If you came here in search of my essays on lesbian identity, follow the links below.

• Lesbian-Feminism and Queer Theory: Another “Battle of the Sexes”?
• Lesbian Identity and the Politics of Butch-Femme
• Choice, Biology, and the Causes of Homosexuality: Towards a New Theory of Queer Identity

Pennance, by Clare Ashton (link to Amazon page — available in Kindle format only)

Lucy is reclusive and paranoid after the death of her partner, Jake, in a car accident. She lives in a small, introverted village in Cornwall (England) called Pennance, and is surrounded by Jake’s family and memories of him. She feels intensely guilty about his death and thinks someone is out to get her in retribution. Relief appears to come with the arrival of a neighbour, Karen — an older woman with two children. They bond through Lucy’s admission of her part in Jake’s death and Karen’s need of support through a divorce. But their relationship stirs old jealousies and soon Lucy’s life is in danger after all.

To learn more about the rhetoric of specific issues within gender and sexuality studies, see these study guide blogs created by my students, as well as their Class Blog:

• bisexuals
• gender identity
• gender norms
• homosexuality
• intersex
• lesbians
• nature v. nurture
• sexual orientation
• trans

The story is of a lesbian artist’s struggle to find a balance between her work and
the outside world.

The amazing thing about this project is my ambition to tell a lesbian story where
the character being a lesbian plays a major role, but it is not the defining aspect
of the story. First and foremost Adrienne is a human, an artist, one who has to
choose between life as she knows it, which is largely self absorbed and in her own
mind, or life outside of herself in love; and the consequences of her decisions.
She fights it to the point of losing everything and must find a way to rectify
herself, to regain that trust and support in evolving her own perception of success;
in work, in love, in life.

The people closest to this project and I laugh with her, cry with her, we get torn
apart, built back up, we love her, hate her, understand her, pity her, and cheer for
her to finally realize the difference between what she thinks is right and when she
finally relinquishes the pitfalls of control to realize her true path.

It is an incredibly exciting project. I have written it to be shot in French in
Paris, and since beginning the project I have gained international support, as far
as production crew in London and France, translators, post production crew, as well
as monetary contributions. My original desire was to make a movie where I didn’t
have to hear what was going on to understand, to see and to feel the story is first
and foremost the most important, the dialogue is second.

Please see our campaign site for more information on our project see
www.indiegogo.com/whatsheseesmovie.

Any support is absolutely appreciated!

Thank you for your time.

Best Wishes,
Christie Conochalla
www.christieconochalla.com
FB Christie Conochalla Art Adventures
twitter @whatshesees

I visited your website and would like to share information about my new book with
you. “Standing Naked in Public”, a lesbian romance novel, was released a week ago
and is available in paperback and e-book at www.authorhouse.com (cheapest),
www.amazon.com, or www.bn.com.

Book Description: Kate Ashford is a beautiful photojournalist thrown into the world
of photographing celebrities. She has a bad track record of crazy ex-girlfriends,
hates being associated with the paparazzi, and has a serious crush on Hollywood
movie star, Angela Moore. Angela Moore is a mega-celebrity living a huge lie. She is
terrifi ed her fans and family will discover she is a lesbian, but yearns for love
and companionship. Kate and Angela’s worlds collide, creating scandal and exposing
enemies. STANDING NAKED IN PUBLIC is steamy, hot lesbian fiction at its best. You
won’t be able to put this book down!

I hope you can share this new book with your online readers!

Thanks,
Karli Keefe

If you know of a particularly good web forum for lesbians, feel free to share a link to it here.

— forwarded text

Hello, my name is Martha Lucia Borras, I am a post graduate student at Durham University, United Kingdom. At the moment I am doing my master’s thesis in Female sexual Behavior, for which I developed a questionnaire dedicated to human female behavior regarding their sexual experiences. I was wondering if you could have your members fill in my survey, it would be great if I could analyze the differences between the behavioral patterns of heterosexuals, lesbian and bisexuals. It would give great insight to my study. All the responses to the survey of course will remain anonymous.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this.  I really appreciate all your help.  This is the link to my survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/femalebehaviour

Hello, I am a researcher at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, a collaborative of sexual health scholars from across the campuses of Indiana University and strategic partner academic institutions around the globe who, in partnership with practitioners from community-based health organizations, government and industry, work toward advancing the field of sexual health through our research, education and training initiatives. We recently reached our goal of obtaining the largest, most comprehensive and representative (that we know of) data on the sexual behaviors and sexual enhancement product use of men who have sex with men and heterosexual men and women throughout the US. However, to date, little remains about the sexual attitudes/behaviors/product use of women who engage in sexual behavior with other women. Thus, we are currently recruiting for a study entitled the Global Women’s Sex Study.

Our hope is to make the largest, most comprehensive and most inclusive study of the sexual behavior and sexual product use of women who engage in sexual behavior with other women. We will not profit from the information (of course, intellectually—just not financially). Our findings will be used to publish academic articles and educate community/medical professionals about the needs and wants of this diverse community. Hopefully, leading to happier and safer sex! We are trying to be as inclusive as possible in our recruitment (all English speaking self-identified women).

So, we found the best way to do this was to recruit over the internet. Participants will be thanked for their time with a coupon which is good towards the purchase of products from a website that caters to women. I am not sure whether the survey would be appropriate content to post (facebook, tweets, blogs, etc are all welcome) but we would be extraordinarily grateful if you felt comfortable helping us in our recruitment goal. You can feel free to use the recruitment message below or past the link along with whatever message you think would be most appropriate (http://www.womenshealth.iu.edu). Thank you in advance! Best wishes, Vanessa

Vanessa R. Schick, Ph.D. Post Doctoral Fellow

Center for Sexual Health Promotion

Indiana University 1025 E. 7th St., HPER 116

Bloomington, IN, 47405 812.856.0790

Recruitment message: The Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University is conducting the Global Women’s Sex Study to learn more about the sexual lives, pleasures and experiences of women who have sex with other women. The data will be used to help us understand the sex lives of women in the bedroom (and beyond) in order to promote better and safer sex between women. Current knowledge of sexual pleasure and risk between women is largely based on either heterosexual models of sex or relatively small groups of women which may not represent the thoughts/feelings/behaviors of you or your community. The information learned in this study will be used by sexual educators who want to promote pleasure and medical professionals who can help women identify ways to protect themselves from any risks— hopefully leading to safer and happier sex. Click on the link below to learn more about the survey and to participate. http://www.womenshealth.iu.edu Thank you for your time. Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH Vanessa Schick, PhD The Center for Sexual Health Promotion Indiana University cshp@indiana.edu *As a thank you for your time upon completion of the survey you will receive a thank you coupon good towards the purchase of products from a website that caters to women. ***This study is open to all. Please feel free to pass it along

Participants sought for a study on the public versus private identities of lesbian educators in K-12American schools. If you identify as a lesbian or queer woman who is an educator in the school system, please visit this site for more information and to participate in the survey(s).