Lesbian Crossroads

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, helpful, but a somewhat limited view
Review: Ruth Baetz interviewed a large group of eclectic women who told their stories of their joys and frustrations in realizing their sexual orientation and dealing with the cost of being a part of a minority group. Any woman reading the book can easily see a part of herself in at least a couple of the women interviewed. Those who have officially "come out," and those who have not can also relate to some if not many of the experiences described in the ten chapters, all of which deal with significant issues to lesbians: realizations, parents and siblings, children, school and work, religion, therapy, discrimination, politics and the law, culture, and lesbian community. Another plus is that Baetz included ethnic minority groups, since many of their stories, experiences, and hardships are inevitably different and their point of view can't be overlooked.

One of the big weaknesses of the book is that Baetz had a lack of funds and was only able to interview women who either lived on the west coast or were visiting there. So, the book is unavoidably a misrepresentation of the life experiences of a lesbian in America, being limited to one section of the country.

What I saw as another fault may or may not be viewed as a fault to the majority of people, since it is merely my opinion. There were a lack of conservative views expressed by the women who were interviewed, and by this I don't mean politically conservative, but sexually conservative. I find it impossible to relate to women who practice polyamory, have sex with people with whom they no emotional connection, and claim to have had sex with numerous partners at age seven and on, as one interviewee confessed. I also get frustrated at the idea that society might view lesbians as immoral, making the assumption that most of them behave this way. Though certainly not all of the women professed to behaving that way, none of them were explicit in saying that they had any problems with it. When I got to the Lesbian Community chapter, I was hopeful that some of the women would give me some insight into what was generally the accepted behavior-whether or not most of the women in their community were monogamous. The only indication I got was from the same woman who said she had been sexually active since age seven. She was shocked and irritated when she got to know the lesbian community in her area, because many of them said that she was too promiscuous. I think that Baetz could have included at least one woman with a conservative viewpoint to balance things out, and she did mention in the introduction that she interviewed many more women than she actually included in the book.

Because of the fact that much has happened in our world, politically and socially, since 1980, the book is not nearly as useful a resource as it was then. It's also funny how the slang terms are completely out-of-date. But, this was what the public library had for me. I wouldn't advise buying it used, because there are so many more current resources available now. Some things just have a short shelf life.