Sapphic Art (Temptation Collection) | 
| Author: Hans-jurgen Dopp
Publisher: Parkstone Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1082072
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 96
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 6.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 185995880X
Dewey Decimal Number: 709
EAN: 9781859958803
ASIN: 185995880X
Publication Date: June 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
There was in Ancient Greece a particular island, in shape of a triangle, just like the female mane, which symbolized the most contradictory fantasies: the "island of Lesbos."For some, this is the sanctuary of female homosexuality, for others, it is the first expression of freedom by Aeolian women. In the first case, it is often men who try to reject and condemn the notion of pleasure between two women. In the second case, often women, they demand the right to equality. The poetess Sappho did not in anyway facilitate the relationship between men and women, with her admirable Ode to Aphrodite which celebrates the love and sexuality between to women. With the liberalization of morals, female homosexuality is part of modern society's and cannot be ignored. But what does history retain from these practices? How is the love between women appreciated? By infringing on the rules of past societies, how did these women live their particularity and their forbidden sexuality?
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| Customer Reviews:
 An indirect view January 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The artwork collected here is direct enough. Most of it dates to the late-19th and early-20th century, so it hardly reflects the later womens' movement[s]. On the whole the images are explicit, erotic, and happy; they generally lack in the many turnoffs of agression, butchness, and other un-necessary fetish.
The text is also interesting, though not memorable. The male author disqualifies himself as an expert on lesbianism, for the obvious reason. Instead, he traces a history of men's views on women's coupling. The most charming may be an ancient myth that there were once three beings: male, female, and hermaphrodite. Long ago, each was split into two beings. Ever since, the "two-backed" beast has attempted to form the whole being again: men together in the first case, women together in the second, and mixed pairs in the third.
That's about as good as it ever got. Since then, physical affection between women has usually been deemed irrelevant, impossible, sick, or evil - by men, of course, whether or not gay men were marginalized at the same time. And, oddly, the most radical of lesbians, the separatists who want nothing to do with men, also define their state in terms of men. Dopp wisely cuts his history short of the current era, which history has not yet had time to evaluate. Instead, he offers a hope that growing tolerance may let women's mutual affection (and men's) emerge as an ordinary option among the varieties of coupling, so it can be seen simply in itself. I'm not sure what it will look like when it's nothing special, but I like the idea.
//wiredweird
 phallo- and androcentric sapphism September 29, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Friend or 'phobe? Ally or exoticizer? Who knows?
On the one hand, lesbians have had to fight invisibility, so any focus on them can be revolutionary. The art here is diverse in terms of style, and it even includes depictions of lesbians of color. Whereas one can find heteroerotic and male homoerotic work throughout the centuries, this book only goes back to the late 1800s at most.
Still, I think this book is meant more for hetero male titillation than for lesbians trying to learn their history. Almost all of the art is made by men. These women aren't just kissing; the work is very explicit. You could only have this as a coffee table book if no children enter your living room. This book promots male fantasy, rather than challenging what Adrienne Rich called compulsory heterosexuality. At the time that so many lesbians, both French and non-French, were writing lesboerotic works in Paris, it's surprising that this material art is so male-identified.
Those who planned on reading this alongside "Lesbian Art in America" may want to think seriously about what they'll see and experience beforehand.
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