping mall!!

As a young woman struggling with my identity, I got the book "The Femme Mystique" in hopes that it would provide some insights. Well, it did more than that: it provided some answers about who I am. And who am I? I am femme, and after reading this book, I am also proud. This book collects the stories of femmes everywhere, from the femme-admirer to the lipstick-and- stilleto heel-wearing- ultra-femme. Some of the stories are hilarious, some are risque, others are tender. All describe the various joys and pains of being femme-identified within the lesbian community. This book celebrates the joys of dressing up, shopping, make-up, and other traditionally "feminine" activities in the context of the women's community with thoughtfulness and directness that is refreshing and long-overdue. "The Femme Mystique" was vital to my self-identity and is a great read. Buy it!

My Girlfriend is femme and I am a butch. She just got this book yesterday and already is more than 1/2 through it!!! She cannot put the book down. Leslea has a superb righting style that makes the reader relate easily--my girlfriend has said many times "that's exactly how I feel!!" Coming from a small rural area we are not in contact w/ many other femme- butch couples this book is a great source of entertainment as well as info.