Lesbians in Early Modern Spain

by Sherry Velasco

In this first in-depth study of female homosexuality in the Spanish Empire for the period from 1500 to 1800, Velasco presents a multitude of riveting examples that reveal widespread contemporary interest in women's intimate relations with other women. Her sources include literary and historical texts featuring female homoeroticism, tracts on convent life, medical treatises, civil and Inquisitional cases, and dramas. She has also uncovered a number of revealing illustrations from the period.

The women in these accounts, stories, and cases range from internationally famous transgendered celebrities to lesbian criminals, from those suspected of "special friendships" in the convent to ordinary villagers.


Velasco argues that the diverse and recurrent representations of lesbian desire provide compelling evidence of how different groups perceived intimacy between women as more than just specific sex acts. At times these narratives describe complex personal relationships and occasionally characterize these women as being of a certain "type," suggesting an early modern precursor to what would later be recognized as divergent lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

264 pages, ebook

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Gender Studies at the USC Dornsife college of letters, art and sciences.

Reviews

[Camila · Rating 4 out of 5]

very engaging, well researched, and clearly written. what more could you want in an academic text?

[Christina]

Any book that starts with the story of a complaining, flying crucifix is going to go well, I think.

One generally has the sense that we've already done all this before, but it is nice to have evidence to point towards. Velasco puts a readable, scholarly collection of historical accounts, trial proceedings, cultural references, and religious rules of order surrounding female homosexual desire. She makes the case that many of the taboos regarding sexuality are in effect, a bulwark for masculine superiority, which is itself a defense of paternity claims. Deviant women (and at least one case, transmen) are subject to differing levels of scrutiny based on the specifics of the sex act. (Using a dildo, however, guarantees a punishment of either death or gruesome death.)

History's an odd thing. It almost requires you to bounce between horror-laughing at the peculiar violence of the past, and concluding Things Are Not That Different At All. Velasco does a good job of showing the attitudes of 17th century Spaniards are not that different from those of today and refrains from preaching. The evidence is necessarily thin in places, but her roundup of contemporary literature offers a glimpse at a world the layperson is only beginning to rediscover.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is meticulously researched and was enjoyable to read. I'm really in awe of what Sherry Velasco accomplished with this and grateful for all that it contains.

Gracias a Las hijas de Felipe por mencionar esta golosina de lectura en su podcast!