荔枝视频

鈥淭he mother of lesbian history,鈥� as Dr. Lillian Faderman has often been called, is set to engage with 荔枝视频 Pride on Sept. 3 as part of both the city鈥檚 Pride Week celebrations and U荔枝视频鈥檚 Alumni Month. 

The groundbreaking author of such acclaimed books as Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women From the Renaissance to the Present; Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers; The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle; and To Believe In Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America, will be featured in a Zoom webinar hosted by U荔枝视频鈥檚 venerable 荔枝视频 Institute for the Humanities (CIH) for the second annual CIH LGBTQ2S+ Lecture.

The topic of Faderman鈥檚 lecture is The Rise and Fall of Lesbian Nation and it will focus on the importance of lesbian feminism to the feminist movement. She will also touch on the controversial history of excluding trans people from the movement. 

Moderating the interview and talk will be U荔枝视频鈥檚 Dr. Annette Timm, PhD, a highly respected historian of gender and sexuality in her own right. 

鈥淭here are a few major names that come up in the field of lesbian history and, honestly, I can鈥檛 think of one that鈥檚 more important than Dr. Faderman鈥檚,鈥� Timm says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a true pioneer.鈥� 

Lesbian history offers hurldes for historians

Timm notes that researching lesbian history has always been a great challenge 鈥� particularly so when Faderman was making her name in the early 鈥�80s 鈥� because 鈥渢here was so little textual evidence left behind.鈥� 

鈥淭hroughout history there has been  a lot of laws against sex between men, but that hasn鈥檛 often been the case when it came to sex between women,鈥� Timm points out.

鈥淭here was certainly social prejudice against it, but not many laws, because, to be blunt, people couldn鈥檛 imagine what two women could possibly do. If you think about it, even in TV shows it was not uncommon for two women to be living together, maybe two widows, or friends who started a household, or spinsters. It was quite accepted, and it didn鈥檛 occur to people that these might be sexual relationships.鈥� 

While this relative lack of legal persecution against lesbians is a positive twist, by and large it also created unique hurdles for historians like Faderman. 

鈥淎n absence of persecution means there are no court documents, so Faderman had to figure out 鈥楬ow do I find this history? Where do I look?鈥� A lot of it came from literature or from finding letters between women. There you can sort of read between the lines, but even that鈥檚 not definitive. If two correspondents said they loved and desperately missed each other, that might be a sexual relationship, but not necessarily.鈥� 

Timm adds that Faderman began researching lesbian history at a time when this field was virtually unexplored in academia. 鈥淚t took courage to forge ahead in an academic setting that was not necessarily supportive. And she had to establish a whole new methodology in her research. It鈥檚 really remarkable.鈥� 

Faderman's research expands into gender studies

But along with her trailblazing research into lesbian history, Faderman has also made 鈥渂roader moves into gender studies,鈥� says Timm. She鈥檚 written extensively about gay men, including her 2018 book Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death, and she doesn鈥檛 shy away from the debate about trans women within the feminist movement.

鈥淭here are some lesbian feminist historians who are very anti-trans. There has been a number of movements set on excluding trans people from the lesbian and feminist movements completely. I would say that Faderman seems to have an empathetic approach to all genders and sexualities. That鈥檚 another thing I appreciate about her work.鈥� 

Classics professor Dr. Noreen Humble, PhD, who is currently the acting director of CIH, says that securing Faderman for the LGBTQ2S+ Lecture is a tremendous privilege and opportunity. 鈥淒r. Faderman is a trailblazing historian whose works on lesbian and LGBTQ2S+ history have been hugely influential both inside and outside academe.鈥� 

As the CIH aims to build an endowment to establish the LGBTQ2S+ Lecture as an annual high-profile Pride event, a guest of Faderman鈥檚 calibre feels like a significant step forward, says Humble. 鈥淎n important part of the CIH mission is civic engagement, hosting events which bring ground-breaking scholars into conversation with the broader community. We are delighted, therefore, to be able to welcome Dr. Faderman.鈥� 

Explore more online events and news from U荔枝视频 during 荔枝视频 Pride Week

The CIH LGBTQ2S+ Lecture is free but advance registration is required. . 

As a 荔枝视频 Pride partner, the university is offering  as part of Pride Week 2020.

 to the CIH鈥檚 annual LGBTQ2S+ Lecture.