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The Lesbian South: Southern Feminists, the Women in Print Movement, and the Queer Literary Canon
In this book, Jaime Harker uncovers a largely forgotten literary Renaissance in Southern letters. Anchored by a constellation of southern women, the Women in Print movement grew from the queer union of women's liberation, civil rights activism, gay liberation, and print culture. Broadly influential from the 1970s through the 1990s, the Women in Print movement created a network of writers, publishers, bookstores, and readers that fostered a remarkable array of literature.
With the freedom that the Women in Print movement inspired, southern lesbian feminists remade Southernness as a site of intersectional radicalism, transgressive sexuality, and liberatory space. Including in her study well-known authors—including Dorothy Allison and Alice Walker—as well as overlooked writers, publishers, and editors, Harker reconfigures the Southern literary canon and the feminist canon, challenging histories of feminism and queer studies to include the South in a formative role.
With the freedom that the Women in Print movement inspired, southern lesbian feminists remade Southernness as a site of intersectional radicalism, transgressive sexuality, and liberatory space. Including in her study well-known authors—including Dorothy Allison and Alice Walker—as well as overlooked writers, publishers, and editors, Harker reconfigures the Southern literary canon and the feminist canon, challenging histories of feminism and queer studies to include the South in a formative role.
241 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 1, 2025
4.5 stars. loved it
July 2, 2020
What can I say? One of the best books I've read in a long time. Maybe one of the best books I've ever read.
I found myself eagerly turning page after page, ready to read more, to uncover this vast history of a lesbian south created through the Women In Print movement. I was not disappointed. I convinced 2 people to buy this book while I was reading it, and I wasnt even through with it; I loved it that much.
This is an incredibly well-documented history of the lesbian feminist writing movement that blossomed in the south between 1966 and today; it analyzes a wide variety of writers, from the ultra-conservative [ew!] Lesbian Florence King, to revolutionary Communist poet and writer Minnie-Bruce Pratt [who, and I am flexing slightly here, I am close friends with, and who was delighted that I was reading this], and how they helped build and contribute to the southern lesbian feminist movement. Minnie-Bruce has spoken to me about it some, but this is a wonderfully-chronologized look at it.
The first 2 sections deal with the history of origins of the southern lesbian feminist writing movement, as well as the types of writing that this wide variety of writers did: erotica, scifi, comedy, drama, and of course, political works. A lot of these women were lovers and that inspired many of their writings and thoughts. It focuses on Black and Latina lesbian writers in many places, and how the intersections of being Black/Brown, lesbian, and a woman, were told through their own histories in the Women In Print movement.
The book then goes onto give an analysis of what exactly a "queer space" means, using the lesbian communes that dominated the 1970s, as the backdrop. It discusses the concept of a "queer place" that is utopian and collectivist, which has its own critiques [i am firmly anti-utopian, but thats neither here nor there right now].
This book mainly reignites the passion for queer/trans archivism and proves its relevance. Queer/trans archivism [is that a word? It is now] is critical as it allows for the self-determination for queer/trans people to persevere and continue; it is a collective of our many, tangled histories that require themselves to be told, in order to continue to fight for liberation.
I can't recommend this book enough.
I found myself eagerly turning page after page, ready to read more, to uncover this vast history of a lesbian south created through the Women In Print movement. I was not disappointed. I convinced 2 people to buy this book while I was reading it, and I wasnt even through with it; I loved it that much.
This is an incredibly well-documented history of the lesbian feminist writing movement that blossomed in the south between 1966 and today; it analyzes a wide variety of writers, from the ultra-conservative [ew!] Lesbian Florence King, to revolutionary Communist poet and writer Minnie-Bruce Pratt [who, and I am flexing slightly here, I am close friends with, and who was delighted that I was reading this], and how they helped build and contribute to the southern lesbian feminist movement. Minnie-Bruce has spoken to me about it some, but this is a wonderfully-chronologized look at it.
The first 2 sections deal with the history of origins of the southern lesbian feminist writing movement, as well as the types of writing that this wide variety of writers did: erotica, scifi, comedy, drama, and of course, political works. A lot of these women were lovers and that inspired many of their writings and thoughts. It focuses on Black and Latina lesbian writers in many places, and how the intersections of being Black/Brown, lesbian, and a woman, were told through their own histories in the Women In Print movement.
The book then goes onto give an analysis of what exactly a "queer space" means, using the lesbian communes that dominated the 1970s, as the backdrop. It discusses the concept of a "queer place" that is utopian and collectivist, which has its own critiques [i am firmly anti-utopian, but thats neither here nor there right now].
This book mainly reignites the passion for queer/trans archivism and proves its relevance. Queer/trans archivism [is that a word? It is now] is critical as it allows for the self-determination for queer/trans people to persevere and continue; it is a collective of our many, tangled histories that require themselves to be told, in order to continue to fight for liberation.
I can't recommend this book enough.
July 28, 2022
Great book, accessibly written, clearly of relevance to those interested in queer/Southern literary studies. However, two chapters also offer great info on feminist history, specifically a chapter on the Women in Print movement and another on separatism / women's spaces. A useful companion to Mary Gray's Out in the Country for those interested in non-metropolitan aspects of queer history as well.
April 21, 2019
A finalist for the Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
January 13, 2019
It has been a long time since I felt as turned on by a piece of academic feminist writing as I felt reading the introduction to The Lesbian South. Jaime Harker does a great job linking the visions and literary work of southern lesbian feminists in the 1980s to mid-1990s to our current queer moment and explodes the myth of “the monolithically conservative South.” Her prose is fluid and provocative.
Recommended for all students of 20th/21st-century southern cultures, especially if the mere mention of lesbian feminism or cultural feminism makes you roll your eyes
Recommended for all students of 20th/21st-century southern cultures, especially if the mere mention of lesbian feminism or cultural feminism makes you roll your eyes
April 12, 2020
"Dykes with books in their hands were coming out of the library and into your lecture halls, your classrooms, your women's music festivals, and your homes."
I N C R E D I B L E
I N C R E D I B L E
May 19, 2025
I think this book was amazing and so thoroughly researched. As a queer woman, getting to learn more about movements that your community took massive parts in is amazing and getting more southern lesbian history is always amazing. I’ve gotten so many amazing books to read just from this one book, and I’ve learned about amazing authors (some of which are still alive today) who shaped the literature we read now. If you are queer, southern, a woman, or someone who enjoys reading books written by women, this is a book you must read.
June 17, 2019
This book may have been above my head. I was not familiar with many of the books/authors referenced and it was difficult to get through at times, but there were SO MANY ideas circulating throughout that I couldn't stop talking about in my daily life. I may have to revisit after reading some of the book discussed.
September 2, 2019
Super informative but sometimes a bit repetitive. Easily overlooked considering how excited I was to gain so many new queer lit recommendations. Bring on the lesbian pulp fiction because I am trash.
January 2, 2024
There were a few times it was a bit dry, but it's a fantastic book about the history of a progressive political movement in the South, which is a subject often overlooked.
Want to read
August 7, 2024fuck yeah
October 4, 2024
book that most defines my academic career. and yale didn’t like that so much.
July 29, 2025
So inspiring I'm starting a book club! you should read it!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews