The Intimacy Dance: A Guide to Long-Term Success in Gay and Lesbian Relationships

by Betty Berzon

A book for gays and lesbians in relationships of three years or longer addresses such issues as identities merging, sex waning, the inability to resolve conflicts, and the inability to communicate among others

Genres: Self Help, Queer, Gay, Relationships, Nonfiction, LGBT

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Betty Berzon was an American author and psychotherapist known for her work with the gay and lesbian communities.

Berzon was among the first psychotherapists to assist gay and lesbian clients. After coming out as a lesbian in 1968, she began providing therapy to gays and lesbians, and in 1971, she organized the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center as well as an organization of gays and lesbians within the American Psychiatric Association, which declassified homosexuality as a mental illness two years later.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It candidly discusses real communication issues that occur in relationships, gives case studies from the author's practice and her own life. Very useful, I did glaze over a lot of the "inner child" stuff, and the book is obviously dated in regards to both HIV/AIDS and non-monogamy. The AIDS chapter is still very touching and a useful historical artifact, it's important to remember that during the crisis, our community cared and loved the sick and dying, while also living with fear and anger. She asks that partners who are living with the pain of watching a partner die put that pain into activism, and in an otherwise "nonpolitical" book, it's an important point.
She doesn't explicitly address non-monogamy other than candidly endorsing it as only-sometimes-the-option, though her clients seem to experiment with it. Not a big deal, and I appreciate reading something on LGBT relationships that isn't merely a wikipedia article of how we have sex or stereotypes. A useful book despite, and sometimes because of, it's age.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE best, most well-written and well-informed book on this topic I've yet to find. Every monogomous, or open-relationshiped persons who are GLBT should read this to improve, and insure a lasting, happy, and healthy relationship. What a joy.

[Sarah Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful for the unique issues that GLB folks experience in ling and short-term relationships.

[Effie]

Love reading and discussing this with my wife...