By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 10 years ago

Vintage homophobia: Tips for when you meet a lesbian from 1988

Wowza, can you say “dated”?

tips for when you meet a lesbian

This pamphlet, “When You Meet a Lesbian: Hints for the Heterosexual Women,” was a handout in a women’s studies 103 class at the University of Wisconsin at Madison circa 1988. While some of the advice stands the test of time — “Do not assume she is attracted to you” is probably worth repeating three times — apparently we’ve come pretty far in a couple decades when it comes to not acting as though lesbians are potentially dangerous wild animals. So, ya know, progress!

(h/t @jodyrosen via Jezebel)

Update: Or perhaps vintage satire? I can’t tell! What’s your vote?

Maya DusenberyMaya appreciates the sentiment but thinks “pretending to be a lesbian for 24 hours” is probably not gonna do much.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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