Rubyfruit Jungle

Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown, published in 1973 by Daughters, Inc., a feminist press run entirely by women. In its day it stood out for its explicit portrayal of lesbianism, which was rare in fiction at the time. It is an autobiographical coming-of-age story in which the author looks back on her youth and her emergence as a lesbian writer. The title refers to the phrase "rubyfruit jungle", which the novel uses as a term for female genitals.

The protagonist is Molly Bolt, the adopted daughter of a poor family in Florida. She is remarkably beautiful and has been aware of her lesbianism since childhood. Her relationship with her mother, known as Carrie, is strained; when Molly is still a child, Carrie tells her she is not her biological daughter but a "bastard". Molly has her first same-sex experiences in elementary and high school, and also has relationships with men. Her father Carl's death during her high school years marks a turning point. Through hard work she wins a scholarship to the University of Florida, but loses it after her relationship with an alcoholic roommate comes to light, which leads to a stay in a psychiatric ward.

With little money, Molly hitchhikes to New York to study filmmaking. There she encounters lesbian communities for the first time, which she criticizes for their rigidity, and she notices both the differences between countryside and city and the broader similarities of American culture. After graduating from film school she faces the usual obstacles for a woman seeking work in the industry, turning down the secretarial jobs offered to her and declaring that she will wait as long as it takes to make her own way.

The novel is considered one of the earliest lesbian literary novels of wide reach, and it became a success largely through word-of-mouth among readers. Over time its influence has been twofold: for many lesbian readers it reflected their own experiences, while its popularity has led some critics to regard the lesbian coming-of-age story as a cliché. Psychological theorist David Halperin criticized its mocking of butch culture as heteronormative. In 2015 Brown received the Lee Lynch Classic Book Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society for the book. It also appears in popular culture: a copy sits on a character's nightstand in The Slumber Party Massacre, and a character reads from it in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.