We know that queer and trans people have always been around, but how do you go about finding them? Diane Watt is here to show us how it’s done: all you need is lesbian methodology, queer philology, and tiny curtains. Intrigued? Tune in to learn more and to listen to Diane and I discuss shared butch lesbian and transmasculine histories, lesbian nuns, and medieval dildos.

If this all sounds too good to be true, you can make sure that Diane is a real (and really awesome) person by checking @Diane_Watt on Twitter or @medievalist.on.the.run on Instagram. @queerlitpodcast is there too.

References:
Diane Watt, Corinne Saunders (2023) Women and Medieval Literary Culture. Cambridge University Press.
R Magnani, Diane Watt (2018) “Towards a Queer Philology,” Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies 9:3, 252-268.
Diane Watt (2017) “A Fragmentary Archive: Migratory Feelings in Early Anglo-Saxon Women’s Letters,” Journal of Homosexuality 64:3, 415-429.
N Giffney, MM Sauer, D Watt (2011) The Lesbian Premodern. Palgrave MacMillan.
Diane Watt (2007) Medieval Women's Writing: Works by and for Women in England, 1100-1500. Polity Press.
Diane Watt (2003) Amoral Gower. University of Minnesota Press.
Diane Watt (1997) Secretaries of God. D.S. Brewer.
Margery Kempe
Margaret Paston
Eleanor Rykener
Susan Lanser’s The Sexuality of History
Judith Bennett
Lesbian-like
Roberta Magnani
Elizabeth Freeman
Temporal drag
Iphis and Ianthe
John Gower’s Confessio Amantis
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Christopher Ricks
Lara Farina
St Albans Psalter
Christina of Markyate
How To Read Podcast
https://www.howtoreadpodcast.com/andrew-albin-sounds-medieval-books/
M.W. Bychowski “Trans Textuality: Dysphoria in the Depths of Medieval Skin”
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41280-018-0090-6
Duke Humfrey’s Library
Bodleian Library
Huon of Bordeaux
The Museum of Sex Objects
Julian of Norwich
Anne Lister’s Diaries

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What does Diane tell us about records of medieval lesbians in England and Wales?
2. What is queer philology? How is it different from other definitions of philology?
3. What examples of lesbian methods does Diane give?
4. Diane talks about trans book history and makes an interesting observation about scars. What do you think about this?
5. How can literature teach us new things about history when other records might be limited? What might be benefits and limitations of such an approach?