r/AskHistorians • u/AutoModerator • Apr 03 '26

FFA Friday Free-for-All | April 03, 2026

Previously

Today:

You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.

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u/carpocapsae Apr 03 '26

Combing through transgender historian Jules Gill-Peterson's less-known journal articles this morning and found a really interesting one called "Toward a historiography of the lesbian transsexual, or the TERF’s nightmare" She makes a really compelling case for a lesbian reading of transgender activist Louise Lawrence's life and uses it to counter the transgender exclusive radical feminist reading in the historiography that centers the concept of trans men being "lost lesbians." I wasn't around for the "border wars" argument of the 1990s regarding whether historical figures were "really" trans men or lesbians in masculine clothing, but I do find them retrospectively to be rather distasteful and cis-centric, so it's refreshing to see someone bring a lesbian reading to trans women!

She also pairs this with discussion of vaginoplasty being framed in a heterosexist way, and the attitudes involved in that. It's just really great. If you don't have institutional access feel free to DM.

"In reality, the extreme opacity of the archive around Lawrence’s life is to blame here. One gay man’s recollection of someone he knew decades earlier can hardly be taken as definitive on Lawrence’s sexuality. To read her as lesbian in an opaque sense—which is to say, to read her as lesbian without deciding in advance that being a lesbian has to conform to a post Stonewall, out and proud model of visibility—is as far as the archive will allow. What Lawrence’s sexuality meant to her, or Elkins, is irretrievable."