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Our Sacred Bodies
Lesbian Sacred Sexuality by Diane Mariechild, photographs by Marcelina Martin. Oakland, CA: Wingbow Press, 1995, 125 pp., $24.95.
Diane Mariechild tells us, "Every time we explore the feeling of desire, we have an opportunity to uncover the source of our desire" (33). For those of us interested in the convergence of sexuality and spirituality in our lesbian bodies, this book offers meditations, poetry, photographs, and theory. Lesbians joyous in their sexuality and lesbians troubled in their sexuality can find words to speak to them here.
The photographs are well composed, demonstrating Marcelina Martin's love for her art and her subject matter. She calls her work "photomythology" (xi). Tee Corrine went further than this book does, in terms of her images of disabled, fat, and old lesbians in her solarized photographs from the '70s, but we -- as lesbians producing culture -- have not made many advances in this arena since then. For the '90s, Lesbian Sacred Sexuality is much more inclusive of lesbians in our diversity than most books.
The cover of the book is problematic for me. It shows two conventionally beautiful, thin, young, presumably white women, naked in each other's arms, kissing. This is a lovely image. But I don't believe any photograph of any one (or in this case two) woman should be on the cover of a book that includes "lesbian" in its title.
The women photographed range in age from 25 to 58 and include African Americans, Caribbeans, European Americans (Jewish and non-Jewish), Japanese, and Spanish Americans. Some women are fat, some are disabled. Many talk about how age, disability, ethnicity, size, and class identities inform their spirituality and sexuality: "Being lovers with another woman of color opened the door to reclaiming my identity" (Berge, 105). "Terri and I have a similar class background and have connected on an impulsive, energetic level" (Judith, 90). "We both got off on my name, which in Hebrew means house of worship" (Beth, 11). "To feel a full fat woman who has lots of curves and flesh is a different feeling under your hands. It's very erotic for me. It has added to the appreciation of my own (fat) body because I love hers so much" (Terri, 90).
Many of Martin's...