Sex Variant Woman

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Sex Variant Woman
AuthorJoanne Passet
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreBiography
PublisherDa Capo Press
Publication date
2008
Pages353
ISBN978-0-7867-1822-1

Sex Variant Woman: The Life of Jeannette Howard Foster is a biography of Jeannette Howard Foster, a pioneer in lesbian studies, by American historian Joanne Passet. It was published in 2008 by Da Capo Press.[1] The book includes a foreword by Lillian Faderman.[2]

Critical reception[edit]

In a review for The American Historical Review, Leila J. Rupp wrote: "This is a fascinating story of an extraordinary woman in lesbian history. Passet clearly admires her subject, even though she notes the racism and snobbishness that was part of her background."[1] Martha Vicinus' review for The Women's Review of Books said: "I admire Passet's thorough research, but I wish she had taken a step back to focus on the ways in which Foster's life was both exceptional and representative of the generation of lesbians between the new women of the 1920s and the gay liberationists of the 1970s."[3] Publishers Weekly found it ironic that the book devotes more attention to Foster's personal life than her professional achievements. Nonetheless, the review concluded that "Passet does justice to Foster's important place in both literary and lesbian culture."[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Rupp, Leila J. (June 2009). "Reviewed Work: Sex Variant Woman: The Life of Jeannette Howard Foster by Joanne Passet". The American Historical Review. 114 (3): 776. doi:10.1086/ahr.114.3.776. ISSN 0002-8762.
  2. ^ Schwartz, Michelle; Crompton, Constance (2018). "Chapter 9 Remaking History: Lesbian Feminist Historical Methods in the Digital Humanities". In Losh, Elizabeth; Wernimont, Jacqueline (eds.). Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and the Digital Humanities. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-1-4529-5858-3.
  3. ^ Vicinus, Martha (January–February 2009). "Of Her Time and Ahead of It". The Women's Review of Books. 26 (1): 22–23. ISSN 0738-1433.
  4. ^ "Sex Variant Woman: The Life of Jeanette Howard Foster". Publishers Weekly. June 9, 2008. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.