Tomboys and bachelor girls

A lesbian history of post–war Britain 1945–71

Rebecca Jennings

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780719089923
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526130280
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Modern British History
• Index: Social Sciences

Using a rich array of oral histories and archival sources, Tomboys and Bachelor Girls provides the first detailed academic study of lesbian identity and culture in post-war Britain. Described by psychiatrists as immature and neurotic and widely ignored as taboo by mainstream society, lesbians nevertheless recognised and accepted their same-sex desire and sought out women like themselves.

Challenging the conventional picture of the post-war decades as years of austerity and conservative femininity, this book traces the emergence of a vibrant lesbian social scene in Britain, centred on the metropolitan nightclubs of post-war London, but also developing across the country, through lesbian magazines and social organisations.

This fascinating book brings to life the rich history of post-war lesbian culture for the scholarly and general reader alike.

Table of contents

• TOMBOYS AND BACHELOR GIRLS: A lesbian history of post-war Britain 1945–71
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Tomboys, crushes and the construction of adolescent lesbian identities
• 2 The ‘all-out career woman’ and narratives of lesbianism at work
• 3 Lesbian domesticity: relationships and the home
• 4 The Gateways club and the emergence of a post-war lesbian subculture
• 5 Arena Three and the articulation of a collective lesbian identity
• Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index