Dykes to Watch Out For
Alison Bechdel
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The central characters include:
Mo Testa (given name Monica), the central character, a politically committed lesbian feminist with a tendency to kvetch. Previously a worker at Madwimmin Bookstore who then worked briefly at Bounders Books and Muzak (a parody of Borders Books and Music) while earning a library science degree before getting a job as a reference librarian.
Lois McGiver, a sex-positive activist, drag king, a clerk at Bounders Books and Muzak (formerly at Madwimmin) and housemate to Ginger and Sparrow, currently dating single mother Jasmine, mother of transgender teenager Janis (originally introduced as Jonas).
Ginger Jordan, a struggling academic and English professor at Buffalo Lake State University, whose star student Cynthia is interning at the CIA despite coming out to her parents. Ginger is currently dating Samia, a Syrian Muslim chemist in a marriage of convenience to a man. Ginger and Sparrow own a house together, but Ginger is househunting with Samia.
Sparrow Pidgeon (birth name Prudence), a women’s shelter director and New Ager-turned-atheist, who identifies herself as a ‘bisexual lesbian’ and is currently involved with a straight Jewish male activist and stay-at-home dad, Stuart Goodman, with whom she has had a child, Jiao Raizel (or J.R.). Lois and Stuart are currently homeschooling Janis and J.R. (Longtime readers were shocked to find Sparrow had dated Lois briefly during college.) [2]
Clarice Clifford, a workaholic environmental lawyer, and
Toni Ortiz, a CPA and business manager, who stayed home for several years to raise their son Rafael Clifford-Ortiz (or Raffi). Toni and Clarice have had a commitment ceremony in the backyard, a civil union in Vermont, and a marriage at City Hall. They are now deciding whether divorce really requires separate residences.[3]
Sydney Krukowski, an amoral yuppie Women’s Studies professor with a compulsive spending habit, Mo’s lover and recently a breast cancer survivor.
Jezanna Ramsay (birth name Alberta), manager of the late gay and lesbian bookstore Madwimmin Books, which also employed Mo, Lois, and Thea, a Jewish lesbian with multiple sclerosis who was Sydney’s lover in college. Since the closure of Madwimmin due to financial pressures, Thea and Jezanna seldom appear. We have learned that Jezanna now teaches English as a second language, and Thea is teaching art to kids.
Only some of the characters’ surnames are known, since such names appear only when it is appropriate to the dialogue (when Ginger and Sydney, as college instructors, are addressed as ‘Professor Jordan’ and ‘Dr. Krukowski,’ for instance) and are not established from the beginning.
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Details
| ISBN | 932379176 |
| Genre | Graphic Novel |
| Copyright Date | 1986 |
| Publication Date | Oct-86 |
| Publisher | Lpc-Firebrand Books |
| Format | Softcover |
| No. of Pages | 78 |
| Series | Dykes to Watch Out For |
| # in Series | 1 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| BookID | 3363 |
