The respite did not last long, as the stepfather resumed the sexual abuse, continuing for five years.

[9] Allison subsequently did graduate work in anthropology at Florida State University, The Sagaris Institute, and the New School for Social Research, where she earned a M.A.

In certain periods, she trained during the day and at night sat in her motel room and wrote on yellow legal pads.

She wrote about her life experiences, including the abuse by her stepfather, dealing with poverty, and her lust for women.

In November 1997, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a State Board of Education decision to ban the book in public high schools because of its graphic content.

[13] The following year, Allison was Emory University Center for Humanistic Inquiry's Distinguished Visiting Professor and Famosa in residence at Macondo in San Antonio, Texas.

[15] Allison held a three-month residency at Emory University in Atlanta in 2008 as the Bill and Carol Fox Center Distinguished Visiting Professor.

[11] In fall 2009, Allison was The McGee Professor and writer in residence at Davidson College, in North Carolina.

[7] Themes in Allison's work include class struggle, child and sexual abuse, women, lesbianism, feminism, and family.

French literary scholar Mélanie Grué describes Allison's work as a celebration of "the vilified transgressive lesbian body.

"[16] Grué also notes Allison's ability "to make [lesbian] desire and pleasure public" in her writing, in contrast to the second-wave feminist views on "correct expressions" of sexuality.

[17] Her influences include Judy Grahn,[18] Flannery O'Connor, James Baldwin, Jewelle Gomez, Toni Morrison, Bertha Harris, and Audre Lorde.

After reading what would eventually become her short-story "River of Names", Lorde approached her and told her that she simply must write.

[11] Upon moving to California, Allison explored the people and histories of the early gay women's liberation presses.

[21] She and Jo Arnone cofounded the Lesbian Sex Mafia in 1981, the "oldest continuously running women's BDSM support and education group in the country".

[27] In 2018, Allison received the Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society for being, in the words of Karin Kallmaker, "the original firebrand.