The photo is a challenge, and so is the photographer. ICON spoke to Posener, who, along with Susie Bright, collaborated to put images of lesbian erotic photography together with interviews from each of the 14 photographers included in the collection called Nothing But the Girl: The Blatant Lesbian Image.

Back of the Bus
It is a groundbreaking achievement to have erotic images of lesbians photographed by lesbians printed, and opens the eyes of a generation to the photographers who have been

Susie Bright and Jill Posener photographed by Tee Corinne

chronicling women loving women for over two decades. Many photographs in the book are part of lesbian consciousness, but the photographer's names are not always known.

Posener recalls Bright's quote about photographers still being "in the back of the bus," and relates how the images we see in Nothing But the Girl have been produced by talents as varied as Della Grace, a major influence; to Morgan Gwenwald, whose photos have been around for 25 years. With respect to Grace, Posener remarks, "Her images are so much a part of the lesbian identity, that we almost don't even take notice any more." Posener's life has always been about finding the hypocrisy and calling it what it is. She speaks candidly and sensitively, and takes her photos the same way, with an eye toward the truth.

"Tee Corinne provided some of the first imagery we saw, the images of cunts in nature, which is still very powerful. Morgan Gwenwald documented the community, sort of shockingly and technically brilliant revelations about the slightly seamier side of the community. The 'unknown' who did the cover, Romy Suskin, is not an unknown any more, and there is Phyllis Christopher, who has been published for 20 years."

The publication of Nothing But the Girl "jump started" some of the women's photographic lives. A few photographers appeared at book events where people came up afterward to say, "I love this picture that you took." This type of affirmation means a great deal to artists who work in isolation.

Posener reveals that many of the under-recognized photographers became disillusioned and gave up. Morgan Gwenwald works at GLAAD full time. Tee Corinne teaches and writes reviews. Della Grace asked a publisher what a photographer does to get the kind of treatment that Mapplethorpe was afforded. Posener says, "Grace deserves that kind of attention." Even death does not elevate the lesbian photographer. "Tessa Boffin, who curated Stolen Glances died; and her work appears to have been completely buried with her. It's hard."

The Battle to Publish
Nothing But the Girl came out five months later than expected, after a legal, emotional, and artistic battle. Too "cutting edge" for American publishers, the British publisher insisted on doing a British paperback edition that is missing five of the most controversial photographs. Paradoxically, the publisher released an American edition in which the images were not censored.

Posener and Bright assured Morgan Gwenwald they would publish the two photographs of fist-fucking that she thought would never get published. Posener points at them and says firmly, "They are the heart of the book. The passion just explodes off the page from these two women." Gwenwald said, "they'll never agree to it." But Posener and Bright promised to make it happen. Then a fax arrived from Cassell, a year after the contract had been signed, three months after they had submitted everything, informing them that ten photographs would be taken out of the book.

The determined authors wrote back to say, "The Hell you are." Posener says, "They wanted every S/M image out of there, every image that involved fucking of any kind. We wouldn't accept that. Taken as a whole collection, this is an art book, and these photographs are just part of the whole." In September 1995, Posener and Bright indicated that they would get another publisher. A final counter offer from Cassell resulted in two editions, one for Great Britain which would be missing some photographs (due to their fear of prosecution under British law), and one for America, to have everything.

Posener points at a color photo of a group of sexy fat dykes having a rollicking sexual party, and says, "They wanted us to get rid of this one. They are fat, they are tattooed and they are having a great time." The shot was a safe sex photo, one they insisted must stay in.

Santa Cruz - 1989, by Jill Posener from Nothing But The Girl

Cassell's Managing Director admitted that he found the shot "personally disturbing." Posener put in a soft sex shot instead and explains, "it's kind of a strange progression. This isn't a bad spread, but the Grace image was so potent." She felt the effect was diluted. Gwenwald's fist fucking photos were taken out, and so was an image by Della Grace. Everything came out of the sex section. Cassell is traditionally a publisher of reference books and Bibles, and published the book under the label "Freedom Press," but, she smiles, "They did it. This book proves that there are images that we thought were untouchable and they're not."

The American edition is exactly what Bright and Posener wanted. A book tour to Philadelphia and New York and Washington DC happens this month, but the excitement hasn't hit. She and Bright are still feeling the struggle and the lengthy process of getting published. "It ended up being a hollow victory. We were angry and we were kind of shaken."

"People didn't think this kind of photography could be published," she boasts, "But here it is!"

Next page | London Graffiti and Anti-Porn to San Francisco and Pro-Sex
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