Lesbian History of Britain - 9781846450075

Jennings (modern history, Macquarie U., Australia) adopts the queer approach to history in documenting love and sex between women in Britain from the 16th to the 20th century, an approach that analyzes systems of knowledge about sexuality and explores different ways in which sexuality has been thought about and described in different periods. Over the course of the work she examines shifting attitudes towards same-sex desire, evidence of women passing as men and entering into fraudulent marriages with other women, the articulation of new ideas about gender and sexuality in the 19th century, the impact of World War I on opening up environments for lesbian sexual activity, the emergence of Lesbian bar communities in London and other cities, the production of the first British lesbian magazine in 1964, and the lesbian political movements of the past three decades. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)