ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how experiences within the realm of the socially acceptable during one era may be considered sick or dangerous or antisocial during another. It discusses how psychologists, intent on establishing psychology as a science, chose to make homosexuality the object of a systematic study. And it talks about how the psychologists presented new concepts to change the public’s views about women’s intimacy with each other, once within the spectrum of ‘normal’ female experiences. The women’s stories that thread through this chapter focus on the guilt they face when taking time away from their families, and their fears of being ostracized by both the straight and gay communities. This chapter also discusses how some MWLW, like their counterparts during the nineteenth century, were committed to mental institutions by their families when their same-sex predilections were discovered.
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