The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader [Paperback]

Joan Nestle (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This anthology of stories, poems, and nonfiction accounts pays homage to a host of femme and butch lesbian relationships that have flourished over four decades. The narrators recount their experiences, describing how they met, how they took care of one another, and how they tried--or defiantly tried not--to fit in. The selections themselves bubble with passion and pain. Some dive beneath the surface to explore the varied meanings of gender roles, but most describe highly ritualistic manners of dress, hairstyle, and gesture that at times left the protagonist open to ridicule. In collecting these pieces into one volume, Nestle ( A Restricted Country , Firebrand Bks., 1987) has made sure that the integrity and diversity of femme-butch relationships will not be lost. She has included narratives from women of many backgrounds and ethnic groups and from outside the United States. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.
- Lisa Nussbaum, Euclid P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555831907
• ISBN-13: 978-1555831905
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A groundbreaking anthology of butch/femme writings, June 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader (Paperback)

This is the one of the first serious books published on butch/femme within a historical context in the lesbian community. It's a huge collection of historical materials of varying quality, with poems, photographs, essays, etc. This book is absolutely necessary for anyone seeking an understanding of butch/femme as a multi-layered, many-faceted experience.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, enlightening, February 24, 2000

By 

Lois Eilers (Glendale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader (Paperback)

Though I do not consider myself a lesbian, I have been attracted to a butch woman before and wanted to understand the feeling better. This book helped me understand the dynamic of attraction between butch and fem. It was precisely because she was masculine that I was attracted to her, but because she was a woman there was a sameness I could relate to and identify with. It was safer in a way than a man, because it wasn't quite so opposite. You still have the masculine/feminine polarity, but at the same time a comfortable sameness. It cleared up a lot of my questions and validated a lot of conclusions I had come to regarding the butch/fem dynamic.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desire that Burns, December 15, 2001

By 

Lesbian Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader (Paperback)

After a recent submersion into what is passing for lesbian erotica these days -- and feeling as if I just wasn't perverse enough to be a "real" lesbian -- I revisited this classic.

After finishing it, and being once again intrigued, informed, aroused and delighted, I realized what it has that so many more recent anthologies lack: it has human contact based on emotion. The women in it are real and their feelings have true context. Instead of cold and sterile sex acts between people portrayed as obsessed with looks and their own image, this anthology overflows with the fluid nature of human sexuality and genuine human warmth.

Some may read for the historical perspective and others may miss the explicit-anything-for-shock-value gender games and power plays that are required it seems in all of the "best of" lesbian erotica out there now. I read it for the emotional impact because when it comes to erotica I need the emotional tie. Given how many lesbians (whether they admit it or not) read lesbian romance novels, I don't think I'm alone.