A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories Book

"I suppose my parents tried to raise me just like other little girls, but it was soon apparent that I was different."

The act of "coming out" has the power to transform every aspect of a woman's life, family, friendships, career, sexuality, spirituality. An essential element of self-realization, it is the unabashed acceptance of one's "outlaw" standing in a predominantly heterosexual world. The collected reminiscences of thirty-one supremely talented writers, A Woman Like That is a literate, important, funny and profoundly moving compilation of lesbian and bisexual coming out stories, each richly colored by conflict and risk, and thrumming with the electric excitement of early sexual adventure.

These accounts-sometimes heart-wrenching, often exhilarating-encompass a wide breadth of backgrounds and experiences. From a teenager institutionalized for her passion for women to the mother who must come out to her young sons at the risk of losing them- from the cautious academic to the raucous, liberated femme-each woman represented here tells of forging a unique path toward the difficult but emancipating recognition of herself. Extending from the 1940s to the present day, these intensely personal stories in turn reflect a unique history of the changing social mores that affected each woman's ability to determine the shape of her own life. Together they form an ornate tapestry of lesbian and bisexual experience in the United States over the past half-century.

A Woman Like That is an unforgettable anthology of intimate tales that celebrate the courage of women who demanded to be visible, tales that illuminate this most complex-and empowering-process of personal revelation.