“I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU,” TRACING THE RHETORIC OF LESBIAN RELATIONALITY THROUGH THE 1980s

Abstract

This project examines the rhetorical practices of lesbian relationality in the 1980s as the start of what I term the post-lesbian-feminism era. Broadly, this dissertation asks, what rhetorical strategies and environments capacitated lesbian-specific relationalities? What can we learn about lesbian (rhetorical) history from a relational perspective? By examining the rhetorical strategies lesbians utilized to build a range of diverse relations, this dissertation sheds light on the inclusive rhetorical practices of lesbians that have been overshadowed by the so-called failures of 1970s lesbian feminism. Utilizing a queer relational rhetorical approach, I argue that lesbians engaged in intentional efforts to foster and sustain lesbian relations through a variety of written rhetorical practices, which enabled them to live more connected and empowered lives. In Chapter 2, I analyze how lesbian relational rhetorics utilized and expanded the rhetorical conventions of cookbooks and recipe-sharing to expand lesbian relations. In Chapter 3, I explore how lesbians in prison used letter-writing to overcome barriers to relationality and reassert a sense of agency. In Chapter 4, I examine lesbian classified advertisements seeking lesbian relations that would build out their own lesbian-specific local communities. These rhetorical texts were a means of building lesbian relations, but their reliance on and commitment to lesbian relationality enabled the expansion of these rhetorical genres.