Examines risks and limits of alliances between lesbian studies and feminist studies. The fifteen essays collected in this volume examine the history, and the shape of lesbian alliances with US feminists. It aims to invite to question alliances in the interests of reforming and strengthening them.

This collection will explore a complicated but increasingly apparent dilemma: if the social and aesthetic significance of the terms 'lesbian' and 'feminist' can be said to derive from the same historical projects, or if the development of lesbian studies is understood in some sense as coextensive with the development of feminist studies, then how are contemporary scholars and critics participating in the emergence of a lesbian studies paradigm. "Cross Purposes" is an invitation to question alliances in the interests of reforming and strengthening them. This collection stands on the borders, where identity politics sometimes falls through the cracks. Its objective is to see how and where to situate lesbianism in relation to feminism.

Acknowledgments
OPurposes: An Introduction,O by Dana Heller
I. Crossings
OObstructive Behavior: Dykes in the Mainstream of Feminist Theory,O by Carolyn M. Dever
OFem/Les Scramble,O by Teresa de Lauretis
OSkin deep: Lesbian Interventions in Language,O by Ruth Salvaggio
OThe White Negress and the Heavy Duty Dyke,O by Tania Modleski
II. Collisions
OSexuality Versus Gender: A Kind of Mistake?O by Colleen Lamos
OWhen Lambs and Aliens Meet: Girl-faggots and Boy-dykes Go to the Movies,O by Michele
Aina Barale
OWhen Experience and Representation Collide: Lesbians, Feminists, and the AIDS Crisis,O
by Katie Hogan
OFeminism Without WomenO: A Lesbian Reassurance, by Annamarie Jagose
OSupermodels of Lesbian Chic: Camille Paglia Revamps Lesbian/Feminism (while Susie
Bright Retools),O, by Jane Caputi and Karman Kregloe