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desarroi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A more in-depth look at historical representations of Sapphic love and sexuality from many cultures that considers all female individuals, including those who may have considered themselves transmasculine or non-binary should they have been alive today.
Rupp has assembled a fantastic collection of texts, art, and other forms of proof that Sapphic love has always existed and thrived regardless of patriarchal erasure, pathologization, and moral-oriented demonization. This text also compares the differences in how female same-sex love was treated [read devalued] in contrast to male same-sex love. There are too many reasons to read this book.
Rupp has assembled a fantastic collection of texts, art, and other forms of proof that Sapphic love has always existed and thrived regardless of patriarchal erasure, pathologization, and moral-oriented demonization. This text also compares the differences in how female same-sex love was treated [read devalued] in contrast to male same-sex love. There are too many reasons to read this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Violence, Sexual content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Sexual violence
FGMhemlockreads's review against another edition
1.0
It made me uncomfortable that this book spoke at such length about historical trans men but didn't say anything at all about trans women. It set out so well in the beginning laying out that we're viewing the past through our cultural lens and tracing the evolution of lesbian as a concept, but when part of your evidence is men who lived as such and asserted their identities as men or were only discovered to not be cisgender after they died that seems disingenuous. This book was published in 2009 so I wasn't expecting as nuanced a look at gender as might have been published in a book written today (for example: wasn't really expecting nonbinary lesbians to be discussed), but the emphasis on "biology" and phrases like "social males" along with outdated terms made the last half of this book such a slog to get through.
Besides that everything was just kind of depressing. The author even acknowledges that the primary sources discussed are mostly men who are disdainful at best. Plus "love" seemed to mostly mean sex. As I read this book started to feel more like the history of lesbian fetishes and harmful pathology seasoned with TERF rhetoric.
Besides that everything was just kind of depressing. The author even acknowledges that the primary sources discussed are mostly men who are disdainful at best. Plus "love" seemed to mostly mean sex. As I read this book started to feel more like the history of lesbian fetishes and harmful pathology seasoned with TERF rhetoric.
sarah_bell's review against another edition
2.0
DNF. I was really excited to read this book (Sapphic history, yes please) and whilst I did find a lot of the history included in this book interesting in the chapters I read, I found the author's notion of what counts as 'lesbian/ sapphic' off-putting. (Particularly in regards to who she deemed a 'woman' but also the acquiting of love with sex/ desire.) This meant I gave up when I reached the section on gender, as it was clear the author was not going to approach the subject with the nuance it deserves, and have not returned to finish the book since.
nessynoname's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.75
I adore this book. As WLW myself it was so mind-expanding and hopeful reading about the history of love between women all around the world and from all different time periods. I have only a slight aptitude for reading non-fiction books but I read this one all the way through, such was my consistent interest in the topic. Much of the book is organized around the presentation of anecdotes about historical WLW and while not really conveyed as a narrative you still get a sense that you're being told stories about lots of different everyday people throughout history.
Special interest is payed to explaining and examining historical attitudes and vocabulary on the topic, making effort to explain the nuance of how such relationships were viewed in their own time by the people practicing them and the people viewing them.
As one might expect from an academic book about queer people throughout history, there is discussion of homophobia and homophobic violence/persecution, as well as frank discussion of sexuality and sexual context. There is a wealth of other interesting information presented in this book that causes those things not to overshadow the topic too badly.
If you have interest in academic queer studies, world history, anthropology or sociology, I very highly recommend this book.
Special interest is payed to explaining and examining historical attitudes and vocabulary on the topic, making effort to explain the nuance of how such relationships were viewed in their own time by the people practicing them and the people viewing them.
As one might expect from an academic book about queer people throughout history, there is discussion of homophobia and homophobic violence/persecution, as well as frank discussion of sexuality and sexual context. There is a wealth of other interesting information presented in this book that causes those things not to overshadow the topic too badly.
If you have interest in academic queer studies, world history, anthropology or sociology, I very highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Biphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
All content warnings are featured and discussed in an academic way.lesbianmerle's review against another edition
4.0
A very good and diverse account of women loving women over time. It's sad that this book isn't many times longer, but the documentation and stories it does have were great. It's nice to see the similarities and differences among different cultures. Also I loved the pictures, vintage lesbians yesss
christcore's review
4.0
A refreshing, truly global survey of wlw history. While the author does have some "hot takes," particularly when it comes to classifying transmasculine figures as wlw, she does nuance them enough to where the reader can make up their own mind about whether they belong in a discussion of lesbianism. It's peppered with relevant photos, drawings, and images, which is a nice touch.
All in all, I learned a lot, and I give her a pass on the transphobia; it was a different time when this was published, and I'm never going to be angry about the chance to learn trans history.
All in all, I learned a lot, and I give her a pass on the transphobia; it was a different time when this was published, and I'm never going to be angry about the chance to learn trans history.
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