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firstiteration's review
4.0
Reading “By Word of Mouth” is like opening a portal into the lives of lesbians who came before me. The anthology was published before I was born, by women who were mostly older then than I am now. Like many LGBTQ people, I have a strong interest in LGBTQ history and seek it out as a way of understanding myself and the world I live in. I pick up books like “By Word of Mouth” from yard sales and thrift stores as one of my ways of looking for that history.
Scanning the authors who contributed to this anthology, I don’t recognize a single name. I didn’t recognize the name of the publisher either: Gynergy Books, located in Prince Edward Island. I feel like I’ve discovered something. It excites me to learn about how in decades past, ordinary women came together to make their own presses and publish their work.
The editor’s introduction to “By Word of Mouth” contains information about the intentions behind the book and how submissions were considered. Editor Lee Fleming states that “Socially conditioned judgements can impair our ability to experience and enjoy other lesbians’ sexual lives, while censorship is an effective tool in enforcing silence and separation.” And I would agree - I think these things can still hold true even now in 2020. I kept this idea in mind as I read the book.
Many of the stories and poems in the book included nature in one way or another, and women feeling comfortable with their bodies as they are. The inclusion of nature imagery and natural landscapes works in several ways. First, an affirmation that our bodies are fine and natural as they are, even when they don’t adhere to gender roles (exemplified in Liddy Rich’s “Glow”). Second, the idea that being a lesbian is something natural and innate. And third, in relation to the search for “creating our own self-defined erotic” Fleming mentions in the introduction, a desire to shed all the baggage we’ve accumulated throughout life and find something that feels more authentic and natural for us.
While this anthology has provoked me to think a lot about lesbian history, publishing, and how we try to live authentically as ourselves in a world that can still be hostile to lesbians, it was also genuinely enjoyable. A lot of the writing is funny, sexy, and sweet. It’s celebratory! None of the pieces ever felt like they were trying to create any rules for lesbian sexuality or expression.
I also appreciated that there were middle-aged or older women in the stories and poems. As a lesbian approaching her 30s, I’m aware that my life doesn’t look anything like that of most other women. I’m never going to have a husband, and having children or a house seem doubtful as well.
So what will my life be like? That unknown can be scary. But a book like this says, your life can be fun and sexy no matter how old you are or what you’ve been through in life. It’s like a reassuring smile from these lesbian women who have come before me, who have surely lived harder lives than me, telling me that I’m going to be fine.
Scanning the authors who contributed to this anthology, I don’t recognize a single name. I didn’t recognize the name of the publisher either: Gynergy Books, located in Prince Edward Island. I feel like I’ve discovered something. It excites me to learn about how in decades past, ordinary women came together to make their own presses and publish their work.
The editor’s introduction to “By Word of Mouth” contains information about the intentions behind the book and how submissions were considered. Editor Lee Fleming states that “Socially conditioned judgements can impair our ability to experience and enjoy other lesbians’ sexual lives, while censorship is an effective tool in enforcing silence and separation.” And I would agree - I think these things can still hold true even now in 2020. I kept this idea in mind as I read the book.
Many of the stories and poems in the book included nature in one way or another, and women feeling comfortable with their bodies as they are. The inclusion of nature imagery and natural landscapes works in several ways. First, an affirmation that our bodies are fine and natural as they are, even when they don’t adhere to gender roles (exemplified in Liddy Rich’s “Glow”). Second, the idea that being a lesbian is something natural and innate. And third, in relation to the search for “creating our own self-defined erotic” Fleming mentions in the introduction, a desire to shed all the baggage we’ve accumulated throughout life and find something that feels more authentic and natural for us.
While this anthology has provoked me to think a lot about lesbian history, publishing, and how we try to live authentically as ourselves in a world that can still be hostile to lesbians, it was also genuinely enjoyable. A lot of the writing is funny, sexy, and sweet. It’s celebratory! None of the pieces ever felt like they were trying to create any rules for lesbian sexuality or expression.
I also appreciated that there were middle-aged or older women in the stories and poems. As a lesbian approaching her 30s, I’m aware that my life doesn’t look anything like that of most other women. I’m never going to have a husband, and having children or a house seem doubtful as well.
So what will my life be like? That unknown can be scary. But a book like this says, your life can be fun and sexy no matter how old you are or what you’ve been through in life. It’s like a reassuring smile from these lesbian women who have come before me, who have surely lived harder lives than me, telling me that I’m going to be fine.
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