Do you distinguish between art that has overtly lesbian subject
matter and art by lesbian artists? It's my totally unsupported
impression (there are no statistics) that in any art form that
women are permitted to practice, the proportion of successful
lesbian practitioners is considerably higher than the lesbian
percentage of the population at large would predict.
This is quite apart from the possibly apocryphal modern phenomenon
of some theatre or other welcoming work by a lesbian playwright
of color because that way 3 "minority" slots can be filled by
a single production!
Somewhat off the original topic, but related: CG, have you
heard any word of disparagement applied to Mamet's "lesbian"
comedy, "Boston Marriage"? All the reviews I've read were by
male critics, who praised it, if faintly. The run here in Boston
was sold out, and the audience I saw it with not only laughed,
but returned after 2 intermissions. My female companions fled,
but I returned-- mainly to try to figure out what all those
other people were laughing at. I haven't yet sorted out my reactions
into a review, but my impression was authorial contempt all
round: of subject, period, "wit", actresses, and audience. Much
like the early "A Life in the Theatre".
by 
