"The House on the Borderland": Lesbian Desire, Marriage, and the Household, 1950-1979.

The article examines lesbian desire within heterosexual marriage during the mid-to-late 20th century. Particular focus is given to evidence drawn from interviews, diaries, and letters to the lesbian organization the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) and its leaders. According to the author, wives who were unable or unwilling to publicly claim a lesbian or bisexual identity turned their households into lesbian spaces by carrying out remote communication with lesbian communities and by conducting affairs with female friends, sometimes with the knowledge of their husbands. It is suggested that depictions of marriage as a state of imprisonment for women with lesbian desires during this period lack sufficient complexity. Domestic violence and childcare obligations are also discussed.