Category: 1800s
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Boston Marriages and the Language of Lesbian Relationships
Maybe it was two women in your history textbook. Maybe it was your unmarried great aunt and her live-in ‘best friend’. We are all familiar with the story: two women are designated close friends by historians, family members and society, despite the pair’s decision to unite and entwine their lives like any marriage between a…
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Sapphic Wales in the Nineteenth Century
Throughout history, lesbian and bisexual women have been marginalised, silenced, and had their stories erased. When you think of Welsh history, you probably do not think of lesbians. However, nineteenth-century Wales hosted an array of women-loving-women who persisted in living authentic to their sexual orientation, despite it significantly conflicting with society’s expectations. Join me in…
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How Should We Tell the Stories of “Bad” Lesbians from History in a Culture of Us vs. Them?
How do we write on complex, even harmful, lesbians from history in the age of “us vs. them”? How do we present the facts in a way that doesn’t omit the person or the truth? Is writing on a person from history ever objective, considering the historian has their own interests, motives and interpretations, and…
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Girlfriends or Gal Pals? Decoding Intimacy Between Women in Old Photographs
Love between women has existed forever, despite the crumbs of documentation and the meddling with evidence. Homosexuality didn’t begin with gay rights awareness in the 20th century. However, society still denormalises same-sex love as a new trend. In style. A fad. An abomination. A political choice. An act of rebellion. Bow-bowww. They’re wrong. Women lovin’…