Joan Nestle
Encyclopedia
Joan Nestle is a Lambda Award winning writer and editor and the co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives.
's garment district, whom she credits with inspiring her "belief in a woman's undeniable right to enjoy sex". She attended Martin Van Buren High School in Queens
and received her B.A. from Queens College in 1963. During the mid-1960s she became involved in the African-American Civil Rights Movement
, travelling to the Southern United States
to join the Selma to Montgomery march and to participate in voter registration drive
s. She earned a Master's degree in English from New York University
in 1968 and worked toward a doctorate for two years before returning to Queens College to teach.
Nestle had been part of the working-class, butch and femme
bar culture of New York City since the late 1950s. In an interview with Ripe Magazine, she recalled that the center of her social life as a young lesbian was a bar called the Sea Colony, which, typically for the time, was run by organized crime
and that, in an attempt to avoid raids by the vice squad
, allowed only one woman into the bathroom at a time:
After the Stonewall riots
in 1969, gay liberation
became a focus of her activism. She joined the Lesbian Liberation Committee in 1971 and helped found the Gay Academic Union
(GAU) in 1972. The following year, she and other members of the GAU began to gather and preserve documents and artifacts related to lesbian history. This project became the Lesbian Herstory Archives, which opened in 1974 in the pantry of the apartment she shared with her then-partner Deborah Edel and moved to a brownstone
in Park Slope, Brooklyn
in 1992. Today its holdings include more than 20,000 books, 12,000 photographs, and 1,600 periodical titles.
Nestle began writing fiction in 1978, when a prolonged illness prevented her from teaching for a year. Her erotica
focusing on butch and femme
relationships made her a controversial figure during the feminist sex wars
of the 1980s; members of Women Against Pornography
called for censorship of her stories. In her political writings, Nestle, a self-identified femme, argued that contemporary feminism, in rejecting butch and femme identities, was asking her to repress an important part of herself. She said she "wanted people, especially lesbians, to see that the butch-femme relationship isn't just some negative heterosexual aping". Her writings on the subject were highly influential; Lillian Faderman
describes her as the "midwife" to a revised view of butch and femme, and her 1992 anthology The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader became the standard work in its field.
She retired from Queens College in 1995 due to an illness that was eventually identified as colorectal cancer
. She was diagnosed with breast cancer
in 2001. She now lives in Australia
with her partner, law professor Dianne Otto, and teaches at the University of Melbourne
.
Her life was the subject of a 2002 documentary by Joyce Warshow entitled Hand on the Pulse.
Life
Nestle's father died before she was born, and she was raised by her widowed mother Regina Nestle, a bookkeeper in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's garment district, whom she credits with inspiring her "belief in a woman's undeniable right to enjoy sex". She attended Martin Van Buren High School in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and received her B.A. from Queens College in 1963. During the mid-1960s she became involved in the African-American Civil Rights Movement
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
, travelling to the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
to join the Selma to Montgomery march and to participate in voter registration drive
Voter registration drive
A voter registration drive is an effort, often undertaken by a political campaign, political party, or other outside groups , that seeks to register to vote those who are eligible but not registered...
s. She earned a Master's degree in English from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in 1968 and worked toward a doctorate for two years before returning to Queens College to teach.
Nestle had been part of the working-class, butch and femme
Butch and femme
Butch and femme are LGBT terms describing respectively, masculine and feminine traits, behavior, style, expression, self-perception and so on. They are often used in the lesbian, bisexual and gay subcultures...
bar culture of New York City since the late 1950s. In an interview with Ripe Magazine, she recalled that the center of her social life as a young lesbian was a bar called the Sea Colony, which, typically for the time, was run by organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
and that, in an attempt to avoid raids by the vice squad
Vice Squad
Vice Squad is a punk band formed in 1978 in Bristol, England. The band formed from two other local punk bands, The Contingent and TV Brakes. Songwriter and vocalist Beki Bondage was a founding member and is currently with the band, although there was a period of time when the band had a different...
, allowed only one woman into the bathroom at a time:
The bathroom line went from the back room through a narrow hallway to the front room to the toilet which was behind the bar. This butch woman would stand at the front of the line and we each got two wraps of toilet paper.... It took me a long time to realize that while I was fighting for all these other causes, that it wasn't okay for me to get my allotted amount of toilet paper.
After the Stonewall riots
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
in 1969, gay liberation
Gay Liberation
Gay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
became a focus of her activism. She joined the Lesbian Liberation Committee in 1971 and helped found the Gay Academic Union
Gay Academic Union
The Gay Academic Union was a group of LGBT academics who aimed at making the academia more amenable to the LGBT community. It was formed in April 1973, just four years after the Stonewall riots,, held 4 yearly conferences and conducted other scholarly activities...
(GAU) in 1972. The following year, she and other members of the GAU began to gather and preserve documents and artifacts related to lesbian history. This project became the Lesbian Herstory Archives, which opened in 1974 in the pantry of the apartment she shared with her then-partner Deborah Edel and moved to a brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...
in 1992. Today its holdings include more than 20,000 books, 12,000 photographs, and 1,600 periodical titles.
Nestle began writing fiction in 1978, when a prolonged illness prevented her from teaching for a year. Her erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
focusing on butch and femme
Butch and femme
Butch and femme are LGBT terms describing respectively, masculine and feminine traits, behavior, style, expression, self-perception and so on. They are often used in the lesbian, bisexual and gay subcultures...
relationships made her a controversial figure during the feminist sex wars
Feminist Sex Wars
The Feminist Sex Wars and Lesbian Sex Wars, or simply the Sex Wars or Porn Wars, were the acrimonious debates within the feminist movement and lesbian community in the late 1970s through the 1980s around the issues of feminist strategies regarding sexuality, sexual representation, pornography,...
of the 1980s; members of Women Against Pornography
Women Against Pornography
Women Against Pornography was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City and an influential force in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s....
called for censorship of her stories. In her political writings, Nestle, a self-identified femme, argued that contemporary feminism, in rejecting butch and femme identities, was asking her to repress an important part of herself. She said she "wanted people, especially lesbians, to see that the butch-femme relationship isn't just some negative heterosexual aping". Her writings on the subject were highly influential; Lillian Faderman
Lillian Faderman
Lillian Faderman is a scholar whose books on lesbian relationships and romantic friendship in history have earned critical praise and awards. Faderman is a professor of English at California State University in Fresno, California.-Early life:...
describes her as the "midwife" to a revised view of butch and femme, and her 1992 anthology The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader became the standard work in its field.
She retired from Queens College in 1995 due to an illness that was eventually identified as colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus....
. She was diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
in 2001. She now lives in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with her partner, law professor Dianne Otto, and teaches at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
.
Her life was the subject of a 2002 documentary by Joyce Warshow entitled Hand on the Pulse.
As writer
- A Fragile Union: New and Collected Writings (1998)
- A Restricted Country (1988)
As editor
- GENDERqUEER: Voices from Beyond the Binary (2002)—co-edited with Clare Howell and Riki Wilchins
- Best Lesbian Erotica 2000 (1999)—co-edited with Tristan Taormino
- The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction (1999)—co-edited with Naomi Holoch
- Women on Women 3: An Anthology of Lesbian Short Fiction (1996)—co-edited with Naomi Holoch
- Sister and Brother: Lesbians and Gay Men Write about Their Lives Together (1994)—co-edited with John Preston
- Women on Women 2: An Anthology of Lesbian Short Fiction (1993)—co-edited with Naomi Holoch
- The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader (1992)
- Women on Women 1: An Anthology of Lesbian Short Fiction (1990)—co-edited with Naomi Holoch
Awards
- 2000 Lambda Literary AwardLambda Literary AwardLambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
for Best Lesbian & Gay Anthology—Fiction for The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction - 1999 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Studies for A Fragile Union
- 1998 American Library AssociationAmerican Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
Gay/Lesbian Book Award for A Restricted Country - 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian & Gay Anthology—Fiction for Women on Women 3
- 1994 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian and Gay Anthology-Nonfiction for Sister and Brother
- 1992 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Anthology for The Persistent Desire
- 1990 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Anthology for Women on Women 1