Gladys Bentley: blues singer, tuxedo wearer and lady lover. In the words of Saidiya Hartman in her book Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, “Bentley was abundant flesh, art in motion.”1 In the words of Bentley herself, from 1952 when she had left the stage and all that came with it, “a big, successful star – andContinue reading “The Miraculous Masculinity of Gladys Bentley”
Tag Archives: butch
From Anne Lister’s Closet: Gentlemen’s Accessories as Lesbian Fashion
This is the second post about Anne Lister on Dressing Dykes. To find out more about her through the lens of her always-black clothing, as well as my argument for calling her a lesbian long before the term was in the popular vernacular, look at ‘From Anne Lister’s Closet: The LBD (Lesbian Black Dress).’ ThisContinue reading “From Anne Lister’s Closet: Gentlemen’s Accessories as Lesbian Fashion”
Assertion: Sensible Footwear is Lesbian Camp
This post was born from thoughts about the stereotypes and signifiers of lesbianism and lesbian fashion. I think that these two things – stereotypes and signifiers – are related, but definitely not the same when placed in the lesbian context. While some things may be and remain stereotypes, they do not always work as signifiers,Continue reading “Assertion: Sensible Footwear is Lesbian Camp”
Black Butch Wonder: The Clothing of Stormé Delarverie
There are many stories, opinions and think-pieces about Stormé Delarverie floating around the internet, many of them arguing what her role was in the Stonewall uprisings of 1969 or, more recently, her pronouns/gender identity. As a precursor to this post, I want to state that I have thought about these discourses and, as Delarverie wasContinue reading “Black Butch Wonder: The Clothing of Stormé Delarverie”
Dressing Dykes 