Having finished up a series of articles on general sexuality topics, I'm now embarking on an extended series of biographical articles. Initially this will be several short articles scattered across time periods, then finishing up with two much more extensive books about Anne Lister. The Lister material may easily tide me over for most of the month, if I break it up into manageable bite-size pieces.
LHMP
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This article makes a useful contrast to yesterday's, as it illustrates that people working on the same time and place can interpret the data differently.
When I work on the chapter for the book version of the Project that explains the various models of sex and gender, one of the hard parts is sorting out the chronology. Every author who works on this subject appears to have their own notion of when the changes happened and how they were promulgated in society. The simple fact is that social theories overlap each other, with multiple contradictory ideas of how human beings function occurring in parallel, even believed by the same people.
Usually I make an effort to make an LHMP post of some sort every day during Pride Month. That may be a bit trickier this year than usual given that (as noted in the most recent podcast) I have a broken arm, which slows down typing considerably. As with the subject of today's article, gardens were involved. Specifically my strawberry bed, where I was working when I tripped over my own feet and fell on the concrete walkway. I now have a titanium plate and nine screws in my left arm. But recovery is proceeding.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 343 – Salt for the Unmarried by Khayelihle Benghu - transcript
(Originally aired 2026/05/30)
Before introducing the episode, I have a logistical announcement. I recently broke my arm, which is going to get in the way of extensive typing for a couple of months. Therefore I’m going to be re-running some favorite episodes from the past until I’m back in action. I hope that will tide you over in the mean time.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 341 - On the Shelf for May 2026 - Transcript
(Originally aired 2026/05/02)
Welcome to On the Shelf for May 2026.
This article was a little less interesting than I thought it might be, but it added some data to my "vocabulary of lesbianism" database supporting the use of "inseparables" as a dog-whistle for lesbians.
You know that guy in your field who everyone cites but every time you read one of their articles you constantly mutter, "But you're ignoring X and you're redefining Y solely in order to support your pet theory, and you're simply wrong about Z"? Yeah, one of those guys. There are several on my list and Hitchcock is one of them.
Usually when France Apsley's name comes up in lesbian-relevant history, it's in connection with the future Queen Anne, but this article focuses more on her correspondence with Anne's sister Mary. Or rather, on Mary's corresopndence with her, as we only have one side of the letters.
From one angle, this article is of only passing relevance to the Project--imputing same-sex bonds on fragile evidence. From a different angle, the entire lesson of the play being studied could be "men are trash; they'll betray you and get you killed; stick to your girlfriend for happiness." I doubt that's the lesson that Restoration audiencese took from it, though.
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