The Lesbian Erotic Dance: Butch, Femme, Androgyny, and Other Rhythms [Paperback]

Joann Loulan (Author), Jo Ann Loulan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Spinsters Book Co.; 1st edition (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933216769
• ISBN-13: 978-0933216761
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,432,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, for its time, June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lesbian Erotic Dance: Butch, Femme, Androgyny, and Other Rhythms (Paperback)

When this book was written, the lesbian community was only beginning to come out of the "butch-femme backlash" of the 60s/70s, so Joann was very brave to take on the topic at all. However, there have been a lot of other, better books on butch/femme issues since then, and this book shows the author's and the lesbian community's inexperience in talking about the issue. Joann is dead-on right when she talks about butch/femme being an "is" rather than a "role." Butch and femme are adjectives that either fit or do not fit particular people, much as "tall" or "short" either apply or do not apply. Each lesbian (or each person for that matter) can claim "butch" or "femme" as a significant descriptor of themselves or not.

If you're interested in real-life butch/femme, one of the best books in my opinion is "The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader" edited by Joan Nestle.

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Author Furthering Personal Agenda?, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lesbian Erotic Dance: Butch, Femme, Androgyny, and Other Rhythms (Paperback)

I'll admit, I'm one of the loudmouthed, politically minded lesbians who doesn't buy into the butch/femme dichotomy. Yet, for some odd reason, it fascinates me, and I bought this book, hoping to better understand the duality. Unfortunately, my understanding of the butch/femme thing has not improved. And I have developed a lack of respect for the author. It is obvious that she is out to prove her own agenda. Using clips from Personal Ads and statistics from a survery she conducted at a Women's Music festival as "proof", she claims that butch/femme is very important to lesbian lives and culture. Yet, a look in Appendix A at her stastic results shows that 18% of her respondents identified as femme, 15% as butch, with the remainder as either androgynous or none of the above, and 66% of respondents said that butch/femme is not important in their lives. Loulan manipulates her stastics to "prove" that lesbians are oppressing themselves by not actively embracing butch/femme roles- an ironic argument, because so many lesbians refuse to identify as butch/femme because they believe these roles are oppressive. This is what it boils down to, for me: how can I take butch/femme seriously, when an author has to manipulate her stastics...to "prove" the importance of butch/femme duality to lesbian life?

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Yes, everything the previous reviewer wrote, except..., April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lesbian Erotic Dance: Butch, Femme, Androgyny, and Other Rhythms (Paperback)

..the first chapter is beautifully written. Loulan's lost credibility these days, however, and it's perhaps a political statement to purchase (or not to) her books.