Between the Body and the Flesh

Book excerpt: In this first book-length study of lesbian s/m, Lynda Hart creates a vivid and compelling counterdiscourse to the erotophobic voices in contemporary cultural debates. Focusing on a variety of representations, from the boundary-shattering work of queer performances to the daring conjunction of childhood sexual abuse and perverse desire in the work of Dorothy Allison, Between the Body and the Flesh situates s/m as a lightning rod that stimulates discussions of censorship in the arts, the fetishization of sexual paraphernalia, recombinations of class, race, and sexuality, and the politics of psychoanalysis.