So you may know that we have 5 million words of Anne Lister’s diaries that are being decrypted and transcribed as we speak. FIVE MILLION. And it is full of Anne’s sexcapades. You can read any of Jill Liddington’s or Helena Whitbread’s books to find tons of diary entries, but to answer your question in short, YES! I’m not an expert by any means, but from what I’ve read, it’s pretty much what you’d expect when it comes to the type of sex Anne was having with women back then. Anne in her diary uses words/phrases like: “grubbling” aka “using her hands to bring another woman to orgasm” - I imagine that’s touching, fondling, teasing (will get to penetration in a minute). She’ll say “kiss” instead of orgasm (e.g., “2 kisses for her last night, and a goodish one for me” - I’m paraphrasing, because #quarantineADHD). She sometimes says things like, “I wanted her to be near to me” which means no drawers (undies) closeness like grinding, rubbing, riding. And she uses the word “queer” for “vagina”, as in “we touched queers” or “then I got my right middle finger up queer.” I’m not making this up. Yes, Anne Lister would note in her diary when she used her fingers, when she used her mouth, and when they just went old school thigh-between-the-legs. (She even used a phrase for masturbating = “incurring a cross.”) To be clear, I don’t remember reading that others went down on or penetrated Anne Lister - she preferred it the other way around - but I suppose we won’t know for sure until all 5MM words are translated. . . ?
I want to say here that I know it feels weird to talk about lesbians 150 years ago having sex the same way we do with our partners today, but it ISN’T weird and it definitely SHOULDN’T feel weird but it does because we weren’t given an even playing field when it comes to representation. And that’s part of the beauty of Anne Lister and the communities that have sprung up in the wake of Gentleman Jack because finally we have a woman in history just documenting these pieces of our reality and cementing the fact that so many women have come before us (see what I did there?). Sometimes the orgasms are bad! Sometimes your lover snores afterwards! Sometimes the sheets get so wet you feel like you’re sleeping in an aquarium!
So you didn’t tell me your story, Anon (and apologies for assuming you’re wlw if that’s not the case), but I imagine if you’re making any women feel good today (including yourself), then you’d have been more than capable of the same with women from a hundred years ago. CONGRATULATIONS!!
