Women's History in the New Millennium: Adrienne Rich's "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence:" A Retrospective

Abstract

Almost since she came to work for the Journal, managing editor Stephanie Gilmore has been lobbying for a retrospective on Adrienne Rich's classic article, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence." I knew from my partner, Verta Taylor, who has for many years co-edited the women's studies anthology Feminist Frontiers, that Rich had stopped giving permission to reprint her classic article. Not knowing exactly why, we bravely invited Rich to comment on the responses we were gathering, and to our delight, she not only graciously agreed to write a piece (forthcoming in the spring issue), but she also explained that she was refusing permission to reprint the original version of the article, published in Signs, because she preferred the version published in 1982 in Blood, Bread, and Poetry, since it includes a preface and postscript dealing with some of the most controversial aspects of this profoundly influential and provocative piece. Rich gave us permission to reprint that version and we are honored to do so.