Yes, the covers are undeniably exploitive, shamelessly exhibitionistic, and probably aimed more at titillating male readers than identifying with lesbian readers. Yes, the titles themselves are embarrassingly distasteful and, in some cases, outright offensive, but they’re a product of the times in which they were written.
Despite all of that, some of them are quite beautiful - in a campy, retro sort of way. You can check out the full archive over at the Strange Sisters site, but some of my favourites are below:
If nothing else, it's an interesting glimpse into our literary past, and one that many contemporary readers were never exposed to (short of uncovering a few faded and tattered copies in the attic, that is).
♥
Reminds me the Ann Bannon covers from the 50s and 60s, but you know she's still writing in 2011
ReplyDeleteThese are very interesting-thanks for sharing them-
ReplyDelete