Creative Sexpression

21/11/2025

20/11/2025

In 1893 Tessie Reynolds, who, aged sixteen years old, raced from Brighton to London and back (a distance well over a hundred miles in 8 and a half hours. The cycling press reacted very negatively, Cycling magazine wrote at the time,

"Every wheelman who has managed to retain a belief in the innate modesty and sense of becomingness in the opposite s*x, will hear with real pain, not unmixed with disgust, of what we will call a lamentable incident that took place on the Brighton road early last Sunday.’

‘Nothing is more calculated to give cycling for women a set-back than this racing, above all, the sight of a young girl tearing her heart out along the highway, cheered on by a crew of male pacemakers. Gentlemen of England, doth (you) like the picture?’

The editorial also included a complaint about her manner of dress,

‘Of a most unnecessary masculine nature and scantiness.’

The Yorkshire Evening Post said,

‘A pair of legs working like cranks on a pair of pedals is ugly enough in a man; but in a woman, especially with abnormal hips, the sight is a caricature of the sweetest and best half of humanity’.

Men were horrified that women wore pantaloons to ride in and insisted they continue to wear the long, heavy skirts with petticoats that made cycling impossible. But then they also warned about the lewdness of riding in skirts and how the wind might blow the skirts up.. A vicar describes how some women riding fast along the road past a group of young men showed them,

‘What none of the male s*x ought to be allowed to see, and what every woman with any pretention to modesty takes great care to avoid being seen." SHOCK HORROR!

Women started wearing '‘rational dress’ while cycling, an outfit of either knickerbockers or ‘bloomers’ being worn without a skirt on-top of them.

Here is one woman's description of riding her bicycle down the street whilst wearing "rational dress'
from 1895.

‘I was favoured on numerous occasions with selections from ‘Daisy Bell.’ Thirteen persons saluted me with the polite command of, ‘Git yer ‘air cut!’ Eight were extremely anxious to know my tailor’s address; an even greater number requested the name of my hatter. A ragged urchin ran alongside for some distance, and asked, ‘Could yer oblige us with a match, guv’nor?’ A barber further down the road went one better by standing on his step and enquiring, ‘Shave sir?’ Several pedestrians thoughtfully suggested that I should, ‘Git orf and push!’ While an elderly lady imparted the information I was, ‘a forward young minx!’ One man- how I thanked that man- doffed his oily cap and exclaimed, ‘Bravo! I likes yer pluck!’ In spite of the attention my appearance excited, several acquaintances passed me without notice.’

20/11/2025

Bobby Smith and Mary VanderWall, circa 1950s.

“Bobby Smith, the 69-year-old Tampa le***an, has been strip-searched by police, harassed by neighbors and screamed at by strangers who told her to join the circus. She lives with her partner of 33 years in a neighborhood near MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Smith is one of the rare le***ans from her generation who never married or pretended to desire men. She has always been a ‘butch,’ the masculine partner common in old-fashioned le***an relationships. ‘I’ve always liked boy’s clothes,’ she says, smiling. ‘I didn't go to college because I would have had to wear a dress. But I took a look in the mirror and said, ‘You can go and make it big in the world, or you can be at peace with yourself and eat beans.’ Five decades later, she says, ‘I am at peace with myself.’”
- Tampa Bay Times (1993)

20/11/2025

Sweaters Book N° 291: "Everyone Wears Sweaters" (1952) — illustrated by Mary Mayo.

19/11/2025

Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as a Lute Player, 1616
If you were to paint a portrait of yourself, what would you be doing in the image and what might that say about who you are right now?

19/11/2025

19/11/2025

Post-Mardi Gras protests in Sydney, Australia (1978). 1978 saw Sydney's first Mardi Gras celebration- a big parade through city streets that featured several gay and le***an floats. The celebrants were confronted by police, who arrested 53 g**s and le***ans, many of whom were beaten in jail. The next morning, the Sydney Morning Herald published their names and addresses, effectively outing them. Protest were held in defense of the community and the day became a defining moment for Australian le***an and gay history.

18/11/2025

Yes!

18/11/2025

18/11/2025

Lyn Cooper wearing an 'I am a le***an' t-shirt, International Women's Day, Adelaide, Australia, 1974.

17/11/2025

Today’s giggle! Who’s been there before?

16/11/2025

🧅 😭