Abstract
This article considers the long history of desire and sexual encounters between women in Sydney.
Highlights
It is likely that sexual relationships between Aboriginal women constituted recognised forms of sexual behaviour which were included in ritual activities prior to European settlement
Understandings of, lesbian identity have shifted over time, with eighteenth and nineteenth century religious notions of lesbianism giving way to medical models in the twentieth century and both being challenged by lesbian and gay political activists from the 1970s onwards
Lesbianism has become an increased subject of public discussion in recent decades, a lack of social concern for women's experiences and widespread hostility toward lesbianism has meant that prior to the 1970s, few written sources relating to the subject exist
Summary
Desire and sexual encounters between women have been an integral aspect of life in Sydney for centuries. Understandings of, lesbian identity have shifted over time, with eighteenth and nineteenth century religious notions of lesbianism giving way to medical models in the twentieth century and both being challenged by lesbian and gay political activists from the 1970s onwards. Lesbianism has become an increased subject of public discussion in recent decades, a lack of social concern for women's experiences and widespread hostility toward lesbianism has meant that prior to the 1970s, few written sources relating to the subject exist. This absence of sources has inevitably shaped the picture we can construct of female same-sex desire in the past. This article considers the specificities of the local context and the ways in which the experience of lesbians in Sydney differed from those in rural NSW or other Australian cities
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