New Books in Gender

Kirsty Loehr talks about her new book, A Short History of Queer Women (Oneworld Publications, 2022). Queer women have always existed – let’s put them back in the history books No, they weren't ‘just friends’! We’ve read Jane Eyre, but what about the five hundred love letters Charlotte Brontë and Ellen Nussey exchanged? Or how Córdoban princess Wallada bint al-Mustakfi stitched tales of her sexual exploits with men and women onto her tunic? Or the Ladies of Llangollen who would have Anne Lister over for tea? Female same-sex desire has been written out of history since, well, forever. ‘But historians famously care about women!’, said no one. From Anne Bonny and Mary Read who sailed the seas together disguised as pirates, to US football captain Megan Rapinoe declaring ‘You can’t win a championship without gays on your team’, via countless literary salons and tuxedos, A Short History of Queer Women sets the record straight on women who have loved other women through the ages. Who says lesbians can’t be funny?

Jana Byars is the Academic Director of Netherlands: International Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender.

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