These essays from more than 70 contributors: novelists, musicians, poets, philosophers, academics and seriously, rowdy dykes document 20 years of lesbian activism.

    Energetic performance poetry taking on the madness and sweetness of urban life.

    

    Baboo -- Lesbian lovebirds and their ways / Marlene Wildeman -- What's hanging in your closet? / D. Gabriel -- True romance in the eighties / Susan Wallner -- Washroom encounters / Jorica Perry -- The secret life of a working woman's wife / Kimberly Burnham -- The A, B & C's of lesbian dating / Jay Thorne -- The woman with the rose / Candis J. Graham -- On being celibate / K. Linda Kivi -- Alice, Gertrude & friends / Janick Belleau -- Here in da country / Sunshine Goldstream -- Sappho's guide to dangerous women.

    Carol Anne Douglas examines diverse theories on the roots of male domination; love and sexuality; lesbianism and friendship between women; lesbian separatism; sadomasochism; strategy and tactics for women's liberation -- and more. Douglas probes the divergent roots of radical feminist theory. She then glides her analytic lens to examine diverse currents in radical feminist practice. While some radical feminists emphasize confronting the enemy (patriarchy and/or capitalism), others emphasize building alternative women's communities to achieve radical feminist goals in the here and now. "In the early and mid 1970s," Douglas observes, "there was a turn by radical and lesbian feminists not only from working for legislated reforms but also from any sort of demonstrations or direct confrontation with the male power structure... Creating independent projects -- whether these were publications, bookstores, restaurants, record companies, credit unions or rape crisis centers -- was seen by many as a more productive way of opposing the system. Creating an alternative system was seen as more radical than directly confronting the power structure. The alternative strategy is derived from the 1960s counterculture, but also ultimately from anarchist and utopian socialist principles. "Some radical feminists saw the turn to establishing alternatives as a diversion from radicalism and as triumph for liberals. However, even these feminists saw the need for an alternative press..." Douglas draws on her vast knowledge of radical feminist writings and practical experience in women's movements to bring clarity to the radical feminist currents and cross-currents since the 1970s.

    

    From a lesbian perspective!Contains: 1. Alumnae News: The Doris Day Years2. Base Camp3. Backward, Turn Backward4. This Brooding Sky5. Hollandia '45