The Lesbian Menace: Ideology, Identity, and the Representation of Lesbian Life

This book examines how 20th-century American culture developed the idea of "The Lesbian" as a perverse creature that threatens the natural order of society. Sherrie Inness begins by comparing public perceptions of the menace posed by two lesbian "types": the "mannish woman" of Radclyffe Hall's 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness and the subtly seductive, traditionally beautiful Madame d'Aiguines of the 1926 play The Captive. She then analyzes popular novels of the 1930s that were concerned with those dangerous breeding grounds of lesbianism: women's colleges. She also contextualizes Nancy Drew novels, recent young adult books, and contemporary women's magazines' responses to lesbian chic.