Legend-alarm! We have queer anthropology’s parent on the podcast: Prof Esther Newton joins me to talk about queer spaces, drag shows, lesbian festivals, and about how all the lesbians ended up in Cherry Grove. Esther explains why every queer person should experience being in the majority at least once in their life and how this might allow you to see things you have never quite seen before. She talks about her personal relationship to queer spaces, communities and research and about why everyone’s so into Gentleman Jack.

Still looking for the cherry on top of Cherry Grove? Check out Esther’s work here (https://www.esther-newton.com) and follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter.

Works by Esther:

Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America (Prentice Hall, 1972; University of Chicago Press, 1978)
Womenfriends with Shirley Walton (Friends Press, 1976)
"The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 9.4 (1984): 557-575.
Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town (Duke UP, 1993)
Margaret Mead Made me Gay: Personal Essays, Public Ideas (Duke UP, 2000)
My Butch Career: A Memoir (Duke UP, 2018)

Other References:

Judith Butler
Chicago School
@someprefercake
Jean Carlomusto
https://www.esthernewtonmademegay.com/
Queering Desire (forthcoming collection, Routledge, 2023)
Colorado Springs
Jack Parlett’s Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise (Granta Books, 2022)
“Older Lesbians” with Jane Traies https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51171899
Provincetown
Anne Lister Birthday Week
Gentleman Jack (Season 1)
Jill Livington’s Female Fortune and Nature’s Domain
Sally Wainwright
Shibden After Dark Podcast
Leanne Mertzman and Mary Schwartz
The L Word

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Where did Esther Newton’s research journey start?
2. Which event caused the lesbian community in Cherry Grove to grow? Have you heard of similar dynamics in other contexts?
3. Which majority queer spaces other than Cherry Grove do we mention in the episode? Can you think of others?
4. Why does Esther find that Anne Lister is such an important figure in queer history?
5. When it comes to queer rights, how can things get better and worse at the same time?