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Cleis Press has re-released some of the classic lesbian pulp fiction novels of the 1960s. World of Women by Carol Caine was first published in 1968. It is one of a series of lesbian pulp fiction that is making it's way back into print thanks to Cleis Press.

Lesbian Pulp Novel is Really Bisexual Sex Novel

"Her name was Kat, and she prowled a forbidden jungle where only women were allowed!" These words on the cover of World of Women draw you in.

But quickly you learn Kat's world is not a world of women, but a twisted existence where she uses both men and women for her own sick pleasure and purposes. First there is Susan, the poor gal she grows tired of and leaves high and dry. Next it's her old pal Sammy, bestowing on him a mercy f**k to help him deal with his wife's adulterous ways. Kat weaves her way through Manhattan picking up unsuspecting women and men when she needs a place to crash, a lead on a job or simply to fulfill her seemingly endless libido.

Pulp Equals Trashy in this Lesbian Pulp Novel

Most pulp novels from this era are trashy, lightly disguised soft porn. Whereas some authors like Ann Bannon and Valerie Taylor were actually sympathetic to the lesbian lifestyle, most treat lesbianism as a sort of immature affliction or sex-addiction. World of Women falls in the latter category.

Reading World of Women is a glimpse into the psyche of another era, where a woman who was sexually liberated must be somehow depraved. It's not great literature, but it is a good reminder of how far we've come.