Amish Lesbian Fiction

Amish lesbian fiction is incredibly rare, and there doesn't seem to be any nonfiction (although no doubt the Amish get a passing mention in some of the more general texts on gender, religion, culture and sexuality). If anyone stumbles across any other books, we'd very much appreciate hearing about them.

Some Background

In the Amish church homosexuality is not an option. The 'rumspringa'  (a period for Amish teenagers to run wild, start finding spouses and choose between the church (baptism) and the outside world (shunning) ) is the focus of most gay/lesbian Amish romances, as it is the time that they first start discovering gay bars, openly gay people and alternate lifestyles and have the temporary freedom to pursue these. Unsurprisingly, this is generally when GLBTQ people take the opportunity to leave the Amish church. 

Most of these books are about gay men, not lesbians, and the rest of the spectrum doesn't feature at all. Amish women are strongly pressured to conform, settle down and have children, and the women are statistically much more likely to return to their communities and go along with this than the men - especially the gay men - which is probably one reason that lesbianism is so invisible in Amish communities, at least to the outside eye.

Novels

I've only found a single novel entirely about Amish lesbians, and fortunately, it looks quite readable. There's are two erotica short stories as well, but - well, your mileage may vary.

• Rum Spring by Yolanda Wallace

• A romance / coming of age story about Dylan and Rebecca. Meeting during Rebecca's rumspringa , the two fall in love and Rebecca is torn between love and tradition. While the story itself is pretty standard, there's a lot about the Amish way of life.
• Has been reviewed over at the Lesbrary (not by us)

Erotica

• Lesbian Boi Tales by Kit Lix

• Innocent Amish girl is seduced and runs away to the city to find her seductress, where thinks get very kinky, with a trans* twist.

•  "The Storm Chasers" by Peggy Munson in Best Lesbian Erotica 2008
• Two Amish girls go wild in a small town during rumspringa, in approved erotica anthology fashion.

Online stories about Amish lesbians

I've only found this tiny handful of writing online! The sites they're on are pretty dated and a little difficult to read on, but they aren't found anywhere else.

• Rumspringa by Dante Mendoza (erotica)

Below are two short 'Amish folktales' by Sage Sweetwater (a writer of Wild West/ American Indian lesbian romance books)

• The Amish Christening 
• Do Amish Lesbians Exist?: Untitled

You may also be interested in:

• All reviews of Jewish lesbian books
• Lesbian Historical Fiction
• The List of Book Reviews
• The Themed Book Lists page