Drastic Dykes and Accidental Activists: Queer Women in the Urban South

by La Shonda Mims

After World War II, Atlanta and Charlotte emerged as leading urban centers in the South, redefining the region through their competing metropolitan identities. Both cities also served as home to queer communities who defined themselves in accordance with their urban surroundings and profited to varying degrees from the emphasis on economic growth. Uniting southern women's history with urban history, La Shonda Mims considers an imaginatively constructed archive including feminist newsletters and queer bar guides alongside sources revealing corporate boosterism and political rhetoric to explore the complex nature of lesbian life in the South.
Mims's work reveals significant differences between gay men's and lesbian women's lived experiences, with lesbians often missing out on the promises of prosperity that benefitted some members of gay communities. Money, class, and race were significant variables in shaping the divergent life experiences for the lesbian communities of Atlanta and Charlotte; whiteness especially bestowed certain privileges. In Atlanta, an inclusive corporate culture bolstered the city's queer community. In Charlotte, tenacious lesbian collectives persevered, as many queer Charlotteans leaned on Atlanta's enormous Pride celebrations for sanctuary when similar institutional community supports were lacking at home.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, History

256 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[Kendra Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

For NaNoWriMo, I wrote a zero draft of a novel about lesbians in the 1990s. Then I stumbled upon Drastic Dykes, which covers lesbian history in ATL & Charlotte from the 40s through the present. So, I read it for context. And because Atlanta is my passion. And the queer culture here was a beacon for me when I came out. It was Atlanta that made me believe I could have a big beautiful gay life.

So, reading this, for me, was both enlightening and like coming home. And there's a great list of resources in the book that I'll be checking out for future research. If you're interesting in lesbians in the South*, definitely check this out. It's a short, quick read (at points I wish it'd been longer & more in-depth).

*This book focuses on white lesbians in the South, because unfortunately the gay community is too often a largely segregated space. La Shonda Mims is a white, cis researcher & she offers a position statement at the end of the research which details why the book doesn't have a section on black lesbians in the South. It was helpful in understanding lesbian history--even the painful parts where white lesbians fell woefully short.

[Sophia · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

This is a VERY dense and well-researched book that goes very in-depth into the lesbian activism scenes in South Carolina and Georgia. I really enjoyed a lot of this book, but it's very slow-paced and (I read an ebook version) some of the images that presumably were just fine in print didn't translate properly to the ebook, and it messed up the formatting.