Book Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Introduction -- Gyn/Affection and Hetero-relations -- Gyn/Affection and Lesbianism -- The Title of This Book -- The Method of This Book: Genealogy -- The Political Is Personal -- I Origins of Female Friendship: In the Beginning Was Woman -- According to Man -- According to Woman: The Origins of Gyn/Affection -- The Meaning and Importance of the Search for Origins -- Meta-History and Michel Foucault -- Clues from the Disciplines of Hetero-Relations: Psychologisms -- Clues from the Disciplines of Hetero-Relations: Biologisms -- "The Call of the Wild" -- A Genealogy of "Loose Women": The Prostitute and the Lesbian -- II Varieties of Female Friendship: The Nun As Loose Woman -- The Rule of Companions -- Spiritual Friendship -- Particular Friendship -- Suppression of Loose Religious Women -- Internal Suppression: Canonical Restraints and the Rule of Enclosure -- External Suppression: The Dissolution and the Protestant Reformation -- Conclusion -- III More Loose Women: The Chinese Marriage Resisters -- Kwangtung: The Locus of Marriage Resistance -- Sworn Sisters and the "Chai t'ang" -- The Pu lo-chia and the Tzu-shu nü -- Lesbian Practices -- Migration from China -- The Political Worth and Weight of the Marriage Resistance Movement -- Resisters and Nuns -- IV Obstacles to Female Friendship -- Dissociation from the World -- Therapism: The Tyranny of Feelings -- Relationism: The Tyranny of Relations -- Perversions of "The Personal Is Political" -- Assimilation to the World -- Sexual Liberation -- The Tyranny of Tolerance -- The Assimilation of Silence -- Victimization in the World -- Mothers and Daughters -- The Politics of Guilt and Guilt-Tripping -- Women's Alienation from Personal and Political Power -- Woman as the Ultimate Victimizer of Women -- Conclusion.

V A Vision of Female Friendship: Two Sights-seeing -- Dual Vision: Its Forms -- Materialism and Idealism -- Optimism and Pessimism -- Theory and Practice: Thought and Action -- The Conditions of Female Friendship -- Thoughtfulness -- Passion -- Worldliness -- Happiness -- Taking Sight Seriously -- Notes -- Introduction -- I. The Origins of Female Friendship: In The Beginning Was Woman -- II. Varieties of Female Friendship: The Nun as Loose Woman -- III. More Loose Women: The Chinese Marriage Resisters -- IV. Obstacles to Female Friendship -- V. A Vision of Female Friendship: Two Sights-Seeing -- Index.

This feminist classic explores the many manifestations of friendship between women and examines the ways women have created their own communities and destinies through friendship.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.