Diamonds Are a Dyke's Best Friend: Reflections, Reminiscences, and Reports from the Field on the Lesbian National Pastime
I hope this book is the first in our own Time/Life series on lesbians and sports. Next we'll look at the L in LPGA. Up close and personal. Sports Illustrated, eat your heart out. —Kate Clinton
Country dykes, city dykes, dykes with four-year-degrees, dykes who are feminists, dykes who aren't, dykes of different races and classes, dykes who have been athletes all their lives, and dykes who are just discovering, or rediscovering after years, the values of athletic endeavors—there are softball players among all their ranks and they are all in this book.
What Reviewers Have Said
Women in Libraries
This is a thoughtful, passionate piece of work. . . . Diamonds is a wonderful look at how softball is woven into our lives, our heritage, our sensibilities. For jocks, fans, and academics alike, this is a must read.
The Washington Blade
Diamonds Are a Dyke's Best Friend is an educational and thought-provoking work about a sport that so many Lesbians are involved in—but few reflect upon as more than just a game.
Broadside
The analysis throughout is unapologetically feminist, and this is one of the books' major strengths. . . . The book also does a convincing job of explaining the attraction that softball holds for lesbians, a question rarely addressed in sport or feminist literature.
Aethlon
On the cover of this book, Yvonne Zipter describes herself as a right fielder, copy editor, and nationally syndicated columnist. She might have added "feminist sport scholar" since the book represents a thorough and insightful feminist analysis of softball—the "lesbian national pastime"—written primarily for a non-academic audience. In 1988, the mere publication of a book such as this was a triumph for both women's sport and lesbian sportswomen. It is not coincidental that . . . the forbidden word "dyke" appears proudly in the title. Zipter's book remains one of a kind—a book by, for, and about lesbian softball players. I have cited the book many times in my own work, always with a feeling of satisfaction that this cheeky title will appear on the pages of an academic journal!
