A Restricted Country

by Joan Nestle

A proud working-class woman, an â outâ lesbian long before the Rainbow revolution, Joan Nestle has stood at the forefront of American freedom struggles from the McCarthy era to the present day. Featuring photographs and a new introduction by the author, this classic collection which intimately accounts the lesbian, feminist and civil rights movements through personal essays is available again for the first time in years.

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, LGBT, Feminism, Essays, History, Lesbian

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Joan Nestle writes and edits essays, erotic fiction, poetry, and short stories. She is an activist, and among many actions has co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives to preserve records of lesbian lives and communities and currently coordinates the Women in Black protests against Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

in college, in the late 80s and early 90s, i discovered that i had two aunts. this is one (and this is another). aunt Joan was kind, amiable, flirty, sweet-tempered, clear-eyed. she was filled with gentle strength; her spirit glowed. a generous aunt, one who loved the world around her and who shared that love with me. she loved women, she loved life. she told me stories of that life and those stories were filled with poetry and passion. she told me about her jewish identity; she told me what it felt like to be a lesbian. she told me about the birds and the bees and how to be a person and how sexuality and identity can be of my own making, can be many things. she showed me how to make my own world, to invite others into it, to connect my world with other worlds; she showed me how to make myself my self. she challenged me to move past the restrictions, the fences and barriers, that this mundane world will try to put around me. she laughed and she sang and she widened my spirit. i fucking love you, Joan Nestle! such a guiding influence.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the Reagan & feminist sex wars era, this collection of essays is an essential piece of queer, feminist, femme, and butch/femme history & lineage. Included here are stories of working class 50s dyke bar culture, early involvement in Movement work including the march from Selma to Montgomery, tracings of the relationships between Joan Nestle’s femmeness & her mother who liked to fuck, an explicit but brief history of how lesbians & sex workers have always shared community & struggle, and coalition/solidarity politics between lesbian feminism’s most hated women: sex workers--butch/femme dykes--leatherwomen, aaand a fair few erotica stories including a femme4femme one that I especially appreciated as a longtime butch/femme femme who’s constantly deepening her femme4femme love & life.

[T’Layne Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very much a book of its time, particularly in terms of Trans people - there aren’t any. All diversity of gender, in people assigned female at birth, seem to be attributed to gender expression, being butch, or hiding a lesbian relationship by passing as a straight couple. No apparent consideration that any of this diverse representation may have included Trans men. There are also mentions of attending the Michigan Women’s Festival, but no mention of the controversy about excluding Trans women.
In addition, the discussions of the birth of lesbian feminism seem to be largely about white feminism, but that distinction doesn’t seem to be clear.
However, having said all that, I was fascinated and challenged by these essays. I really appreciated having this insight into the life of a fierce and vulnerable Queer, cis, Jewish, white, sexual, lesbian activist, who came of age in 1950s America. Nestle shares autobiographical stories about growing up as a Jewish child of a single mother in the McCarthy era, and goes on to her time in the civil rights movement. Nestle then writes about living as a sexual queer woman. About being sexual. About being a writer, and about being an activist.
I sincerely hope that this curious and thoughtful mind continued to challenge herself, and broaden her understanding of the world. I was intrigued by this insight into a little bit of what queer life was like in mid 20th century USA. Recommended.

[moriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

joan taught me so much in these essays. borrowed this from my school’s library but need to buy a copy to keep and hold close to me. butch/femme love 4ever and ever <3

“She put out the light and turned towards me. I leaned into her, fearing her knowledge, her toughness—and then I realized her hands were trembling.
Through my blouse, I could feel her hands like butterflies shaking with respect and need. Younger lovers had been harder, more toughened to the joy of touch, but my passing woman trembled with her gentleness.”

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wonderful. Inspiring, heartbreaking, poignant, truthful-an absolute revelation. From the first story, I was hooked. Thank fuck for Joan Nestle. This book gives me hope. One to revisit. Recommended!

[Ren Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was so beautiful. I first heard of Joan Nestle in a queer studies class I took. This book was SO hard to find. I had to resort to unorthodox methods in order to obtain it.... But i'm so grateful I did so. I think the curation of this book is very interesting and well done. It's a collection of essays, a few poems and speeches but it flows in a very organised manner and creates a linear story. This book reminded me so much of Stone Butch Blues but I feel Nestle is not discussed nearly as much in queer history. It almost feels like that book couldn't of happened without this one. It's kind of a femme counterpart to SBB. There were some chapters that were so beautiful and still so relevant to today's issues. She blended her intersections so well and actively discussed her involvement in movements outside her own. The chapter on butch/femme relations was PERFECT and I need every single annoying bisexual on twitter to read it immediately because why are we still having these discourses when this perfect piece of text exists. I did find her connections between sex work and lesbianism very very interesting, it gave insight to a different lense in how the two are tied together. I really recommend this book to anyone and even more so to look into Joan Nestle and all the work she has done for lesbians. She is also still living and supports Palestine so big yup for me. Overall amazing lesbian text that needs to be more talked about in the historiography of queer history <3

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mother, the daughter, and the holy ghost, Joan Nestle.

I walked away from the persistent desire to be in love with you and knew that a collection of your own was something I wanted. And holy fuck. Did not disappoint.

This is a shittily brief review because... no notes 🙌

I love the way Nestle writes. Just her prose and how tender spiritual moments are woven into history and theory. It really conveys the profoundness of the history and lives. Nestle can so seamlessly slip these moments in. Nestle places so much importance on the lives of lesbians, butch and femme, sexual women, and sex workers. I always walk away from Nestle feeling like I am profound. That my life is profound. That my histories, our histories are worth of such profound value.

My favorites of the collection in no particular order

Two Women: Regina Nestle, 1910-1978, And Her Daughter, Joan
Butch-Femme Relationships: Sexual Courage In The 1950s
My Mother Liked To Fuck
The Gift Of Taking
My History With Censorship
Lesbians and Prostitutes: An Historical Sisterhood
When The Lions Write History

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Coalition politics is a desperately needed, deeply political strategy in these Reagan times… Politics becomes passion, or perhaps passion becomes politics. One of the strongest gifts you give this hate-filled society is proof that neither racism nor classism nor homophobia can silence a loving voice, nor stop a loving touch.”

[neens · Rating 5 out of 5]

completely blew my mind several times esp joan's sexual/sensual pieces about butch-femme dynamics

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It is one I will keep, refer back to, read again, and lend to people. I had never read any of Joan Nestle's writing before. Now I plan to look up her other work and would like to read it all. I truly enjoyed this book. Although it is history, it reads like a novel. It consists of short essays and stories that deal with her life, politics, her experience living as a working class, Jewish, lesbian, feminist woman. She deals with so many important ideas and issues including the intersectionality of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion... I am especially fascinated with her analysis of the tensions between feminists and lesbians, the policing of morality, censorship, how history is written, who writes it, and who is left out, and the connections between women, lesbians, and sex workers.

[Sarah Hahn Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This important book from lesbian HERstory details the author's experience of coming out in the 1940s and then being out in the 1950s and onward. The book is a collection of essays and short stories, all arranged chronologically. Of course, Joan Nestle was instrumental in starting the Lesbian HERstory Archives in Brooklyn, so this slim book felt like a particularly good find in the library shelves. Every lesbian searching for a sense of her history and community should read Nestle's account of her experiences. While she's a far superior essayist/memoirist than she is a short story writer, all these vignettes are important glimpses into American lesbian culture.

[Emmanuelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have nothing but gratitude.

[Shoshanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read, I put it up there in the same category as "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano! A woman, a socialist, a feminist, a lesbian, a femme, a Jew, Nestle shows how these identities intersect in her life and in the lives and histories of others. This book is a series of entries, most of which are personal essays, some histories, and later on in the book, some very intense blushy lesbian erotica (it's so good but don't read it around other people! ;) ).

The way Nestle talks about the different ways her Jewishness and her lesbianism are similarly experienced, it's the first time I have read about this, outside of the watching Transparent. Her defense of butch / femme relationships in lesbian culture, past and present, are so thought provoking. I had never thought of how the androgyny that lesbian feminists advocated erased that part of the culture before.

Also the way she talks about being despised on multiple sides, as a femme lesbian, remind me of Serano's triple oppression from different groups.

Not to be missed! A feminist gem! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Joan Nestle is an excellent essayist and I've really enjoyed this collection. Writing about desire and eroticism is a difficult thing to do, and I think that Nestle does an excellent job of addressing such a touchy subject in a way that is clear and understandable but is also rich with feeling and thought and passion.
----
Favorite essays (for my reference):
Liberties not Taken
Esther's Story
Lesbian Memories 1: Riis Park, 1960
Stone Butch, Baby Butch, Drag Butch
Voices From Lesbian Herstory
My History With Censorship

[Kieren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this text. It made me want to visit the Lesbian Herstory Archives in NY.

Quote, "History is not a dead thing or a sure thing. It lives with our choices and our dreams... It is always a collective memory as complicated and as contradictory as the people who lived it, but it is always a people's story."

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a good one. It covers so much ground so well, from the stories of the 1950s bars to her complicated mother to the erotica she writes in the second half. It all fits together so clearly, too. Really a great introductory volume of queer history, to so clearly capture so many different moments and the way they rub against each other.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not gonna lie, the worldbuilding in A Restricted Country is the real star. Joan Nestle drops little details that make the place feel lived in, no info-dump required. The plot itself is nothing special, and the main character fades next to the setting. Perfect for lore addicts, a letdown for people who read for the characters.

[Soph Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully layered collection that holds many secrets and joys despite its short length; moving from comparative history to erotica to eulogy is not easy, but Nestle does that and more here.

“All I have are my words and my body, and I will use them to say and picture the truths I know.”

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dipped in and out of this book, but I know I’m going to go back to all of it because it’s so dense. A mixture of essays and erotica, this gets 5 Stars simply because it’s such a fundamentally important part of lesbian/queer history.

[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely insightful read about Nestle's experiences as a Lesbian, a femme, a Civil Rights activist, a feminist, a Jewish woman, and all the intersections therein. I found many of the essays to still be relevant today, re: McCarthyism and scapegoating within "undesirable" communities.

[TK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jewish Stone Butch Blues. Required reading for Jewish lesbians.

[M Caesar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly incredible!! The more things change the more they stay the same, kind of sobering to see how many problems from the 50s and 80s we're still dealing with, or that made a resurgence.

[Sara G · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Lesbians and Prostitutes: an Historical Sisterhood" was certainly *the* standout for me but this book overall feels very valuable and personal, still. Even in 2024.

[groundbreakingdot872 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving. A must read for the modern queer empowerment movement that will always remain timeless.

[McShaggins]

Butch-femme working-class lesbian life, written against the anti-porn feminism you own in depth.

[Jay Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both a memoir and a historical archive of queer culture.

[Celeste]

i am so proud to be reading this important collection of history. reading about Lesbian love, about butch-femme love, is absolutely wonderful.

[E.J. Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To live without history is to live like an infant, constantly amazed and challenged by a strange and unnamed world. There is a deep wonder in this kind of existence, a vitality of curiosity and a sense of adventure that we do well to keep alive all of our lives. But a people who are struggling against a world that has decreed them obscene need a stronger bedrock beneath their feet. (110)"

Absolutely.

[Stephy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I recall correctly, the author was involved many decades ago in a lesbian newspaper collective called Lavander Woman. My, she has come a long way. Some of the women from Lavender Woman Collective have gone on to write incredible works of Woman's Studies. See Bonnie Zimmerman, Michal Brody, others. I love her work.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally I was able to find it at Pegasus books in Berkeley. I had a FEELING it would be waiting for me there, and I was right. SO GOOD that while I was reading I accidentally got on the wrong flight back to New York-- had to be brought back by a fast-moving attendant who raced down the airplane sleeve after me. Restricted Country, indeed.