Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-412).
Contents:
Afterword: Joan Nestle : a bibliography. Yeva Johnson -- Introduction: Invitation to a feast / Yeva Johnson -- Liberation -- My mother liked to fuck -- Liberties not taken -- Lesbian memories 1: Riis Park, 1960 -- My Fem Quest -- Doesn't she ever stop talking -- Some understandings -- Passion is our politics -- Letter to my community : a sturdy yes of a people -- History -- A restricted country -- Butch-fem relationships : sexual courage in the 1950s -- A fragile union -- This huge light of yours -- Narratives of liberation : pluralities of hope -- Two women : Regina Nestle, 1910-1978, and her daughter, Joan -- John Preston and myself -- Who were we to do such a thing? -- Sex -- Esther's story -- On rereading "Esther's story" -- A change of Life -- A feeling comes -- Taking Rita Hayworth in my mouth -- My cancer travels -- Education -- My history with censorship -- Lesbian sex and surveillance -- Wars and thinking -- The politics of thinking -- Archives -- Lesbians and prostitutes : an historical sisterhood -- When the lions write history -- "I lift my eyes to the hill" : the life of Mabel Hampton as told by a white woman -- The will to remember : my journey with the Lesbian Herstory Archives -- The beauty of the unarmed human body -- Voices from lesbian herstory -- Afterword: An homage to Joan Nestle / Susie Bright -- Joan Nestle : a bibliography.
Summary:
For over fifty years, Joan Nestle has been chronicling lesbian and queer life boldly with guts, heart, and moral suasion. A STURDY YES OF A PEOPLE gathers Nestle's most influential writing into a single volume presenting her persistent involvement in liberation movements, LGBTQ histories, erotic writing, and archives that document gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer lives. Embedded in tales of lesbian desire are Nestle's concerns with the power of class and race in America to exile bodies. From Nestle's earliest popular essays such as "Lesbians and Prostitutes: An Historical Sisterhood" to more recent powerfully evocative pieces like "I Lift My Eyes to the Hill" in which Nestle, a white lesbian, traces the life of her friend, African-American lesbian Mabel Hampton, A Sturdy Yes of a People gathers both her most enduring insights and new provocations for readers and fans to treasure or discover. Scholar Carolyn D'Cruz of La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia situates Nestle's work and its power while an afterword by Susie Bright reminds readers of how transgressive and potent Nestle's sex writing was--and remains. A bold and original thinker, deeply connected with her communities, with an abiding willingness to reexamine and reimagine queer lives by integrating new ideas, challenges, and experiences, Nestle dazzles as a powerful thinker, writer, and theorist.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.