In the first episode of our second season, Megan shares the story of Fanny and Stella: two gender non-conforming young people from Victorian England who presented female (and sometimes male) while carousing the exciting streets of 1860s/70s London. That is, until their antics got them in hot water with the law in what would be one of the most significant trials in British queer history. In this first part of our two part episode we learn about their lives leading up to their arrest.

Check us out across the web!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pixelfed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠insta⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon⁠

Sources:

Boyd, Jason. Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II. London: Psychology Press. 2002

McKenna, Neil. Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England. London: Faber & Faber. 2014

Joyce, Simon. “Two Women Walk into a Theatre Bathroom: The Fanny and Stella Trials as Trans Narrative”. Victorian Review. 44, nr. 1 (2018): 83-98.

Kaplan, Morris. “Who’s Afraid of John Saul?: Urban Culture and the Politics of Desire in Late Victorian London”. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 5, nr. 3 (1999): 267-314

Rowbotham, Judith. “A Deception on the Public: The Real Scandal of Boulton and Park”. Liverpool Law Review. 36, nr. 2 (27 March 2015): 123-145