Whistling Women (PDF)

Gain first-hand knowledge of how today's lesbians aged 60 and over survived the 20th century!

“I didn't know we were lesbians. We lived together 13 years!”

Whistling Women is a unique, candid collection of the life experiences of 44 lesbians between 62 and 82 years of age. This book explores new ground with interviews about their memories, feelings, and thoughts on a diversity of perspectives—from growing up during the Depression and World War II, to retirement and old age at the height of the gay liberation movement. This unprecedented resource captures a first-person view of lesbian history and documents the struggles and achievements of the women who lived it.

“All my schooling was women-oriented…so I was able to see what women and girls could give to each other.”

In Whistling Women, these older women share their views on:

• childhood and young adulthood—family, social factors, religion, schooling
• marriage—husbands, children, divorce
• lesbian relationships—coming out/closet relationships, role playing, butch and fem practices
• conventional politics—party affiliation, activities, concerns, degree of feminism
• work and money—financial arrangements, home ownership, investment properties
• life after 60—retirement, health, activities, communities
• and much more!

“I dated. I went along. I did it because basically it was the thing to do. But I had crushes on girls.”

Whistling Women offers you unprecedented statistics on these women and comparisons with statistics gathered in other analyses on lesbian and heterosexual women. This research includes studies of:

• socioeconomic class in childhood, mid-life, and at retirement
• level of education of participants
• number and duration of long-term relationships—both heterosexual marriages and lesbian lover relationships
• age of first lesbian relationship
• retirement statistics—year retired, age at retirement
• economic resources after retirement (compared to general US population)

“If we had these things in the 1950s [gay bookstores and publications], how different life would be for a lot of people. But we had to pave the way.”

This book is significant for sociologists, gay and lesbian researchers, and gerontologists, as well as anyone interested in women's history. It also presents recollections of lesbian/mixed bars—some famous—starting in the 1930s, memories of the notorious Greenwich Village, the early development of lesbian social groups, and lesbian friendships with gay men. Whistling Girls identifies many of the organizations that cater specifically to older lesbians, such as OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) and SOL (Slightly Older Lesbians).