© PARADOXA, NO. 18, 2003 1 All page citations are from the cloth edition of Voyage from Lesbos, published by The Citadel Press. Voyage from Lesbos: Aggression, Ambivalence, and Psychoanalysis in the Fifties Julia Creet York University, Toronto, Canada “Connie” (a pseudonym) first came to see Dr. Richard Robertiello, M.D., some time around 1952. She had been referred to Robertiello for depression after the break-up of an eight-year relationship. Robertiello, opening the narrative of her case-history, Voyage from Lesbos: the psychoanalysis of a female homosexual (1959), describes her as “an l attractive girl of twenty-nine with dark hair and dark eyes and a good figure…. Although she wasn’t ‘whistle-bait’…” (21). 1 “She was very matter-of-fact about telling me that she was a lesbian and that she had been very depressed for the past seven or eight months after splitting up with her steady girlfriend. Obviously, she did not expect a shocked or disapproving response from me” (21). Jo, Connie’s ex-girlfriend, was responsible for initiating Connie into lesbianism. They were part of a group of office girls who would customarily take in a movie or go bowling together after work. “It was during these outings that Connie became aware of Jo’s interest. Jo would make it a point to sit next to Connie at the movies and took to holding her hand. This Connie enjoyed, and it did not occur to her that Jo might be homosexual” (22). Although Connie was surprised by Jo’s sexual advances, “she enjoyed it and became more aroused than she had ever before. She was essentially a passive participant in the sexual play” (22). Once they were together, they “spent all their free time out with other lesbians at ‘gay’ bars and parties” and almost all Connie’s friends were “homosexuals, male and female, although she had one ‘straight’ girl friend whom she saw a few times a year” (23-23). Their relationship was a stormy one, despite the fact that it lasted eight years, “which, incidentally,” Robertiello emphasizes, “is a very long time for a homosexual relationship to last” (23). The relationship was dependent on a pattern of violent fights and sexual reconciliation. “Frequently, the fights became physical. They would hit each other, pull hair, throw things, and really become violent. After it was over,