Lesbians Speak Out

Lesbians Speak Out was originally conceived and collected by Carol Wilson as a series of articles, selected and typed on stencils by Natalie and Ellen; and mimeographed in a great hurry by the Women's Press Collective for a conference in L.A. This second edition is more careful, more complete, and has taken two and a half long years for six women to put together. I consider most of the articles as a historical record -- the early outburst of a germinal movement of gay women insisting on recognition from a broader feminist and leftist movement which sometimes retched at our emergence and sometimes pegged us as the current 'vanguard' of the American revolution. Oh mama. It is the poems and graphics which I love best about the book. I used to think art had to fit a certain form, a standard. Now I think anyone who sets out to make a drawing or poem, does--unless she is too secretive to say what she really means, or writes in a specialized language, such as academic or Greek or only-to-herself. Is it not so, that moving art comes from moving people--from women who are taking risks, moving toward each other and away from what destroys them; towards strength and away from helplessness; towards the earth and away from cloudy dreams. About 80 lesbians have a piece of their real selves in this collection and it's grand, and already I'm ready for more. As the song says, we're still not satisfied. -- Judy Grahn (From the introduction)