clusively, with the exception rather than the rule. The novel, which probably has more influence on public opinion than any written medium outside the newspaper, almost invariably depicts the "typical" lesbian as a "villain" who preys on an innocent society, a predatory creature utterly devoid of either morals or conscience, if not a downright freak. This purposely distorted caricature is, of course, no more typical of all lesbians than Amber is typical of all heterosexual women, but, quite naturally, the public believes that it is because it has no basis whatsoever for comparison.

There are two reasons why only descriptions of the very worst examples ever appear in print (and even these are usually grossly exaggerated). The first is that a novel, no matter how great its literary merits, which presented a sympathetic, or even an unbiased picture of a lesbian would stand no more chance of being published than a book in which an axe murderer was depicted as a basically nice fellow who was allowed to live happily ever after in spite of his aberration. For, face it we must, in our enlightened society, homosexuality is still a crime, and crime must not pay, at least not in literature and the theatre.

The second reason it is impossible to read about any but a "depraved" lesbian is that the life of the average, normal, ordinary lesbian is simply not sensational enough to bother writing about. Authors do not build novels around the hum-drum, unexciting, uneventful life of the average, normal, ordinary housewife, either. mentally or emotionally disturbed,

And the books written by doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and penologists contain information that is no more typical of the average homosexual than it would be of the average heterosexual if their "cases" dealt with him, for the sick, the

the anti-social and the criminal elements are not typical of any groupthey are the exceptions.

For the information of the general public, then-what is a "typical" lesbian? There is no such thing, of course, anymore than there is a "typical" heterosexual woman. Lesbian "types" are as many and varied as the types found among all women, and, incidentally, are identical. Some lesbians, to be sure, are masculine in appearance and manner, aggressive, dominating, decisive, and totally disinterested in "feminine fripperies" of any kind, whether they be of fashions, mental attitudes or social graces. But so are a great many heterosexual women, career women who successfully compete with men on their own grounds in the business and professional world, and strongwilled, self-sufficient wives who rule and dominate their homes, husbands and families completely. Other lesbians are as completely feminine in appearance, manner and nature as a debutante at her coming out party. And there are all the graduations and combinations in between, just as there are in all women.

4.2.

If you wish to know what a typical lesbian is like, look at any woman. She is like any one of them and all of them. There are good women and bad women and a great many women which are a little of both, and this is true regardless of race, color, creed or sexual preference.

In the final analysis, homosexuals are, after all, just people.

-Marlin Prentiss

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