ABSTRACT

Clausen’s sensitive discussion of her dilemma offers many insights into a situation which many other women may have experienced: there is some evidence from both the UK and the USA that a significant proportion of women who identify as bisexual may previously have identified as lesbian and have faced difficulties in coming to terms with the loss of lesbian identity (Chater and Finkler 1995; Clarion 1996). Whether or not this situation is common, the decision to discuss it in a public forum was a bold one. When an earlier version of the article was published in the US lesbian and gay periodical Out/Look in 1990, it provoked a storm of controversy: as one of the editors of Out/ Look later commented, ‘Clausen’s story proved to be the magazine’s single most divisive article ever’ (Stein 1997:155), with some lesbian

readers praising Clausen for her honesty, and others condemning her for her treachery.