The Lesbian Myth

the long version

"One of those well-intentioned books that ten years ago might have been thought provocative and informative. The author relentlessly attacks (primarily by a not very plausible reinterpretation of the Sodom and Gomorrah myth) the religious institutions which condemn homosexuality as well as moralistic Freudian shrinks and the theories they espouse. She also commits overkill on the genetic and hormonal theorems of sexual deviation, as if anyone took them seriously anymore. As for lesbians, the purported subject of this book, Wysor does not deal with them till later, and then only via transcriptions of several conversations on lifestyle, interesting if not especially profound; nonetheless, this is certainly the best part of her ”study.” The less said about her sophomoric and superficial discussion of both porno and so-called serious sapphic literature the better; most of it is written by men, anyway. Her endless belaboring of the obvious will only seem patronizing to lesbians and homosexuals in general, and her sloppy repetitious thinking will certainly not convince the prejudiced whose attitudes she is presumably trying to change." ~ Kirkus Review