SOURCE: Harne, Lynne. “Beyond Sex and Romance?: Lesbian Relationships in Contemporary Fiction.” In Beyond Sex and Romance?: The Politics of Contemporary Lesbian Fiction, edited by Elaine Hutton, pp. 124-49. London: Women's Press, 1998.

In the following essay, Harne is critical of early lesbian fiction which tended to portray lesbian relationships as similar to gay or heterosexual ones, and discusses contemporary lesbian fiction that depicts lesbians in a more complex and realistic manner.

I have been reading lesbian feminist contemporary fiction on and off since the early days of the women's movement in the 1970s. For me as for many other lesbian feminists, such fiction provides not only enjoyment but also at times affirmation of lesbian feminist identity, and on occasion it has reflected and contributed to debates about lesbian feminist politics. With some notable exceptions, however, I have found representations of lesbian feminist personal relationships in such fiction problematic...