A Short History of Queer Women

October 24, 2022
English teacher Loehr debuts with a witty survey of LGBTQ women and their resistance to patriarchal and heteronormative oppression. Beginning with Sappho, the ancient Greek poet who was exiled from the island of Lesbos because of her forbidden desire, and ending with Naome Ruzindana and Li Tingting, queer activists who have been persecuted by the governments of South Africa and China, respectively, Loehr draws on a diverse range of first- and secondhand sources to portray the queer dimensions of her subjects’ lives. Also included are Marie Antoinette, who “was caught drooling over English writer Mary Robinson’s tits,” and Charlotte Brontë, who wrote 500 love letters to Ellen Nussey and considered marrying Ellen’s brother, Henry, just so they could live in the same house. (“But Henry was too dull, even as a beard,” quips Loehr.) The biographical sketches are full of vivid details and amusing word play, and Loehr makes historical figures and events accessible to contemporary readers. For example, 18th-century diarist Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister is classified as a “lesbian player,” a type who “usually comes in the shape of a well-dressed, arrogant arsehole, with a charming nickname.” Some readers may quibble with Loehr’s tendency to label her subjects as lesbians, rather than bisexual or somewhere else along the spectrum of sexuality. Still, this is an invigorating and often amusing tour through queer history.