Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold Review

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold
By Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy & Madeline D. Davis. Routledge, Chapman and Hall 1993.Pp. 434.

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold" is an account of the changes within the lesbian community in Buffalo, New York. The authors cover the time period beginning in the mid-1930s and ending with the early 1960s. Drawing on oral histories collected from many women, it provides an exhaustive history of a working-class lesbian community. These personal stories provide a new look at working-class lesbians and their impact to the future of the lesbian community. There is vast evidence that the actions of these working class lesbians increased lesbian visibility and laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement to come.
The book is based on 13 years of research, and ranges over such topics as relationships and sex, coming out, butch-fem roles, friendship, motherhood, violence, work, racism and pride.. They conducted their interviews within their own community and as such had access and trust that an outsider might never be able to obtain. The women that were interviewed in this book felt that their willingness to live their lives such that their lesbianism was not denied, was critical factor in creating change. In addition to detailing community life, this work also chronicles the intimate relationships of these lesbians. As a result of the connections made between the authors and subjects, the women interviewed are often portrayed as the heroines that many of them really were.The centerpiece of this era was, of course, the bar community. Finding ways to socialize together was critical to ending the isolation of the lesbian experience. Bar communities served both as centers of sociability and a place to find a sexual partner. It was also the center of the community political life; though many participants didn’t realize that just being a part of working class lesbian culture was a political act. For many, it was a day to day struggle. But at the same time, some reported that they understood on some level that what they were doing was important and might just change the world.
It is impossible to study this era without covering the violence that pervaded the bar culture. There were two main types of violence, first the butches fighting with straight men to maintain their social space and protect their fems. But there was also fighting between butches. There were obvious causes such as jealousy and alcohol but one cannot determine how much the stresses of their day to day life, economic frustration and self esteem issues were to blame. Often, when one has to fight just to survive on a daily basis, some of that aggression is turned inward to ones own community. But all in all, the butches did so much to promote community solidarity and the violence may have been a necessary part of women protecting their own space and place to be.The overall synopsis of butch life took a different twist than one might have expected when examining the subject of sex. In this book we clearly see that butches were not just women wanting to be men. The main focus of butch sexuality was to please their fem. Some, though not all, were stone butches so their own gratification really held a much lesser place. Because many of the femmes had been involved in relationships with men and had often experienced violence, butches offered an alternative type of love. Prostitutes were often part of the community and turned to relationships with butches. But the book makes the point repeatedly that the butches did not think they were men. They were not trying to copy men but instead develop their own kind of masculine culture. Ironically, the role playing culture that they were modeled after was only a reality in the movies and to some extent middle class culture.Another twist to the role playing was that it was the butch women who were unlikely to find employment. Without a willingness to dress in a more feminine manner, their job prospects were practically non-existent. There were many cases were the fems had to support their butches. This resulted in a dynamic that simply did not exist in straight culture.
Children were a part of the culture as well. Though, today we are seeing a different kind of lesbian baby boom, there is no doubt that many lesbians were raising children during this time. However, in nearly all cases, the women, both butch and fems, had become pregnant while in a relationship of some sort with a man.All evidence indicates the most common form of relationships was the pattern of serial monogamy. Though it was not uncommon for women to have affairs on the side, the ideal was always a committed relationship. However, without any support system outside the community and the fact that the bar continued to be the only real option for socializing, the stresses on a relationship lasting were immense. The women did report that it was sometimes frustrating and demoralizing to pass from one relationship to the next but seemed a pattern that was difficult to break. That it not to say that the relationships were not emotionally strong and deep while given support to each other in what was often an otherwise hostile world.
One of the key changes between lesbian life in the 1940s and 1950s was the role the experienced butches began to take in terms of mentoring the younger ones. In the 1940s, lesbians did not actively introduce people to gay life. But as community culture and sexuality began to become more structured and roles defined, it became more necessary to have a mentor. An experienced butch would explain all aspects of role playing and even sexually how to please a fem, though some of it was learned intuitively as well. There is no doubt that racism was a part of the experience, though many women believed that as a result of the oppression faced elsewhere, it existed on a much lesser level than in the rest of society for this time period. While the books does not attempt to cover the middle class experience of this era to any degree, it seems likely that most middle class lesbians were having an entirely different experience. With the threat of losing their jobs, most were much more circumspect, though some would venture into the bars on occasion. This book recovers a neglected chapter of lesbian and gay history and reminds us of the enduring importance of our outlaw roots. It was during this time, that the friendships and community solidarity began to form the basis for a civil rights movement to come. It also formed the basis of a lesbian identity that is still evolving.