‘Shouting Out Loud’: Reading the development of queer lesbian feminisms in 1990s Britain through the Lesbians Talk Issues pamphlet series

Abstract

This thesis examines the emergence of queer lesbian feminisms in Britain through a close reading of the Lesbians Talk Issues pamphlet series which was published by Scarlet Press between 1992 and 1996. Taking up Sasha Roseneil’s exploration of queer feminisms forged at Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in the 1980s this thesis proposes that queer lesbian feminisms, that are specifically rooted in British feminist histories, can be tracked through this pamphlet series. My approach is informed by Allyson Mitchell’s philosophy Deep Lez, which offers the possibility of a radical politics that is firmly rooted in a lesbian feminist past while moving to an inclusive queer future. The Lesbians Talk Issues series addressed issues of interest to lesbians during the 1990s by gathering together the voices of over one hundred contributors across seven volumes: Queer Notions (1992) by Cherry Smyth, (Safer) Sex (1992) by Sue O’Sullivan and Pratibha Parmar, Making Black Waves (1993) by Valerie Mason-John and Ann Khambatta, Left Politics (1994) by Kristina Studzinski, Violent Relationships (1995) by Joelle Taylor and Tracey Chandler, Transgender (1996) by Zachary I. Nataf and Detonating the Nuclear Family (1996) by Julia Brosnan. This thesis approaches the pamphlets as examples of feminist autoethnography as defined by Elizabeth Ettore, examining the testimonies about lesbian lives, feminist politics, queer identity, Black feminism and transgender activism recorded across the texts and using them to map how the interplay of these various strands have begun to form new intersectional dyke politics or queer lesbian feminisms in the present. Chapter 1 presents a contextual overview which situates Lesbians Talk Issues within a history of lesbian activism and feminist publishing in Britain, Chapter 2 examines the pamphlets as queer lesbian feminist artefacts, and Chapter 3 makes a close reading of Making Black Waves and Transgender in order to consider the parallel stories these pamphlets offer. The concluding section looks at how current intersectional dyke politics and queer lesbian feminisms in Britain have developed out of the movements documented in Lesbians Talk Issues.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Diana Wallace (Supervisor), Emily Underwood-Lee (Supervisor) & Rachel Lock-Lewis (Supervisor)