Nursing texts and lesbian contexts: lesbian imagery in the nursing literature

Using textual analysis, this paper locates and explicates the images of lesbians that have been presented in introductory nursing texts. The author argues that these images, when presented as 'text', adopt a veil of objectivity and neutrality. Textbooks have power and authority, they legitimize the opinions of authors which are often unsupported by evidence. In the case of lesbians, the use of language in texts effectively re-pathologizes that which has been de-pathologized for over 20 years. Implications for scholarly practice are drawn from the findings of this paper.