I Am a Woman

I Am a Woman (In Love With A Woman — Must Society Reject Me?)

First edition cover
Author	Ann Bannon
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Beebo Brinker Chronicles
Genre	Lesbian pulp fiction
Publisher	Fawcett Gold Medal Books
Publication date	1959
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Preceded by	Odd Girl Out
Followed by	Women in the Shadows

I Am a Woman is a lesbian pulp fiction novel written in 1959 by Ann Bannon (pseudonym of Ann Weldy). It is the second in a series of pulp fiction novels that eventually came to be known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. It was originally published in 1959 by Gold Medal Books, again in 1983 by Naiad Press, and again in 2002 by Cleis Press.

Its original title with Gold Medal Books was I Am a Woman In Love With A Woman Must Society Reject Me? Bannon wanted the title to be Strangers in this World(from a conversation the main character has with a stranger who tells her that everyone is a stranger until she finds someone to love), but as Bannon explained in the 2001 edition forward of Odd Girl Out, Gold Medal publishers had control over the cover art and the title. Bannon's editor titled the book. Lesbian pulp fiction books usually showed suggestive art with obscure titles that hinted at what the subject matter was inside. For the 1983 and 2002 editions, the title was shorted to I Am A Woman. It is followed in the series by Women In The Shadows, also published in 1959.

Bannon was inspired to write after reading The Well of Loneliness and Spring Fire. However, it was in this book that Bannon wrote one of the first endings in a work of lesbian fiction where none of the characters commit suicide, goes insane, is killed, or is left completely alone. In an interview in 2003, she reluctantly admitted this was her favorite of the series.

The story joins the main character of Odd Girl Out, Laura Landon, a year after she has left college. Exhausted by living with her harsh, judging father for his perception that she failed out of school, Laura leaves home in the middle of the night and goes to New York City. She gets a job as a secretary in a medical office and lands an apartment with a roommate — Marcie. Marcie is young and very impulsive, but vivacious and she puts Laura at ease. Laura moves in to the apartment in Greenwich Village with a vague gnawing excitement in her.