I want to tell you a story. It starts like any other - girl meets girl. Girl gets confusing feelings for girl. Girl has a months-long identity crisis and comes out the other side scared and unsure, with a secret she can hardly admit to herself, let alone others. She is bisexual.
twentieth century women
K is for… Kamala Surayya
Women writers have been present in India for millennia, evidence stretching back to 600 BC. Among them numbers Kamala Surayya, a ground-breaking poet whose honest and frank discussions of women's sexuality continues inspiring people to this day.
J is for… Jean Batten
If asked to name a female aviator, the first name to come to mind is often Amelia Earhart, or perhaps Amy Johnson, (both of whom, incidentally, disappeared). Yet, despite her achievements being on a par with theirs, Jean Batten is someone whose name has faded into obscurity, like so many women throughout history.
D is for… Daughters of Bilitis
In 1955, four lesbian couples came together in search of a space to socialise away from the fear of harassment and police raids. What began as a private club soon turned into a national organisation, which became crucial to the understand and acceptance of lesbianism in 1950s and 60s America.
C is for… Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen was a trailblazer for transgender people in the US. In 1952, she became one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery, becoming an instant celebrity in America upon her return to the country. She was a cornerstone of the LGBT movement, and still remains an important figure in trans history.
B is for… Bella in the Wych Elm
In April 1943, four young boys would make a grisly discovery in Hagley Wood in Worcestershire, England. What they found would spark a murder mystery complete with theories of witchcraft and espionage which remains to be solved to this very day.
Josephine Baker – Experiment in Brotherhood
Josephine Baker dedicated herself to breaking barriers and tackling injustice. One of the most famous performers in Europe, she also worked as a civil rights activist and was a spy for the French Resistance during World War II, a task she accomplished with ease despite her great fame.
Ada Blackjack – Alone in the Arctic
Ada Blackjack knew that the expedition she was to embark on was dangerous. Not five feet tall, slim, terrified of polar bears, and with no practical survival skills, she was the least likely Arctic explorer you could imagine. But no-one could imagine just how wrong the expedition would go, and at the end, only Blackjack would be left alive.
Sophia Duleep Singh – Socialite to Suffragette
Goddaughter of Queen Victoria and a member of the British aristocracy, Sophia Duleep Singh would go on to become one of the most prominent members of the British suffrage movement. She was passionately devoted to the cause, and never hesitated to do whatever she thought she must for the 'advancement of women'.
Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa
Posthumously labelled by Nelson Mandela as ‘South Africa’s first lady of song’, Miriam Makeba has been credited with bringing African music to the West. She was a vocal campaigner against apartheid and often used her songs to spread awareness internationally, though she maintained that her music was not political.