If You turn to the frontispiece of this book, you will find re-

produced there a small terra-cotta figure executed by an

unknown Greek sculptor in about 200 B.C. The figure is

titled: "Women Gossiping." I first saw the figure at the

British Museum, when I was just beginning my researches

for this book. I bought a postcard reproduction, which I

eventually taped above my work desk. In the midst of the

Museum s splendors, the work was a decidedly insignificant

piece, something one was apt to pass by without a second

thought. Once isolated on my study wall, however, the figure

became quite significant, a small but perfect symbol of the

incredible hypocrisy that, with rare historical exception, has

always surrounded the phenomenon of lesbianism.