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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
"The Homosexual" As Problem Patron, Polly Thistlethwaite
"The Homosexual" As Problem Patron, Polly Thistlethwaite
Publications and Research
Libraries host a range of human activity, some of which is overtly sexual. What's a librarian to do about public displays of affection? cruising? public sex? First, we read up on the issue. Unfortunately, problem patron library literature is spotted with vivid illustrations of irrational bias against gay men, male-to-female transgender women, and men-cruising-men. It also discounts the private nature of most consensual sex in public places. This article discusses sex and gender biases in library literature, arguing that gender equitable, privacy-respecting practices will better serve librarians administering public space.
The Lesbian And Gay Past: An Interpretive Battleground, Polly Thistlethwaite
The Lesbian And Gay Past: An Interpretive Battleground, Polly Thistlethwaite
Publications and Research
The lesbian and gay past is an interpretive battleground that mainstream archives have refused to enter, assuming few risks in collecting, naming, or identifying archival collections. At the same time, libraries offer up worlds to those who work to unearth the secrets there.
The New York Public Library's 1994 "Becoming Visible" exhibit trumpeted The Arrival of lesbian and gay history to New York's cultural mainstream. The NYPL exhibit denies the library's role in secreting lesbian and gay history, and diminished the contributions of community-based archives to the exhibit.
Representation, Liberation, And The Queer Press, Polly Thistlethwaite
Representation, Liberation, And The Queer Press, Polly Thistlethwaite
Publications and Research
Lesbian and gay people lay special claim to the power of the printed word. It is through the printed word, consumed privately and anonymously, that we often first call ourselves queer. Coming out stories are thick with accounts of self-discovery through reading and exploration in libraries.
To Tell The Truth: The Lesbian Herstory Archives: Chronicling A People And Fighting Invisibility Since 1974, Polly Thistlethwaite
To Tell The Truth: The Lesbian Herstory Archives: Chronicling A People And Fighting Invisibility Since 1974, Polly Thistlethwaite
Publications and Research
A portrait of the Lesbian Herstory Archives by a volunteer, describing the archive in its original home in Joan Nestle's Upper West Side New York City apartment that she shared with Mabel Hampton. Originally published in Out/Week Magazine.