Lesbian humorist Zipter collects installments of her syndicated newspaper column "Inside Out" and some new material for a survey of such comically thought-provoking topics as lesbian mating rituals and mothering obsessions; therapeutic relationships (complete with self-exposures, spiritual and otherwise) and therapeutic one-night stands; and the challenges of dental dams and other safe-sex accoutrements. Her wit is particularly striking in her musings on dykely dress codes, as she sorts her subjects into such categories as Hip Young Lesbians ("wherever a hunk of metal can adorn the human body it does . . . I wonder how these gals get through the metal detector at the airport" ) and the Old Guard (still in jeans and Holly Near T-shirts). Whether taking on the finer points of lesbian dating or the challenge of keeping romance alive in relationships filled with intimacies like "zit patrol," Zipter is seriously funny, enough so to entertain readers beyond her target lesbian audience. Whitney Scott
Review
Aided by a keen sense of observation, Zipter manages to find some-often hilarious-universal truths. If anyone ever thinks about putting together a Lesbian time capsule for the 1990's, Ransacking the Closet definitely deserves to be included. Recommended. -- In Step, Sept. 28-Oct. 11, 1995
This is a brilliant book. . . . The best comment I can make about this books is, buy it! Don't just borrow it, because you'll only want to keep it if you do and as we all know, it can be a fatal act to separate a lesbian from her literature. -- Broadsheet, Spring 1995
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