A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500

by Rebecca Jennings

Drawing on a wide range of historical sources - court records, newspaper reports, medical records, novels, oral histories and personal papers - A Lesbian History of Britain presents the extraordinary history of lesbian experience in Britain. Covering landmark moments and well-known personalities (such as Radclyffe Hall and the publication and banning of her lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness ), but also examining the lives and experiences of ordinary women, it brings both variety and nuance to their shared history. In doing so, it also explores cultural representations of, and changing attitudes to, female same-sex desire in Britain.

The narrative is arranged chronologically and begins with the accounts of a number of women in the 18th century who passed themselves off as men. The C18th & C19th saw 'Romantic Friendships' between women and, later, the emergence of a science of sexuality, and the concept of the female 'sexual invert''. At the same time, 'New Women' were pursuing independent careers, a self-confidence reflected in the publication of a number of novels explicitly about lesbian experience. The 20s and 30s were characterised by parliamentary debates on lesbianism, court cases and scandals, though, with two world wars, lesbian experiences were already changing, and a newly vibrant lesbian 'scene', centred on bars and night-clubs, was emerging, supported by a growing number of lesbian-oriented magazines and societies. The contemporary period has been marked by political movements and campaigns, in which lesbians have been active, and increasingly vocal debates surrounding the 'sex wars'.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Historical, European History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2007

About the author

Dr. Rebecca Jennings is Associate Professor in Modern Gender and/or Race History at University College London. She teaches on the history of gender and sexuality in modern Britain. Her research focuses on twentieth-century British and Australian lesbian history and she is the author of Tomboys and Bachelor Girls: A Lesbian History of Post-War Britain (2007); A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500 (2007); and Unnamed Desires: A Sydney Lesbian History (2015).

Reviews

[Joey Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This here is some really great history. There's fantastic source material, yes right back from the 1500s, but more importantly there's excellent interpretation that is sensitive to different cultures, time periods, class and race differences.

Yay for no more lesbian revisionism! Yay for being actively interested in how people have lived their lives and not overly fixated on whether they were or weren't lesbians.

The attention to detail is really good at disrupting traditional narratives about the formation of lesbian identities too. For example, when Jennings is discussing the early sexologists she rexamines the idea of their influence by looking at who was really reading them and how available their ideas were to women at the time.

Oh plus there's great early porn excerpts and just a whole lot of gems.

I'm gonna be reading this again for sure.

[Dasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those familiar with lesbian history, many of Jennings' arguments will ring familiar. I most liked the pre-modern (1850ish) history and the tracing of intimate female-female relationships which felt fresh and methodologically strong.

[Lesley]

Not wildly impressed: very much the Usual Suspects, nothing new (well, not new to me, it might be revelatory for some), a few nit-picky errors of fact.

[Molly Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a book for someone new to lesbian history, it is a really interesting read. However it felt that nearly half the book was based in the later 20th Century and was heavily focused around magazine culture. I would highly reccomend this book though, as it begins in the 1500s (if I remember correctly) and discusses various approaches to historical research which aid in exploring LGBT history!

[saffron · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for an essay this year and actually found the content very easy to absorb & the format really interesting! which is hard for an academic source usually LMAO. good introduction into lesbian history in britain & rebecca jennings was consistently cropping up in my research around it, she seems to be the pinnacle source for the topic.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty fascinating read about lesbians through history in Britain.

I learnt a ton of stuff from this book.

[Meg Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dissertation goals #thrilling

[bookcasewalls]

This book contained some interesting anecdotes and stories, especially in the earlier chapters, but I generally found it quite disappointing. Despite briefly discussing theoretical frameworks for gay history in the introduction, Jennings does not explicitly locate the book within them. In general, the book is more of an introduction and a non-analytical synthesis that a work in its own right. It does not critically analyse most of the sources it quotes, particularly irritating in the case of cultural and literary representations of lesbianism, of which there are many and which are not always related to possible or actual real-life experiences. (I tend to follow Bennett in being more interested in not-straight women who lived than poems, plays or novels, often written by men, mentioning lesbianism.)

Other criticisms which come to mind include (1.) an hugely late modern/contemporary focus - 5 out of 10 chapters deal exclusively with the twentieth century (2.) inclusion of material which I considered more general women's history/history of sexuality stuff than homosexual and (3.) little interest in how to decide what to include in 'a lesbian history' in general - surely an important question even if a difficult one to answer.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book heavily in my dissertation. It is honestly such a great insight into lesbian culture through out the recorded history of Britain.

Because it is a small educational book, I will probably start reading other historical sexuality books soon, but this has been a great start for me. When some more money comes into my bank I will buy a copy and send this copy back to the library.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather overfocused on 1500-1930, really, and also missing out stuff about trans and bi people...but I'm willing to grant a bit of leeway considering that the author needed to keep a narrow scope.