Lesbian Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Rating:
Summary: Aotearoa lesbian anthology
Review: This anthology covers lesbians and lesbian issues in New Zealand. The chapters are precise, well-written, and wel-edited.

This book reminds me of Trevisan's "Perverts in Paradise" (Brazil) and Gevisser's "Defiant Desire" (South Africa). Like many books that try to define sexual orientation issues for a country, it brings up deceased gay writers, living gay writers, current gay rights battles, and essays from current gay community activists.

Unlike its American couterparts, this book says little about straight female homophobia or gay male sexism. In fact, gay men are rarely mentioned at all, neither as allies nor oppressors. I think this may be an attempt to focus on lesbians and not take any swipes at any other groups. Then too, this book mentions very little actual lesbophobia. Never is it mentioned that New Zealand has a "Bowers v. Hardwick" like the United States or a Clause 28 like Great Britain. Many of the studies analyzed seemed like they were conducted using government funds. This book makes lesbian life in New Zealand look nice, though the contributors never clearly state this.

Because New Zealand is a multicultural society, I was concerned whether this book would reflect that diversity. Though the only explicit Maori chapter was fluff, other contributors make sure not to portray lesbianism as only white. The editor comes out as biracial. One contributor analyzes the work of an Indo-European, lesbian author. Others bring up Maori matters often. I am impressed by this effort.

This book does do a lot of gleaning. American lesbian academics like Robson, Faderman, and Lorde are quoted often. I think they'd be proud to discover that their writings have an international audience. Still, in this book, New Zealand lesbians have to appropriate much from straight women's studies and American and British lesbians' texts in order to define themselves. This fleshing out illustrates that New Zealand lesbians must see themselves as having a lot in common with all women in their nation and with English-speaking lesbians around the globe.