Aemale contrary sexuality�(or nversion� in his main work, Psychopathia Sexualis, which appeared in more than a dozen editions after 1886. The psychoanalytic paradigm was formulated by Sigmund Freud (1856�939) in his study sychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman�(1920). After World War I (1914�918), larger or more strongly visible lesbian (sub)cultures came into being. The androgynous, sexually ambiguous figures of the New Woman, the lapper,�and its European version, the boyish aronne,�entered the social imaginary, including texts by Austrian authors such as Stefan Zweig (1881�942) and Joseph Roth (1894�939). Women of the hird Gender�(a commonly used phrase) organized themselves in the Austrian branches of the two large German homosexual organizations, Deutscher Freundschaftsverband (German Friendship Association) and Bund fr Menschenrecht (Union for Human Rights). Employed women of the lower middle class in the capital Vienna, as well as in the country subscribed to the German magazines Frauenliebe (Woman Love) and Die Freundin (The Woman-Friend), and so became part of a lesbian communication network. They composed short stories, poems, and letters for the magazines and discussed best-sellers like the German lesbian novel The Scorpion by Anna Weirauch (1887�970) and the translation of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (1880�943) that was published in 1929. For many years, the restrictive legal situation influenced the scope of action of lesbian women. Unlike in most European countries, same-sex sexual activities were forbidden between women, as well as between men, and were punished with incarceration up to five years. This law, originating in the middle of the nineteenth century, was repealed only in 1972; one striking argument for its abolition was that, in regard to women, it was supposedly difficult to distinguish between sex and ssistance with personal hygiene.�Under National Socialist rule, the Austrian legal code was assimilated into that of Germany. Paradoxically, that meant that female homosexuality in Austria had less significance in criminal law than before. Lesbian women were, however, sent to National Socialist concentration camps with the verdict ntisocial,�wearing the black triangle that came with it. Exile and deportation further disrupted lesbian sub-and countercultural organization. Only in the course of the feminist movements after 1968 did lesbian groups once again gain a86 AUSTRIApublic presence and become politically active. The autonomous women movement in the 1970s swirled with controversies over lesbians defining themselves as the radical avant-garde. The 1980s then saw a broad and consistant increase of various initiatives by lesbians. Austrian lesbian meetings took place on a regular basis, and the Lesbenrundbrief (Lesbian Circular Letter) was published as a medium of its own. Women became involved with mixed lesbian and gay projects, such as the residential building Rosa Lila Villa (Pink-Lavender Villa) and Homosexuelle Initiative (Homosexual Initiative), the largest mixed organization, which published the magazine Lambda-Nachrichten (LambdaNews) and established groups in several Austrian towns. A lesbian and gay research group organized symposiums and lecture series, and Stichwort (Keyword), a large feminist archive, began to take explicit care of the documentation of lesbian politics. Other projects important to the development of lesbian culture(s) included the bookstore and caf Frauenzimmer (Women Room), the feminist magazine An.Schlge (Keystrokes), and the women centers and gay and lesbian centers in the cities of Graz, Innsbruck, and Linz. In the 1990s, the international discussions about identity politics also spread across large parts of the Austrian lesbian scene. Media and popular culture eventually discovered lesbians as a popular commercial topic; there were also widespread debates over controversial questions such as homosexual marriages and the uting�of prominent homosexual persons. In 1996, the Austrian parliament abolished the criminal law banning positive publicity about same-sex love that had existed since 1972 and the ban against homosexual organizations. Hanna Hacker Bibliography Geber, Eva, Sonja Rotter, and Marietta Schneider eds. Die Frauen Wiens: Ein Stadtbuch fr Fanny, Frances, und Francesca (The Women of Vienna: A City Book for Fanny, Frances, and Francesca). Vienna: Apfel, 1992. Geiger, Brigitte, and Hanna Hacker. Donauwalzer Damenwahl: Frauenbewegte Zusammenhange in sterreich (Blue Danube Waltz Ladies�Choice: Feminist Contexts in Austria). Vienna: Promedia, 1989. Hacker, Hanna. Frauen und Freundinnen: Studien zur eiblichen Homosexualitt�am Beispiel sterreich, 1870�938 (Women and Women-