Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin & Lisa Auanger eds. 2002. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN 0-292-77113-4

The project has been spending a great deal of time on the Early Modern period and northern Europe. So for a little balance I thought to work on this collection of papers covering classical Greece. As the subtitle indicates, the focus here is not solely on homoerotic themes, although a majority of the papers address this aspect explicitly. But when looking for historic contexts in which romantic and erotic relationships between women could have flourished -- or at least “hidden in plain sight” -- the segregation of society into men’s and women’s sphere’s is fertile ground. Sappho’s poems hint at the relationships and desires that could be nourished by an all-female community. This is not to discount the sexist and even misogynistic nature of ancient Greek society, but rather to point out that the official structures and hierarchies are not the only story.