The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

Before the term lesbian was even coined, there was Anne Lister – a rich landowner who enjoyed a string of scandalous same-sex affairs during the buttoned-up 1800s.

She recorded her adventures in 26 volumes of secret diaries so saucy that her fearful family kept them hidden long after her death.

Lister also encrypted the sexual detail in a mix of Greek and her own codewords — for fear of the law of the time — and only in the 1980s was this ever translated.

To refer to orgasms, she wrote the word kiss, while diary entries had Xs in the margin for how many climaxes she had that day.

Now, the story of Britain’s “first modern lesbian” will be retold in Shibden Hall, BBC1’s eight-part series written and directed by Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright.

Read entire article by Kate Jackson here @ The Sun

More About Anne Lister:

• ABC: The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
• Wikipedia: The Secret Diaries of Anne Lister
• Goodreads: I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries, 1791-1840
• New Statesman: The Lesbian Dead Sea Scrolls

A Woman Named Canyon Sam

From Channel APA:

Director Quentin Lee (The People I’ve Slept With) is looking for support in his latest project, the short documentary “A Woman Named Canyon Sam”. Based in San Francisco, Canyon Sam is an accomplished performance artist, published author and passionate activist. Canyon’s book Sky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History received PEN America Center’s Open Book Award in 2010. Canyon Sam is also one of the first Asian American lesbian activists in the world.

Rape as a "cure" for lesbians

In what has to be one of the most disturbing stories to cross my desk this week, reports are coming in that gangs of South African men are "correctively" raping women in an attempt to "cure" them of being lesbians.

From the Australian:
"SOUTH African lesbians are suffering rapes by men trying to "cure" their homosexuality, in what is becoming one of the most common hate crimes against gay women in the country, according to a new study.

The study by the anti-poverty group ActionAid said that women living in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town were reporting increasing attacks and murders by men committing so-called "corrective" rape.

South African women generally face a staggering risk of rape in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world.

At least 31 lesbians have been killed in homophobic attacks over the last decade, but only one case has led to a conviction, it said, warning the real number of killings is likely much higher in a country where 50 people meet a violent death every day."

From the Mail Online:
"The extent of the brutality became clear when Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's national female football squad, became one of the victims last April.

Simelane, one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian and an equality rights campaigner, was gang-raped and beaten before being stabbed to death 25 times in the face, chest and legs.

Triangle, a gay rights organisation, said it deals with up to 10 new cases of 'corrective rape' every week.

Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment led to inaction over attacks.

Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping the reaction to Simelane's death and the trial of the three men accused of her rape and murder will help put an end to the attacks."

From IOL:
"But lesbians are being singled out by men who think that the rape will change their sexual orientation, said Zanele Twala, head of ActionAid South Africa.

"So-called 'corrective' rape is yet another grotesque manifestation of violence against women, the most widespread human rights violation in the world today," she said.

One support group in Cape Town said it is responding to 10 new cases of "corrective" rape every week, in that city alone, the report said.

South Africa's constitution enshrines equal rights for gay people, but hate crimes based on sexual orientation are not recognised by law or in courts, the study said.

At least 31 lesbians have been killed in homophobic attacks over the last decade, but only one case has led to a conviction, it said, warning the real number of killings is likely much higher in country where 50 people meet a violent death every day."