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The Ladies of Llangollen, Anne Lister, Anna Seward, and the problem of "Modern History's First Lesbians" Lesbians, sapphics, tribades, lesbi-gays, dykes, clitorist, beanflicker, Amy-John, clam smacker, scissor sister, invert. There’s plenty of names for women who love women, but what is our history, and who was the first lezza? Historical Sapphism Some historians believe that prior to the twentieth century there was simply no such thing as female homoeroticism, even arguing that women prior to this century couldn’t experience ‘lesbianism’ or lesbian sex because such concepts were invented by sexologists in the late nineteenth century. It’s laughable, and a brief look into the history books tell us quite opposite. In an article published in 2017, Anna Clark discusses historic sapphic subcultures among dancers and prostitutes, especially in metropolitan Paris in the early eighteenth-century. (Of course it's Paris.) Additionally, recent study of ‘deviant’ sexualities in European courts have explored Christina of Sweden’s affairs with women, notably Ebba Spare, as well as Marie Antoinette’s ‘lesbian’ sexual exploits which were the subject of several pamphlets during the French Revolution. Furthermore, in her 1789 denunciation, Hester Thrale Piozzi described Marie Antoinette as “ the Head of a Set of Monsters call’d by each other Sapphists ” Simeon Solomon, Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene, 1864 Used liberally in this article and by this historian generally, the terms 'Sapphic', and ‘Sapphist’ were understood to be insults relating to female homoeroticism based on the comprehension that the Ancient Greek poet Sappho had sexual and romantic relationships with women as early as the fifteenth century. Sappho is also where we get the term ‘lesbian’, as this was the term for people from the Isle of Lesbos, where she lived. This terminology is evidenced as early as the fifteenth century . Furthermore, Rebecca Jennings’ A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500, provides a valuable discussion of evidence of female homoeroticism throughout ancient, medieval and early modern history in medical texts, literature, visual art and travel journals. In fact, female sexual gratification during the fourteenth - seventeenth centuries was thought to be fundamental to conception and to curing symptoms of female hysteria; if a husband was thought to be incapable of administering an orgasm, it was expected that a midwife would do so. Thus, female ‘administered’ sexual gratification was well established. A lack of awareness may be attributable to a lack of legal jurisdiction regarding female homoeroticism in comparison to strict laws and punishments for male homoeroticism throughout the centuries. Phallic-free sex couldn’t really be comprehended in strictly patriarchal societies, so even when and where there were laws regarding ‘lesbianism’, they were based on the use of ‘tools’ which weren’t a real penis in intercourse with women. For example, women in the fifteenth and sixteenth century in the Southern Netherlands faced strict prosecution for the crime of sodomy. These facts did little to disprove dominant historiography concerning female homoeroticism (or rather lack thereof) in historical study until the publication of Anne Lister’s explicit sexual exploits in the 1980s. Emma Donoghue has described these texts as the 'Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history’ for their incomparable impact in proving female homoeroticism prior to the twentieth century. Since the rediscovery and decoding of her diaries, Anne Lister has become a sapphic icon comparable to Sappho herself. Her apparent singularity in her efforts to live freely in matrimony with another woman has elicited a wealth of historical and cultural media attention. Most recently, she has dominated BBC ratings in the series ‘Gentleman Jack’, named for Lister’s malicious nickname among Halifax residents for the way she appeared ‘like a man’ according to her dress and engagement in business. The show is well worth a watch, and has been developed according to the 26 volumes that Lister wrote, specifically focussing on the last eight years of her life, when she decided to settle down and ‘marry’. There are inaccuracies, and several liberties taken with costume (she didn’t wear a tall hat, for example), and her height, but the changes are not particularly important to the narrative of the show, nor how we remember her. (This isn’t a historical-fiction article, so no more comments about the accuracy of dress, I promise.) Suranne Jones as Anne Lister and Sophie Rundle as Ann Walker in Gentleman Jack, BBC The first series depicts Lister's determined mission to court and marry the much younger and often bewildered local heiress, Ann Walker. The final episode of the first series depicts the pair ‘marrying’ at the Holy Trinity Church in York on Easter Sunday, 1834. Series two follows their ‘marriage’ and Lister pushing Walker into making Lister a large beneficiary of her estate, something Lister had previously done for the 'love of her life' Mariana Lawton (née Belcombe). These events, depicted in remarkable accuracy support a popular belief that Lister was the first modern lesbian, and her ‘marriage’ to Walker unique. However, we know for a fact that female homoeroticism was not invented by this dashing sapphic in the eighteenth century, and if you cast your eye slightly broader, even the idea of marriage to another woman was not her own. (Shockingly, lesbians have always been trying to move in with each other and live their lives together.) Lister has had an undeniable impact on Sapphic history, yet her popular legacy as ‘Modern History’s first Lesbian’ is ridiculously unfair. For starters, the term lesbian, although used throughout this article, isn’t really one that we can use as the term was not popularly known or used, certainly not by the women we are discussing. Secondly, Anne Lister was not the only woman to fancy other women, otherwise she wouldn’t have found anyone to shag. And finally, if Anne Lister had to give an opinion on the subject, she would likely argue that she was 'Modern History’s First Lesbian', after the Ladies of Llangollen. Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby In July 1822, Anne Lister, along with her aunt, the elder Anne Lister, embarked on a long-awaited tour of North Wales, the shining moment of which was a stay in the Vale of Llangollen and two visits to a Tudor Style Cottage named Plas-Newydd. Meaning New-House’, Plas-Newydd was the home to the Anglo-Irish gentlewomen Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby. This pair of women were significant because they had done something completely out of the ordinary for eighteenth-century women, they had run away, and set up their own home, completely cutting ties with their families. Now that’s a simplified summary of events, so let’s go into more detail. Plas Newydd, the Ladies of Llangollen's Tudor home, is now a museum and historic house open to the public Ponsonby and Butler met in around 1776, Butler was already a spinster (she was in her 30s, scandalous!), and Ponsonby, an eighteen-year-old. They would meet for tutoring, long walks and deep conversations, when Butler travelled, they sent rambling letters, telling how much they missed the other. It became clear quite quickly, that the pair were completely obsessed with each other. (Typical.) In April 1778, discovering that Ponsonby’s family were discussing her marriage, they decided to sneak out from their respective homes in Kilkenny and escape to Wales, where Butler had found a discrete cottage for their elopement. The first escape effort failed, and they were both imprisoned in their homes, until Butler, learning that she was to be packed off to a convent, escaped, and managed to get into Ponsonby’s chambers, where she hid for several days whilst the families debated what to do with their unruly girls. Eventually, on the 6th May, they were allowed to leave, with Ponsonby’s trusted maid, on the premise that they would not take any income from their families, nor return to Kilkenny. (Such a hardship…) So, Butler and Ponsonby ran off to Wales, eloping in ‘exquisite retirement’. They found a home in Llangollen and spent their days engaging in literary scholarship and lengthy walks around the Welsh hills, and their evenings in the same bed. They became a site of fascination for society, their ‘romantic friendship’ as it was known, thought of as an exquisite form of platonic love. Even Queen Charlotte (yes that one) adored them, and the Ladies engaged with her by sending a plan of their home and gardens. They welcomed a constant stream of visitors there to view the extensive literary collection, and the spectacle of the ladies themselves. These visitors included Anna Seward, who we will discuss in a moment, William Wordsworth, and even Lord Byron. Portrait of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby out walking with their dog. Lister’s intrigue with these ‘Ladies of Llangollen’ as they were nicknamed, was two-fold; firstly, regarding their extensive literary scholarship, and secondly, the exact intimate nature of their relationship. During her visit on the 23rd July 1822, Lister attempted to ask Ponsonby about the true nature of their relationship, asking if they were ‘classical’, meaning homoerotic, which Ponsonby denied. Although she was unable to discern the true extent of the intimacy shared between Butler and Ponsonby, the impact on the then 31-year-old Lister was made. Later that day Lister writes, ‘I cannot help but thinking that surely it [their relationship] was not platonic’. (Very astute, Anne.) Romantic Friendship or homo-eroticism? Whilst historical study on the Ladies of Llangollen has not been lacking in quantity, in terms of ‘queer’ studies it has certainly been lacking in quality. The story of the pair’s attempted secret flight and eventual successful elopement, against the best efforts of their families, would, had either been male have been an undeniably sexually charged tale of forbidden lovers. However, dominant historiography continues to consider Butler and Ponsonby’s relationship as the idyllic platonic ‘Romantic Friendship’ of the long eighteenth century: a fairly common intimate relationship between women which surpassed any other friendship, but was not sexual. This is despite substantial evidence which supports an argument that their elopement was every bit the twenty-first century cottage-core fantasy it appears. As well as the basic fact that other romantic friendships would last for a few years at the most, and end with one or both women involved marrying men and moving on. Historians have struggled to conceptualise this relationship in light of the facts, for example, the 1936 narrative biography Chase of the Wild Goose by lesbian, doctor, and author, Mary Gordon presents the Ladies as proto-feminist and proto-lesbian. In her fantastical epilogue she alludes to the queer connotations of their partnership and thanks them for making ‘the way straight for the time that we inherited …’. However, she does not entertain a possibility of a sexual relationship. Similarly, Elizabeth Mavor, writing in 1971 strives to decry claims of a sexual relationship, or ‘Freud-ism’, concluding that whilst the Ladies of Llangollen are an example of an extraordinarily close ‘Romantic Friendship’ the ambiguity of their intimacy stems from their longevity, and nothing more. Now we know that these arguments are fundamentally flawed, female homoeroticism was an established fact, Gordon and Mavor’s obsessive attempts to avoid any implication of a sexual relationship, or ‘Freud-ism’ in their portrayals of the Ladies of Llangollen has resulted in texts which ignore glaring and simple facts. Such as their dramatic elopement; fifty years of cohabitation; bed sharing; exclusive use of the phrase ‘My Beloved’; never spending a night apart; and their uninhibited and unwavering dedication to each other from the moment of their meeting. (It's all very straight, isn't it?) If this were truly an innocent Romantic Friendship, why was their elopement scandalous? Lady Betty Fownes, Ponsonby's guardian, wrote of her happiness on hearing of Butler's impending confinement, 'I wish she had been safe in one [a convent] long ago; she would have made us [all] happy. Many an unhappy hour she has cost me, and, I am convinced, years to Sally [Sarah]' . Despite Mavor and Gordon’s wilful ignorance, the retirement to Wales was clearly understood by all parties to not be a temporary excursion. The dedication shown by these women was indicative even to their earliest contemporaries of something greater than a ‘Romantic Friendship’. Furthermore, considering primary texts such as the Hamwood Papers (Butler’s diaries and their correspondence) it is clear that Butler and Ponsonby thought of themselves as good as married. In convincing Fownes that she could be trusted with her guard, Butler promised that she would care for her ‘for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health’. Whilst Ponsonby, in response to Mrs Lucy Goddard’s fearful warning that Butler was a woman who ‘does not understand virtue…’ adding, ‘…she might make love to you,” replied laughing , ‘I hope that she will love me… she does so beautifully. ’ Regardless of if these comments were meant in sincerity or jest, it is clear that they were aware of, and unafraid of the connotations their intimate relationship encouraged. In a discussion of their self-awareness it is also worth noting that the Ladies of Llangollen had a string of dogs named Sappho. As literary scholars this may be ignored as simple poetic favour, fragments of Sappho’s poetry which may have been considered homoerotic were typically censored throughout the eighteenth century. However, as stated, Sappho was already synonymous with female homoeroticism, Emma Donoghue and Susan Lanser have established that any exclusion of these excerpts indicate an inherent, and fearful understanding of deviance, but this censorship wasn’t complete, and the texts could be accessed. It would be ignorant to argue that the Ladies of Llangollen, whose literary scholarship was almost unparalleled, were unaware of the implication of this name. Why is it so difficult to accept historic sapphism? Jennings explains that the fundamental obstacle to studies of ambiguous sapphic relationships is ‘essentialism’ (the idea that same-sex relationships have always existed and need to be rescued) and ‘constructionism’ (that sexual practises and identities are defined by wider culture and thus, how we define them tells us more about ourselves than of the relationships in question). It is perhaps because of this difficulty, and because of what Jennings describes as an obsession with defining ‘lesbianism’ through sex, that the Ladies of Llangollen are overlooked as an example of female same-sex love and homoeroticism. To put it simply, it seems to suit conservatism to consider Anne Lister entirely singular in her vulgarity. Portrait of Anne Lister Fiona Brideoake provides the most effective rebuttal of reductive studies, starting with a criticism of Faderman’s conclusion that ‘lesbianism’ is a gendered commitment to another woman. Brideoake argues that these relationships are in fact, indicative of a multifaceted identity which should be considered equal to heterosexuality. However, the issues surrounding comprehending these relationships remain, thus, the terminology used to discuss them must be carefully chosen. Brideoake favours the umbrella term ‘ queer’ meaning alternative to heteronormativity, Sarah Bentley defines their relationship, or rather our understanding of ‘Romantic Friendships’ to be ‘queer platonic’. However, is the accuracy of their intimacy the most significant factor of their relationship? As Elin Salt, the playwright of ‘Celebrated Virgins’ a 2022 play about the Ladies of Llangollen, states ‘if this was a man and a woman... We'd just accept they were two people who loved each other .” It is not the complexities of their relationship which are important, it is their impact as perceived Sapphists which needs to be considered. An anti- ‘lesbian’ argument could be supported by Hester Thrale Piozzi’s good friendship with Butler and Ponsonby. Piozzi is damning of perceived sapphism. For example, in her in 1789 denunciation of Marie Antoinette; Piozi also accused Anne Seymour Damer, an artist who was a rumoured sapphist of ‘ liking her own sex in a criminal way... ’. Piozzi would have been aware of the suggestions made concerning the intimacy of Butler and Ponsonby’s relationship thanks to a number of news publications disparaging the Ladies and their relationship, such as an article titled ‘Extraordinary Female Affection’ for a 1790 issue of the St James’ Chronicle . It is perhaps due to the inaccuracies of such articles that Piozzi does not disparage Butler and Ponsonby as she does other women who appear unsuitably single , describing them instead as ‘ enchantresses’. However, as established ‘lesbians’ Anne Lister and Anna Seward both considered the Ladies of Llangollen as their emotional and erotic ‘kin’ it is in a study of these latter women that their position as ‘Modern History’s First Lesbians’ can be understood. Understanding sapphism through tragedy Queer history is often quite tragic, between forced heterosexuality, death and separation, you're hard pressed to find a truly happy queer relationship. Even Sarah and Eleanor's de facto marriage necessitated an almost permanent split from their families and homes. Queer individuals and relationships are recognisable through tragedy, a good example of this is Anna Seward, queer, a romantic poet and friend to the Ladies of Llangollen. Seward's writing and letters support an argument of lesbianism; she wrote to Mrs M. Powys in 1796 describing the Ladies of Llangollen as a modern Rosalind and Celia, the cross-dressing ‘lesbians’ of Shakespeare’s As You Like It . More significant however, is the suggestion that through their Portrait of romantic poet Anna Seward relationship, Seward was able to mourn the loss of her own love, living somewhat vicariously through her friends. The majority of Seward’s biographical studies pay little attention to the cause of her lifelong depression, perhaps to avoid a discussion of the poet’s sexuality. Literary studies of her work have however highlighted the cause of her heartbreak as the loss of Honora Sneyd, first to marriage and later to death, primary to that of the other numerous griefs Seward suffered, including the death of her sister and father, to both of whom she was remarkably close. Sneyd, who Seward refers to as the ‘sun of my youthful horizon’, ‘my lost Honora’ and ‘my constant companion’ is considered to be an equal or greater inspiration to Seward’s Ossianic literature than the death of her other famous lover Major Andre. She describes her grief for her lost lovers simultaneously, writing [the memory of them is] ‘rising, like an exhalation, in my memory’ . In her 2015 publication, Joellen DuLucia situates Seward’s grief and her sapphism in the context of her epic, Llangollen Vale, which personifies Butler and Ponsonby . This, along with William Wordsworth’s later sonnet were significant contributors to the Ladies’ popular celebrity, and the language used by both is thought to have protected the Ladies of Llangollen from scandal regarding the nature of their relationship. However, if read through a queer lens, Seward’s epic narrative in particular, can be read as an ode not only to ‘Eleanora and Zara’, but through the lack of tragedy, a melancholic ode to the tragic Honora Sneyd. Particularly enlightening is the line which hopes that they [Butler and Ponsonby] will ‘perish together beneath “one kind icebolt,” a peace she and Sneyd could never share. ‘Modern History’s First Lesbian’ herself, Anne Lister, first read about the Ladies of Llangollen in an 1810 article in the fashionable magazine La Belle Assemblee. However, Lister’s sapphism could not be attributed to the reading of an article. As her diaries indicate, Lister had been considered ‘odd’ throughout her childhood, too masculine, too daring and too vulgar. Her first relationship began when Lister was 15, and confined to the attic of her boarding school in fears that she would negatively influence the other girls. Her roommate, Eliza Raine, an Anglo-Indian girl who was also considered too non-conformist to share the usual dormitories, became her first love from 1806 until 1814. Moreover, Lister’s relationship with Mariana Lawton began in 1812, however, it is only once Mariana visits Llangollen in 1817 and writes of Butler and Ponsonby’s unparalleled devotion that the pair began to seriously envisage a future together, despite Lawton’s marriage and the unfortunate eventuality that her husband did not die. Initially pushed by Lawton, from the moment of her own visit in 1822, Lister too was entirely convinced; she wrote days after her visit ‘ I should not like to live in Wales – but if it must be so, and I could choose the spot, it should be Plas-Newydd at Llangollen, which is already endeared even to me by the association of ideas. ’ (Very platonic!) Plas-Newydd and Llangollen Vale became, during the lifetimes of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby and continues to be to this day, a destination of pilgrimage for LGBTQIA+ individuals. This is indicative of their legacy as identifiable non-conformists to a cis and heteronormative society with which countless cannot identify. In considering the impact of these women on Anne Lister and Anna Seward it is clear that in a discussion of the ‘Modern History’s First Lesbians’ the Ladies of Llangollen do precede Anne Lister, regardless of the sexual intensity of their relationship. Further reading: ‘The Hamwood Manuscripts’, papers of Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, comprising diaries and correspondence, together with related papers, (1774-1831) The National Library of Wales, < https://archives.library.wales/index.php/hamwood-manuscripts > Norton, Rictor (Ed.), "Extraordinary Female Affection, 1790", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook , (22 April 2005, updated 15 June 2005) http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1790extr.htm l Seward, Anna, ‘Llangollen Vale, inscribed to the Right Honourable Lady Eleanor Butler, and Miss Ponsonby’, in Llangollen Vale, with Other Poems, (London: 1796), Published online at Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive, < https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/bse96-w0010.shtml > Thrale, Hester Lynch, Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs Hester Lynch Thrale (Later Mrs Piozzi), 1776-1809, Ed. Katherine C. Balderston, Vol.2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1942) The Diaries of Anne Lister Lister, Anne, Whitbread, Helena (ed.), I know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister, (New York and London, 1988) Lister, Anne, Whitbread, Helena (ed.), No Priest but Love: The Journals of Anne Lister from 1824-1826, (New York: New York University Press, 1992) Lister, Anne, Whitbread, Helena (ed.), The Secret Diaries of Anne Lister, (London: Virago Press, 2010) ‘Courageous and Audacious Ladies of Llangollen’, Duke University Libraries, (06/03/2018), < https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2018/03/06/courageous-audacious-ladies-llangollen/ > ‘Female Sodomy’, Not Just the Tudors, (2022), https://open.spotify.com/episode/1UVn5aESC9aIf2ShXyEKKZ?si=OD_AV7_AR8ano9Qr7G3WcA Baigent, Elizabeth, ‘Lister, Anne’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004/updated 2019), < https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/37678 > Bentley, Sarah, ‘The Ladies of Llangollen’, Wellcome Collection, (13/03/2018), < https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/WqewRSUAAB8sVaKN > Bowerbank, Sylvia, ‘Seward, Anna ( called the Swan of Lichfield), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004). < https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/25135 > Brideoake, Fiona, ‘” Extraordinary Female Affection”: The Ladies of Llangollen and the Endurance of Queer Community’, Romanticism on the Net, Number 36-27, (November 2004, February 2005), < https://doi.org/10.7202/011141ar > Bryan, Nicola, ‘Gentleman Jack: The Ladies of Llangollen who intrigued Anne Lister’, BBC News, (02/04/2022), < https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60917657 > Castle, Terry, The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993) Clark, Anna, ‘Secrets and Lies: Anne Lister’s Love for Women and the Natural Self’, in Clark, Anna, Alternative Histories of the Self: A Cultural History of Sexuality and Secrets, 1762-1917, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), pp.5-77, <: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3840441 > Colwill, Elizabeth, ‘Pass as a Woman, Act like a Man: Marie-Antoinette as Tribade in the Pornography of the French Revolution’, in Merrick, Jeffrey, and Ragan, Bryant T., (eds.) Homosexuality in Modern France, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) Coyle, Eugene, ‘The Irish Ladies of Llangollen: ‘The two most celebrated virgins in Europe’’, History Ireland, Vol.23, No.6 (Nov/Dec 2015), pp.18-20, < https://www.jstor.org/stable/43598746 > Crampton, Caroline, ‘The lesbian Dead Sea Scrolls: Anne Lister’s diaries’, The New Statesman, (05/12/2013), < https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2013/12/lesbian-dead-sea-scrolls > DeLucia, JoEllen, ‘Queering Progress: Anna Seward and Llangollen Vale’, in DeLucia, JoEllen, A Feminine Enlightenment: British Women Writers and the Philosophy of Progress, 1759-1820, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), pp.87-116, < DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748695942.003.0003 > Euler, Catherine A., Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women’s Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830-1840, (D. Phil: University of York, May 1995), Faderman, Lillian, Surpassing the Love of Men, (London: The Women’s Press LTD., 1985) Figes, Lydia, ‘Lesbian love and coded diaries: the remarkable story of Anne Lister’, Art UK, (10/05/2019), Gordon, Mary, The Llangollen Ladies, originally titled Chase of the Wild Goose (North Wales: John Jones, 1936, this ed. 1999) Grant, Allison, ‘The Dangers of Playing House: Celia’s Subversive Role in As You Like It’, Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, Vol.4, Article 5, (2011), <: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/spovsc/vol4/iss2011/5 > Griffiths, Hannah, ‘The Ladies of Llangollen’, The National Archives Blog, (08/02/2022), < https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/the-ladies-of-llangollen/ > Hallett, Judith P., ‘Sappho and Her Social Context: Sense and Sensuality’, Signs, Vol.4, No.3, (Spring 1979), pp.447-464, < https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173393 > Hunt, Margaret R., ‘The Sapphic Strain: English Lesbians in the Long Eighteenth Century’, in Bennett, Judith M., and Froide, Amy M., (eds.) Singlewomen in the European Past, 1250-1800 , (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp.270-296 Iglikowski-Broad, Vicky, ‘Gentleman Jack: Anne Lister - the first modern lesbian?’ the National Archives Blog, (09/07/2022), Jennings, Rebecca, A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500, (Oxford, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood World Publishing, 2007) Katz, Brigit, ‘The 19th-century Lesbian Landowner who set out to find a wife’, Smithsonian Magazine, (19/04/2019), < https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/19th-century-lesbian-landowner-who-set-out-find-wife-180971995/ > Mavor, Elizabeth, ‘Butler, Lady (Charlotte) Eleanor’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004/2006), < https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4182 > Mavor, Elizabeth, The Ladies of Llangollen: A Study in Romantic Friendship, (London: Penguin Books, 1971) Reynolds, Nicole, ‘Cottage Industry: The Ladies of Llangollen and the Symbolic Capital of the Cottage Ornee’, The Eighteenth Century, Vol.51, No.1/2, (Spring/Summer 2010), pp.211-227, < https://www.jstor.org/stable/41468095 > Saunders, Amy, ‘The Afterlife of Christina of Sweden: Gender and Sexuality in Heritage and Fiction’, Royal Studies Journal, Issue 6, (2019), pp.204-221, < http://doi.org/10.21039/rsj.199 > Valladares, Susan, ‘” An introduction to the Literary Person[s]” of Anne Lister and the Ladies of Llangollen’, Literature Compass, Issue 10, (2013), pp.353-368 Willis, Matthew, ‘Who were the Ladies of Llangollen?’, JSTOR Daily, (10/04/2022), < https://daily.jstor.org/who-were-the-ladies-of-llangollen/ >

Is Vita and Virginia good for women's history? Gemma Arterton as Vita Sackville-West and Elizabeth Debicki as Virginia Woolf Gemma Arterton has been the main reason I’ve recommended Vita and Virginia since first watching, not just because of the death grip she has had on me since St Trinian’s , but rather because she has the rare quality of being able to depict female queer experiences in a relatable and convincing way. (If you haven’t watched the film, or Summerland, another queer period drama starring Arterton, go and watch them now). It wasn’t until I rewatched the film for the purposes of this article that I noticed just how well Elizabeth Debicki portrays female queerness. In fact, the subtleties of Debicki’s Virginia, as opposed to Arterton’s Vita make for, in my opinion, a more convincing narrative of female queerness. Debicki and Arterton Vita and Virginia is a film, adapted from a play, which is in turn based on the love letters of authors Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. You might be wondering, if it’s a historical-fiction film based on a sapphic relationship, surely you’re not asking ‘Is this good for women’s history?’? Well, actually, yes. The narrative doesn’t simply depict that a homoerotic relationship happened between the two women. It also feeds into a narrative that queer, in particular bisexual women are either sexually promiscuous, or mentally unstable. That’s not to say that these women weren’t these things, Vita, as we will explore, was certainly sexually promiscuous, and to say that Virginia wasn’t mentally unstable would be an oversight of a lifetime. My criticism of this depiction isn’t that these women weren’t promiscuous and mentally unwell. However, Vita wasn’t simply a woman who fell in love quickly and dramatically, and Virginia wasn’t just a woman who paced the floor waiting for Vita. To skip ahead, whilst this film is not bad for women’s history, there are ways it could better represent and advocate for both queer women’s history and women’s literary history. N.b. as well as homoerotic scandal, sexuality, and identity, this article will also reference Woolf’s mental health (who is suspected to have had bipolar disorder). Virginia Woolf died by suicide in 1941, and some aspects of the film are hard to watch. There will be specific trigger warnings prior to discussions of these scenes. Please feel free not to read these parts if you may be affected by them. Accuracy Virginia Woolf is an author who needs little introduction. Born to a middle-class family in South Kensington, she married a friend of her brother, Leonard Woolf, to whom she reportedly had no attraction to at the start of their marriage. Despite this, the Woolfs were, as they appear in the film, reliant on each other emotionally and professionally. Together with contemporaries including Nessa and Clive Bell, (Virginia’s sister and brother-in-law) the Woolfs helped form the ‘Bloomsbury Group’ (basically your intellectually elite, sexually liberal, potential revolutionaries) and co-founded The Hogarth Press, an oft struggling publishing house which was, much to Virginia’s chagrin, saved from ruin by Vita’s work. Virginia was of course also the author of works such as Mrs Dalloway , A Room of One’s Own, and Orlando , a semi-biographical novelisation about none other than Vita Sackville-West. Recent work concerning Virginia Woolf often cites her relationship with Vita Sackville-West as the trigger to her most successful literary period. Personally, I think this is hyperbolic. The work written throughout and after the relationship the women shared was exemplary, this much is true. But assigning Virginia's success to Vita's influence would not pass by feminists if Vita were a man, hence her literary talent is not attributed to her husband, despite his influence on the author. Vita Sackville-West as a child The film spends more time on the typically Sapphic life of Vita Sackville-West. Despite being the only child of the third Baron Sackville and his cousin-wife, Vita was barred from inheriting her father’s estate and title, because, well, she was a girl. This was a point of lifelong contention, and some have (inaccurately) suggested that this contributed to her relationships with women. If there is evidence in Vita’s childhood of her sexual leanings, it is in what she would later describe as being psychologically “divided in two”: one side being feminine, soft, submissive, and attracted to men, the other masculine, hard, aggressive, and attracted to women. Her granddaughter, Juliet, has said that “ From the age of 12, Vita was sure she was gay… She would play in a khaki uniform then come in and put on her silks and pearls. ” Perhaps we could best describe Vita Sackville-West as suffering with compulsory-heterosexuality? Both her parents had lovers throughout her childhood, whom Vita was not only aware of, but partially raised by. For example, her fluency in French was largely thanks to the time spent in the Parisian home of Sir John Murray-Scott, her mother’s lover. Whilst her father’s mistress, an opera singer, lived with the family at Knole. Vita seems to have continued this informal familiarity with love and sex as she grew up, embarking on several affairs throughout her teenage years, early adulthood and indeed her marriage. For example, by the time of her formal society debut in 1910, she had a sexual relationship with Rosamund Grosvenor and a perpetually chaotic love affair with Violet Keppel, later Trefusis, the daughter of Alice Keppel, mistress to Edward VII. Vita and Violet met at Helen Wolff’s school for girls with their sexual relationship starting in their teen years and continuing for much of their adult lives. Vita married Harold Nicholson in 1913, after what she described as a “completely chaste” courtship . The pair immediately embarked on an open marriage, with both Vita and Harold enjoying same-sex relationships. Vita had secured herself a double bearded marriage. Each gave the other liberty to pursue the love and freedom they wanted, however, they were also aware of their marital duties as upper-class, and they dutifully had two children, Benedict, born in 1914 and Nigel, in 1917. Vita would also begrudgingly fulfil her duties as a diplomat’s wife when she absolutely needed to. Now you might be wondering, so, what was Vita? Gay, Bi? Straight up confused? If you Google ‘Was Vita Sackville-West gay?’, you’ll find several articles about the ‘fabulous forgotten history of Vita Sackville West,’ her lesbianism, relationship with Virginia, and her and her husband’s astounding gayness. Not to burst the bubble, but to quote Nick Nelson in Heartstopper . “I’m bisexual, actually.” Both Vita and Harold had relationships with men and women, they both, shockingly, seem to have genuinely loved each other and had sex at least three times (they had a third stillborn son) so if we must label them (something I try not to do) then bisexual definitely appears to be the more fitting terminology here. It’s worth mentioning here that bisexuality and historical study is a tricky subject, largely because historians don’t seem to be fully aware that attraction to more than one gender is a possibility. There is also a justified reluctance to label historical figures with twenty-first century awareness, but that's a different discussion. Violet Trefusis (Keppel) and Vita Sackville-West To turn to the drama of Violet Keppel… Vita and Violet had been in a sort of exclusive ‘lesbian’ relationship since their teens, this came to a crashing halt when Violet, depressed and abandoned by Vita since her marriage, agreed to an arranged marriage to Denys Trefusis. Vita, as the irrational woman that she was, made Violet promise to never have sex with her husband during a trip to France in 1918. Violet in turn forced Denys to this sexless marriage as a caveat of her agreement, and in 1919 they married. Shortly afterwards, Vita and Violet ran off to France, but Violet was swiftly retrieved by her husband. In February 1920 when they ran off again, news of the drama reached London almost immediately, in desperation, both husbands followed the couple in a two-seater aeroplane and dragged the women back to England and to their marriages. Later that year, Harold told Vita that Violet had broken her promise and slept with Denys. Violet attempted to keep her hold on Vita with love letters throughout the year, and in 1921 Vita eloped with her again, being called back by Harold’s threats to break off their marriage (and likely restrict her from her sons). Vita returned to England, and Violet to Italy. This characteristic Sapphic-drama is the immediate pretext to the opening of the film, in which Vita, freshly returned to England, now wants to focus on her legitimacy as a writer, gain access to the elite ‘Bloomsbury Group’, and is absolutely fascinated by the elusive figure that is Virginia Woolf. The film opens with cut scenes of Harold and Vita giving a radio interview about their successful marriage, Vita’s mother threatening to remove her sons from her custody, Vita herself arriving at a party hosted in Bloomsbury, gazing in awe at Virginia dancing, and then pursuing both Virginia and a place for her own novels within The Hogarth Press. Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West with their dogs The film is largely told from Vita’s perspective and is based on the letters exchanged between Vita and Virginia from 1922-1928. Broadly speaking, the screenplay does a fair job of depicting their complex romance, its strengths lying in Arterton’s depiction of Vita as somewhat self-obsessed, whilst simultaneously disparaging of her talents as a writer, especially in comparison to Virginia. As you watch, you find yourself struggling to believe Vita’s genuine feelings. Is she using Virginia for access to the Press? Yet the viewer also understands that Vita’s published works are far more successful than that of Virginia’s, or indeed of The Hogarth Press in its entirety. The publishing of her work would boost the company’s reputation. Virginia and her husband are wary of Vita and her work, its popularity and how she fits into their world. Debicki, as Virginia, presents as frantic, confused, and socially freer than Vita. She does not share a desire to have wildly popular novels, though there is a recognition that slightly more successful publications would be financially beneficial. She is also conflicted by Vita’s person, does she follow her blindly, or does she stay where she is safe, in her apparently loveless marriage? Throughout the film, Virginia is in a state of queer confusion and obsession, and Vita pursues her with the same rigour and brief infatuation as she did her previous lovers, with little understanding of Virginia’s unstable personality. This is a clear case of obsession and control. Vita arriving at Nessa Bell's art show with Mary Campbell Vita eventually loses interest, and stops replying to Virginia’s letters, demonstrating her lack of understanding of the complexities of Virginia’s mental health. This is furthered by the scene which sees Vita bring another woman to Nessa’s art show. Virginia spirals, and the audience can understand her staring into the choppy water as a foreshadowing of her eventual suicide in the River Ouse. The obsessive writing of Orlando in the following scenes depicts both a manic episode of Virginia’s bipolar, and Vita’s malignant narcissism; as Virginia produces a novel based on the split lives, loves, masculinity and femininity of Vita Sackville-West, who then returns to Virginia, flattered by the attention. This appears to be a fairly accurate depiction of the development of their relationship in 1927-1928. It’s worth mentioning that much of the film is fictionalised and although based on letters and other primary sources, there is only so far a dramatisation can go in terms of accuracy. However, there are several moments which are interspersed throughout the film which assist the story's legitimacy. These include on Vita’s side: references to Violet and Vita’s elopements, Vita and Harold’s open marriage and her reluctance to partake in her duties as a diplomat’s wife, mention of their Garden Design at Sissinghurst, and Vita’s mother’s threats to remove the children from her custody due to Vita’s promiscuity. On Virginia’s side of events, notable accuracy comes in the form of the co-dependence of her marriage, the informality of the ‘Bloomsbury Group’, in particular their views on sexuality, medical advice which actually made her symptoms worse, and the literary creativity that Vita inspired in her. Photographing Orlando Sensitivity (TW: mention of sexual assault, s*lf-h*rm, and s*icide) Virginia instigates intimacy with Vita It feels more fitting to discuss the intricacies of their sexual relationship and Virginia’s mental health through a critical lens aiming at sensitivity rather than accuracy. Virginia Woolf’s sexual encounters were not as free and positively queer as Vita Sackville-West’s. In childhood, Virginia had been molested by her older half-brother Gerald Duckworth at six years-old. Virginia’s biographers believe that it was these experiences which led to her life-long fear of sexual relationships and masculinity, the abuse by her half-brother(s) and potentially also by her cousin is described by Virginia as being a consistent feature of her childhood, and has been discussed by Hermione Lee and Lyndall Gordon as fundamental to her character. These experiences would have undeniably had an impact on Virginia’s already precarious mental health, and can be used to understand her codependency and obsession both with her husband and Vita. The scenes depicting the Sapphic couple’s sexual relationship suggest that this was the first time Virginia enjoyed sex. Considering her writing of her relationship with Leonard this may be a slight exaggeration, however, there is a sense that with Vita, Virginia found fulfilment in her sexuality that had been hitherto repressed. Even if dramatised for the purposes of the film. Virginia in her first scenes The film faces the common difficulty of how to depict Virginia’s health without buying into the narrative of the hysterical woman. Historians and psychologists have suggested that Virginia had bipolar disorder, characterised by periods of intense depression and elevated moods, sometimes known as mania. During these periods of mania the individual will rarely sleep and often have increased anxiety, sometimes hallucinations, all of which are portrayed in the film. Several scenes allude to Virginia’s eventual suicide and this is particularly notable when Virginia is briefly suspected to have gone into the water after her sister’s art opening. This small but meaningful moment directly depicts Virginia’s inability to understand her own emotions (the viewer can understand her heartbreak over Vita more clearly than herself). This is followed by the writing process of Orlando, which arguably poses as a manifestation of Virginia’s mania concerning Vita, subsequently encouraged by Vita’s typified narcissism. Orlando is a love letter, featuring Vita as an English Noble named Orlando spanning multiple centuries and genders. Relationships such as that with Violet Keppel and Virginia are both featured throughout the narrative and the title character is an enigma to the very end. The novel is a complex biography of a complex individual, it continues to divide opinion of if you are meant to like Orlando or not, and thus, of Virginia’s true feelings towards her. Perhaps the best adjective would be obsession. On some levels, the pair seem to have shared a good understanding of the other, but their relationship feels unequal. Virginia’s love for Vita appears genuine, if obsessive. Vita’s love, on the other hand, is self-concerned, regarding the improvement of her own writing, engagement with the literary community she craves and, in some ways, about the power she could hold over her lovers. So, is this a fair representation? Of the women individually, it does feel fair, and in Virginia’s case in particular, sensitive; you can’t help but be struck by the constant expression of confusion, mild panic and anxiety that Debicki has. Arterton’s Vita is harsher, and less sympathetic. As a couple they aren’t greatly convincing, there is perhaps too much attention paid to their respective marriages, to feel as if they could have really had the impact on each other’s lives and literary careers that they did. Entertainment Like all historical-fiction, the point is to be entertaining before it is to be accurate. Which is why I hasten to add that although based on their letters, this film is not entirely accurate to the women it characterises and it can only speculate the gaps in the evidence. Regarding entertainment, the film is generally an enjoyable one. It is occasionally slow, and unless you know about Virginia’s experiences and Vita’s relationships, several of the references might go over your head. If you do understand these, however, they add to the entertainment brilliantly. Overall, Vita and Virginia is a film which aims to depict an adulterous Sapphic relationship without being vulgar. For all the words to describe this film, vulgarity is not one of them. Vita and Virginia manages to make a scandalous series of events natural and enjoyable to watch. Virginia later in the film, after a manic episode. Debicki's makeup is used to emphasise Virginia's insomnia and poor health at this moment. A stand out feature must be the wardrobe and set design. In particular, Vita’s silhouettes often depict the duality of how she considered her identity; split between the masculine, represented in clean tailored cuts intended to make Arterton appear taller than she is and dominant, and the feminine, shown in accessories, and glamourous make-up. She directly contrasts with the simpler femininity of the other women throughout the film, who wear more delicate, draped fabrics. Virginia’s wardrobe articulates her mental state and her lower social class. The fabrics for her outfits are noticeably lesser quality and the silhouettes are designed to be dishevelled. Often, her hair and makeup are used to present her worsening depression with great effect. Vita and Virginia are presented as flawed women and despite both being pretty unlikeable, they are easy to care for. Vita's costuming is a direct contrast to Virginia's Feminism The question of feminism when discussing Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf is an interesting one. Each are distinctly unique women, both shaped by their sex, identity, and experiences with men. Vita’s story, her sexual liberty, bearded relationship, and success in her professional and personal life is perhaps easier to depict as feminist in modern work. Her internal struggle regarding her sex and her inheritance as well as her determination to maintain her liberty and gain respect among her peers is admirable and relatable. Where she struggles against a recognisable patriarchal background, she gains sympathy and understanding. The modern audience enjoys a strong, independent woman. Virginia’s more tragic story, largely shaped by men, has often been subject to a feminist lens in an attempt to reclaim her story to fit modern definitions of gender, equality and sexuality. This film doesn’t really follow this pattern, and it is easy to forget that the Virginia on our screen was the wild, anarchical writer. It is Virginia’s, not Vita’s work which remains at the forefront of feminist literature. Vita and Virginia presents a narrative that Vita breathed life into Virginia throughout the narrative of this film, and that without her, Virginia would have struggled to be . Virginia’s writing is in danger of being pushed aside in this story, except of course for the work she produced about Vita. But, Virginia’s life was not about Vita, and the suggestion that it was, damages her impact on literary and feminist history. Is Vita and Virginia good for women’s history? Probably. Films like this one bring these individuals into the attention of audiences in an age when we can openly discuss the impact they had on each other as de facto muses, especially with the acknowledgement that Orlando is a love letter. But, as with any version of history, this shouldn’t be the only version of them. Both women were more than the people they loved, and I for one want to see Vita’s relationship with Violet explored on screen, and Virginia’s mental health, its causes and its repercussions shown in more depth. Further Reading: Vita and Virginia, dir. Chanya Button, (Bohemia Media, 2018), https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.3d8d1e48-e1bc-45d3-a4d2-aa2e34689b90?autoplay=0&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb Beresford, George Charles, 'Woolf, (Adeline), Virginia', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004), < https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1003284?rskey=pH0ozi&result=2> Gordon, Lyndall, Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Life, (Oxford University Press, 1984) Hochstrasser, T. J. , 'West, Victoria Mary [Vita] Sackville-', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004/2017), < https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/35903> Lee, Hermione, Virginia Woolf, ( Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1999) Woolf, Virginia, Orlando, (London, The Hogarth Press, 1928) Sackville-West, Vita, Woolf, Virginia, The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf, (London: Virago Press, 1992)

An integral part of our military history is the remembrance of those who lost their lives and gave their service to defending others. Towns and villages more often than not have a traditional war memorial from World War I or II taking centre stage in churchyards and cenotaphs. The names of local men carved on each Commonwealth or private grave remind us of their sacrifice. Yet how many women’s names have you seen? There are lots of important women in global services, however, men still greatly prevail when one thinks of the Army, Navy, or Royal Air Force. As someone with a very minor role in the armed services, in this article I aim to showcase the roles and dedication of women in World War I & II using their (lack of) memorials around the UK, specifically focusing on the British Army. A Woman’s Role: Women in front line combat is still statistically flat-lined despite it being legal to join all the Armed services in the UK. Recruitment targeting women for front line roles arguably falls short of standards. Only 12% of the British Army specifically, is female, with aims of increasing it to 25% in the next 10 years. Within this statistic; 9% are in non-combat positions (e.g. HR, logistics, catering, medical, and other auxiliary roles). These roles are the backbone of the military in any country no question. Without the men and women in these jobs, front line soldiers in combat simply would not function! It’s a small statistic, but women hold positions in support more than anywhere else in the army. It was only as recently as 2018, when the British MOD (Ministry of Defense) allowed women to serve openly in all branches of the army, with a previous law being overturned in 2014 stating women were only allowed in ‘supporting roles’, i.e. auxiliary roles, as they had been for centuries beforehand. In my opinion, this overturning of law is shockingly late considering the demanding and dangerous jobs women did during WW I & II. Prior to WW I & II there have been monuments, art, and literature dedicated to women about warfare and achievements. Often only individual achievements. We can see Roman and Greek praise and dedications to wives, sisters, or mothers, in funerary items, or to statues or plaques to Empresses, Queens, or Pharaohs. Cleopatra’s needle, Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple and hieroglyphics, Nefertiti’s tomb, and more are all types of monuments to women. However, women’s successes have been dismissed, buried, and overlooked by the men who ruled afterwards. This can mirror society today in part; War memorials tend to be male centric, forgetting the often unseen work of women which I explore more as the article progresses. Way back when, we were doing similar jobs to today’s 9% during in WW I & II. During both conflicts, you could be a nurse in the Queen Alexandra Imperial Nursing service, or join FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry). In 1917 the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed to solve the manpower decline, or join the ATS (Auxiliary Territory service). In 1941, women were then legally conscripted into supporting roles. Those who were physically able to work (even if they were married) were employed in munitions, the Land Army, nurses for the Red Cross or other, textile factories, and the auxiliary. By the end of WW II, 450,000 were employed by the armed forces (excluding Infantry roles). Over 74,000 British women were serving in anti-aircraft units near the front lines in the ATS. However, close combat roles remained off-limits. Members of the ATS were known as ‘Ack Ack girls’ who supported reconnaissance, finding and locating enemy pilots and camps, getting bearings, and observing enemy aircraft, but were barred from pulling the trigger on weaponry. This is demonstrated by the 93rd Searchlight Regiment: an all-female unit part of the Royal Artillery conducting anti-aircraft operations, based in Southern England. Unbelievably, the ATS was not recognized as a military regiment until 1941. A trial run of 54 ATS members was conducted in order to test a woman’s ability in dealing with the same physical and emotional conditions male soldiers suffered in wartime. This was the ‘Newark Experiment’ orchestrated by General Pile (General Officer Anti-Aircraft Commander-in-Chief). Sent to Wales, the experiment was a great success; ‘they showed themselves more effective, more horror inspiring and more blood-thirsty with their pick-helves than many a male sentry with his gun’ and ‘the girls lived like men, fought their fights like men and, alas, some died like men’ wrote Pile on the work of the ATS and subsequent formation of the 93rd Regiment. They were given uniforms after 1941, and a higher rate of pay was to be in order if women were doing the same job as male soldiers. However, they were not personally armed, and originally did not have the authorization to pull the trigger or give the fire control order on weaponry as mentioned. Each unit had a male soldier integrated who could actually fire the mortar based off the woman’s calculation. Units were based around the South West and East of England, with some in Western Europe. Around 389 of these women were killed in bombings. This is a staggering figure for women who were essentially considered as supporting non-combat roles in the law’s eyes. Memorials The vast majority of memorials are specifically for male infantry soldiers who deserve to be memorialized for their actions in warfare. Women’s achievements and dedications for their time are often forgotten – even in Remembrance services. Yet women both on the front lines or behind the lines, were equally important. This is why the ‘Women in World War II’ memorial was created. In 2005, the towering bronze memorial was unveiled on the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day by the Queen, in the center of Whitehall near Downing Street. This was the first dedicated pride-of-place monument in the UK to all women during World War II, named the ‘Women in World War II memorial’. It commemorates the women who served and survived, or lost their lives in the war. 22 feet high and 16 feet long, it depicts the outfits and uniforms of all the services and police, munitions garments, the Land Army, welding gear, farming, Air Wardens, pilot goggles and aviator jackets. ATS uniforms are also included thanks to General Pile’s efforts in 1941. 17 total uniforms are on display on sculpted hooks – as if they were hung up ready for another working day. The monument was designed by John W. Mills, whose mother was a firefighter in WW II. It remembers the 7 million plus women UK wide who were involved in wartime efforts. Baroness Boothroyd expertly remarked at the unveiling: “(women) hung them up and let the men take the credit”. The Baroness’ remark encapsulates the public and general opinions. Having seen the monument in person, the dedication is imposing and bold. Black with gold lettering for the title, a huge literal block statement, of which I found to really force the public to view and understand the gravity of war and who was involved. It is not the typical memorial such as crosses and plaques, but it is successful in creating a powerful statement on the impacts of war on women. However, this was unveiled in 2005 when women were not permitted in front line combat roles. Hypocritical much? Rather the ‘Women in World War II’ memorial commemorates the dedicated women of their time period, despite the lack of actual combat the majority saw. In hindsight, this hypocrisy crumbles. But like usual there was and still is tension over this memorial concerning its glorification of war, heightened because it is a women’s only memorial which brings its own criticisms. The memorial names no women either despite there being numerous key figures at play such as women code-breakers in Bletchley Park, or spies of the SOE (Special Operations Executive), and nurses killed in bombing raids. It displays their empty shells – their uniform. Seen to represent all women, but there are no statues or depictions of individual women unlike the majority of statues that show male soldiers; depicting faces and figures. Women are not a tangible entity, with some arguing the ‘Women in World War II’ memorial is a denial to the real women who represented our country as their bodies and faces are not visualized. On the flip side, I’m simply liking that there is a proper dedicated monument in Whitehall! Looking further back, WW I has a few low status memorials, for example a reworked 13th century stained glass window in York minster church. A commemorative plaque titled ‘Women of the Empire’, was made and unveiled in 1925. The Bury War memorial in Lancashire also features depictions of women in Land Army uniform, commissioned in 1924. There are few and far between female names added in inscriptions on male dominated plaques and crosses, one has to dig for and peer closer to see the sparse female names at the bottom of memorials. Moreover, I like how this plaque acknowledges all women in the empire, and not solely British women. Leading for it to be pretty inclusive. ‘Women of the Empire Window’ Women of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities were expected to help the war effort, and the memorials in Whitehall and York portray this because they picture the uniforms any woman would have worn. Bletchley Park has a Roll of Honour memorial which is constantly being added to, as new information is being discovered after society’s interests in feminine history has increased in popularity. 75% of those who worked at Bletchley were female. When VE Day hit, almost all gave up their career to marry and resume relative normality with most never revealing what their true role was. In 2011, the Queen further unveiled a memorial dedicated to Alan Turing – who worked at Bletchley as a lead code-breaker. His untimely suicide in 1954 brought attention to LGBTQ+ rights and perspectives. It was not just the women who worked behind the scenes during war. This lead to perspectives changing on equality in warfare, and the fact that both men and women should and have taken public credit for what they achieved. Yet, this usually comes well after the lifetime of the individuals involved are over. Although in my opinion, the work of spies is to remain unseen - maintaining secrets. Therefore, no war memorial or public accreditation is to be erected. However, more individual contributions have been recently recognized such as respected British spies Pippa Latour and British-American Virginia Hall aka ‘A Woman of No Importance’. Other notable women include Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter Mary Churchill, who served in the ATS. Plus, we all know that future Queen Elizabeth II was also a member of the ATS. She worked as a mechanic and driver, making her the first female head of state to actively participate in conflict. Women now From 1938-45, women employed in industrial jobs increased from 19% to 27% as a percentage of total British female population. British women in the Tri-service auxiliary roles during this time were estimated to be 640,000 by 1945, compared to over 5 million British men total in all combat and non-combat roles. A further 3 million coming from Allied nations (excluding the Soviet Union). Leaving the male total to be about 8.5 million. By these figures, just 2.13% of British women involved in the war effort overall were auxiliary personnel in the Army, Navy, and RAF combined. If split equally for the purposes of this article only, we get an estimate of 0.71% of females in each service total. This is vast if we think to today where 12% of the total British army itself is female, remembering that the 2.13% in WW II is women in all three services! Women were a small percentile, but were involved in the main backbone of the war effort. As discussed, nowadays 9% of serving females are in non-combat army roles, with the remaining 3% being combat and front line infantry. We have jumped from 0.71% to 9% in non-combat, and 0 to 3% in combat roles since the end of World War II. But what makes it more impressive is recently, the British Army has shrunk from 2.9 million soldiers in 1945, to about 82,000 infantry soldiers today. Totaling 112,000 in other roles - regular and reserve and excluding officers (a further 150,000 total if we include the Navy and RAF). A lot of numbers, but in terms of female representation; we have excelled in the ratio. The army has depleted, but female numbers have increased. If we choose to look deeper into the breakdown of gender in each regiment in the present day, the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps has 520 women serving compared to 300 men, and the Royal Army Dental Corps of 130 women to 90 men. They are the only two regiments which have a majority of females. Statistics are taken from a 2016 survey completed on diversity and gender in the army. These figures may have changed since the survey, but provide a good insight into gender breakdowns in the army. Since both regiments are auxiliary, women are still attracted and accepted into these roles, just as they were in WW II. However, there is huge variation in figures I have found whilst researching British women involved in WW II, but the fact remains the same; millions of women worldwide were killed and injured no matter how you count. Conclusions Women were vital to the war effort in both World Wars, but some argue it was simply expected to serve selflessly and perform duties during a time of conflict. The Newark Experiment by General Pile proved that women were capable of operating the heavy anti-aircraft machinery, had the physicality, and emotional intelligence to consistently do so. They contributed to the war effort and earned the ATS a place in military history, causing a perspective shift in the way we view a woman’s ability in battle. By having the ‘Women in World War II’ memorial forever display their uniform, we can preserve and celebrate those women publically. The memorial is great example of showcasing women’s achievements without exaggerating them for attention, which is what the developing ‘woke’ media can so often do. In my mind, the uniforms show an accurate portrayal of women’s roles at the time, and do precede similar duties undertaken today. The ‘Women of the Empire’ memorial window was specifically reworked and rededicated to all the women of WW I, showing an appreciation of servicewomen in a time when women did not have the right to vote until just after the war ended in 1918. The 9% of women today in non-combat, and 3% in front-line combat roles, show us the progress we have made in the army. Men are still the majority overall and are often thought of first when thinking of a war memorial, as more men did serve and die in battle. But, to have female auxiliaries commemorated during the world’s largest conflict to date, dictates how important women were and still are in war. Both in roles supporting men, or in their own right. There are a few other war memorials dedicated to women, but none generate the same prestige as the two I have discussed in this article. Women in WW I & II were thanked for their services in small and large capacities, and I hope we can continue to show our gratitude to more servicewomen and important individuals in the future. A Timeline of Women in the army 1899-1902: The Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Corps founded and expanded. 1907: FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) was formed. A crucial link between the front-lines and field hospitals, with ambulance drivers and Red Cross first aiders. 1915: A Women’s march in London was conducted in order to persuade the government to allow women in the workplace for the war effort. Undertaken before women had the right to vote. 1917: The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps is used in response to the manpower crisis and supports duties in France and Belgium. 1917-18: Over 100,000 women are employed in industries which support the war effort. The number is most likely higher. 1938: ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) formed (originally named the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps). 1941 July: The ATS is recognized as a military service and its members are no longer volunteers – they are now paid service personnel. 1941 December: National conscription for women aged 20-30 years of age begins. In 1943, the age limit is increased to be most women of working age (generally 18 - 50 years of age) including married women. 1945 February: Future Queen Elizabeth II joins the ATS as a driver and mechanic. 8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe Day). Over 190,000 women are part of the ATS. 1949: The ATS was disbanded, and the WRAC (Women’s Royal Army Corps) is formed as its successor. In 1952 they are aligned with the British army ranks and standards. 1975: The Sex Discrimination Act is introduced – which continues the upholding of women in auxiliary and supporting roles only, despite petitions to change the law allowing women to serve in combat roles. 1991-92: Private Ellie Walton becomes the first female soldier to patrol with an arms and explosive dog in Northern Ireland. 1992: WRAC is disbanded and members join other regiments such as the Adjutant General Corps. 1999: Another petition is unsuccessfully launched against the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975. 2002: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) conclude that women are not fit for active service in close combat roles and women can affect ‘unit cohesion’ between men. 2009: The MOD states there was no statistical evidence for their earlier claims but continue to exclude women from close combat roles. 2014: The Women in Close Combat review lifted the ban on women employed only in supporting roles, with it coming into force in 2015. In 2018: Women are allowed in all branches of the military, including Special Forces and the Infantry. 2020 - 2023: Private Addy Carter, Captain Rosie Wild, and Lieutenant Hannah Knapton become the first females to pass P Company (Parachute Regiment), regarded as one of the toughest selections within the British army. Bibliography Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia From Antiquity to the Present Vol. 2 [ONLINE] available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Women_and_War.html?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&redir_esc=y [Accessed 21 September 2023] 93rd Searchlight Regiment. 2022. [ONLINE] available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/93rd_Searchlight_Regiment [Accessed 10 October 2023] Brigstock. K., 2007. Royal Artillery Searchlights. Royal Artillery Society Winter Meeting. Minutes from. [ONLINE] available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090443/http://www.army.mod.uk/images/images-microsites/RA/RASearchlights-Text-Final.doc [Accessed 10 October 2023] Tammy. P., 2003. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/tammy-m-proctor-female-intelligence-women-and-espionage-in-the-first-world-war-new-york-new-york-university-press-2003-pp-205-3500-cloth/CAF221B1955E538224D836759D2150DE [Accessed 28 September 2023] Shaw. G., 2021. World’s oldest war memorial may have been identified in Syria . The Art Newspaper. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/05/28/worlds-oldest-war-memorial-may-have-been-identified-in-syria [Accessed 1 September 2023] Imperial War Museum. 2023. Women of the Empire – WW1 Window. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/30648 [Accessed 2 September 2023] Named Non-Royal Women. 2023. Public Statues and Sculpture Association . [ONLINE] available at: https://pssauk.org/women/categories/named-non-royal-women/page/3/ [Accessed 2 September 2023] Pruitt. S., 2023. Women in WWII Took on These Dangerous Military Jobs. History Channel. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.history.com/news/women-wwii-military-combat-front-lines [Accessed 1 September 2023] Atlas Obscura. 2019. Memorial to the Women of World War II. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/memorial-to-the-women-of-world-war-ii [Accessed 4 September 2023] National Army Museum. 2023. A timeline of women in the Army. [ONLINE] available at: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/timeline-women-army#:~:text=Women%20play%20a%20crucial%20role,even%20further%20back%20in%20time . [Accessed 2 September 2023] Nowaki. R., 2014. Nachthexen: Soviet Female Pilots in WW2. University of Hawaii. [ONLINE] available at: https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Nachthexen-SovietFemalePilotsinWWIIRochelleNowaki.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2023] Acknowledgments SUOTC for inspiration. Archaeology department University of Southampton.

‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents’ is the memorable opening line to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1). Beginning with Alcott’s 1868 novel and considering nineteenth century gender roles for women more broadly, I am picking up threads of the experience of ‘girlhood’ through the festive period. My particular focus is on Christmas traditions of piety and theatrical performance, exemplified by the March sisters’ representation as both moral daughters and artistic performers. The so-called confines of girlhood as experienced by a nineteenth century girl to the home is questioned by the theatre world created by the sisters, which I view as a positive construction of girlhood and shaping ideas of coming of age. I will also turn to how nineteenth century girlhood has been depicted in adaptations of Little Women by Gillian Armstrong (1994) and Greta Gerwig (2019), as they imagine the female-centric world of the girls and their relationship to the festive period. By examining young women’s relationship to the festive period in the nineteenth-century, one can see how modern-day adaptations recall the nostalgia and sisterly world of the novel, and equally how Little Women  represents a particular experience of being a young woman coming of age through the moral codes and types of performance they engaged in. What is girlhood? It is important to define the concept of girlhood as Alcott and her contemporaries would have understood it. Girlhood is part of our modern-day vernacular, widely documented on social media, a celebration of the female experience, the good, the bad and the ugly. First documented in literature in Samuel Ricardson’s Clarissa in 1748, and for a 19th century audience, the title itself, Little Women , offers one perspective of the role middle-class teenage girls held in society ( OED ). They are women in training, with a somewhat diminutive adjective ‘little’ to denote youth and inexperience. Frances Armstrong has described the period of the novel as significant to understanding the coming of age of the sisters: ‘"Little womanhood" is a stage on the journey to greatness… Their memories of girlhood can remind them of the advantages of the real littleness of childhood, which provided a safely contained space for the direct and physical acting out of desires’ (Armstrong 454). Armstrong posits coming of age for these girls as a an ultimately positive experience, these formative years leading them to ‘greatness’ in the adult world (454). She draws out a contrast between this nurturing and nostalgic view of childhood and the adverb ‘littleness’, denoting the social and physical limitations to the girls’ world living in Civil War America. They are restricted by their economic situation, the conflict at home and their gender, which limits their education, and yet they find joy in each other as sisters able to express their desires. Turning to Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women  in 2019, she connects girlhood with memory, delineating the female-centric world of the characters. Her first flashback sets up the theme of memory and girlhood as she brings the viewers to Christmastime 1861. The script reads: ‘the sisters, all together again in the past, in the snowglobe of girlhood and memory that is ever present but forever gone, are in a flurry of getting ready for a holiday party’ (Gerwig 11). The nostalgia that pervades the audience’s mind is encapsulated in Gerwig’s stage direction. Their home is ‘a snowglobe of girlhood and memory’, a festive metaphor for girlhood itself, a glistening, beautiful landscape of comfort and a flurry of movement. It is a contained space, and Gerwig poignantly adds that this memory is ‘ever present but forever gone’ (11). The girls are grown up, but the memory of Christmas is what transports us to the past, to the first scene with the sisters all together as a pure moment of joy and coming together that holidays bring. Figure One. Gerwig, Greta. Little Women. 2019. The use of flashbacks in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of the novel serves to enact this idea of both reminiscing on the safety and comfort of childhood as well as expressing frustrations about their economic and physical limits. Gerwig’s non-linear film shifts from childhood to adulthood, perhaps suggesting that the girls never truly leave this behind. Gerwig’s thematic style as a filmmaker is preoccupied with young women escaping their social world, as seen in Lady Bird  and Barbie , but this dream of flight also leads to an acknowledgment of the beauty of their childhood and relationships with women. Critics Dr. Niña Jen R. Canayong and Ms. Rey-ann C. Matalines underline that ‘the matriarchal circle of the family stays completely self-contained and entirely female’, which shapes our reading of the novel as it is an exclusive world (7). The harmonious world of the sisters is not without disputes and family pressure, particularly around their class and lack of mobility, but my focus within this self-containment of the March sisters is the element of fantasy which moves them outside of their social sphere. It may be unfair to say that Alcott confines her March sisters to a conservative narrative. Their options of free time would be limited, and the experience of childhood for women was much shorter than men’s as they reached marriageable age much sooner, as young as twenty for Amy. Girlhood as encapsulated by the title ‘Little Women’ is only small inasmuch as society judges women’s lives to be small, and Alcott (and later Gerwig) resists this in portraying a rich world of sisterly troubles and triumphs, socially and morally confined and yet artistically rewarding, as we will see next. Morality and the festive period for girls I am now turning my focus back to Alcott’s novel and how Christmas represented the pinnacle of expectations of charity and piety for young women in nineteenth century America and England. Beginning with the March sisters’ Christmas celebrations and then considering Christian celebrations through music and the work of Christina Rossetti (Alcott’s contemporary), there is a trend to be found in the moral and domestic role women occupied. The enigmatic, independent Jo March complains about their lack of money in the festive opening chapter of the 1868 novel. It soon transpires that the four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, are in no need of material gifts: they are the heart and soul of each other’s worlds in their warm yet simple home. The wintery scenes which open the novel and famous cinematic retellings of Little Women  are iconic in cultural imagination, especially the Christmas play that the sisters put on and their candlelit singing in an intimate moment of sisterhood. In the iconic opening to the novel, Alcott declares the lack of agency that these young women have in the same moment as marking Christmas as a pivotal moment in a Christian child’s calendar. Specifically for young girls then, Christmastime plays a key part in their social formation and, as we will see later, creative freedom.      Alcott provides a domestic social commentary where Christmas is a key season, accented by joy, childhood, and loss by writing the experience of Christmas for four girls somewhat confined to their home and small town in Massachusetts. Alcott has furnished readers with a lifetime of comfort in the fireside of the sisters’ attic and snowy escapades. The intersection between domesticity and religious teaching is significant in the novel, as Alcott represents the wider societal views of young women educated to be virtuous and moral. So how do 19th century girls spend their Christmas morning? First by reading Pilgrims’ Progress , the religious allegory by John Bunyan which was extremely popular in Protestant households (1678). The presence of this book speaks to the religious education that children undertook at this time, thus the domestic experience of Christmas is intrinsic to understanding girlhood for the March sisters in 19th century society. The Christian values taught by their mother are lucid throughout the novel, and her instruction on Christmas day is a potent metaphor for the piety expected of young women. Marmee instructs her daughters to ‘Look under your pillows on Christmas morning, and you will find your guidebook’, hinting to the spiritual book they will receive as a gift (13). The choice of a religious gift is telling of the teaching of daughters, and their goodness is received from their mother, emphasising the traditionally female role in a household. Importantly, in late 19th century America, celebrating Christmas was normalised, and Alcott was one of the first to depict a middle-class family Christmas in her novel (Murfin). When Marmee asks the girls about giving food to the Hummels, they obey immediately, their daughterly duty foregrounded as the sisters are completely devoted to their mother. Rachel Canayong and Rey-ann Matalines have noted that Beth symbolises the ‘ideal’ model of girlhood: ‘Out of the four sisters, Beth has been the best example in showing the normative behaviour of female sex at that time’ (60). Adding to Canayong and Mataline’s judgement of Beth, her portrayal is the most aligned with stereotypical expectations of femininity as she is devoted, quiet and self-sacrificing. As the pinnacle of the ‘dutiful daughter’, she is the first to agree to give food to their poorer neighbours, and the sisters do this heartily. Indeed, the capturing of this scene in the 1994 film adaptation is beautiful and light, rather than this moment serving as a doctrine, it becomes jubilant as they all break into an acapella rendition of ‘Here we come a-wassailing’. Director Gillian Armstrong’s interpretation focuses on the joy of the festive season and the message of goodwill that the sisters represent. Figure Two. Armstrong, Gillian. Little Women. 1994 ‘Wassailing means going door-to-door singing in exchange for food and drink and it is thought the tradition pre-dates Christianity and formed a mid-winter tradition’ (BBC Music). This song was popular in the mid-19th century and the lyrics reflect the good deed they are doing in offering their Christmas breakfast. This picture encapsulates girlhood and sorority, four sisters walking in the snow with food and a whistling hot kettle, singing joy and welcoming in a snowy day. The author however does not shy away from presenting the desires and vanity of the sisters in their childhood arguments and mishaps. One such example can be seen in Amy’s reluctance to give up her breakfast orange, offering a complication to the notion of being a kind and giving young woman. Figure Three. Ibid. The presence or absence of food reveals a lot about social status, and here oranges are a luxury, as they had only just begun to be widely traded in civil war America. The symbol of the orange and the world beyond the March home is significant, as Shana Klein wrote that ‘Depictions of fruit were not just an accessory to the dining room. They were an accessory to the American empire and a device to endorse America’s growing territorial and economic gains’ ( Southern Cultures ). Situating the female world of Little women within its Civil war context of a plantation economy and the slave trade offers a glimpse at the world outside of the female characters, which they seemingly engage with very little. Here, Amy’s childish desire to keep the orange represents more the process of becoming a ‘good’ girl as stipulated by charitable and pious characteristics expected of American women. Therefore, Alcott outlines the transformation of these young women as they display piety and thus align with nineteenth century Christian expectations. Mrs Hummel describes them as ‘good angels’ in their Christmas offering of goodwill and although they do not attend church, the girls are portrayed in this angelic light through their good actions (17). They are described as ‘good’ and this adjective represents the god fearing behaviour expected of young women. The expectation of sacrifice, goodness and virtue at all times is seen in Coventry Patmore’s Victorian model of the ‘Angel in the House’, a moral woman who populates the domestic sphere (Melani). In fact, a contemporary of Alcott, Christina Rossetti’s, was painted by her brother in a similar fashion to the ‘good’ little women of Alcott’s novel. Her Christmastime hymn, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ portrays ideal femininity through religious devotion. The speaker, despite their low status, offers their ‘heart’ as a gift, and this may also be found in the unconditional love taught by Marmee in Little Women and learnt by the sisters through their trials and tribulations. Marmee acts as a role model for the Christian, nurturing woman the sisters are expected to become, and this is intrinsic to their social formation as young women. Figure Four. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. ‘The Girlhood of Mary Virgin’. 1848-9 Christina Rossetti in fact modelled for her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting entitled ‘The Girlhood of Mary Virgin’ (1848-9), encapsulating the projection of girlhood in 19th century society. The religious lesson and meek pose of Mary, shown as a saint and accompanied by an angel, fits in with the reading of the novel as a wider commentary on expected gender roles that women struggle with as they grow up and express their desires. However, as we have seen, the sisters are more complicated than stereotypes of traditional moral femininity, and we will next see how the theme of performance both aligns the characters with expectations of young ladies and also resists such narrow societal roles as they experiment through theatre. Performance and spectacle: the pinnacle of girlhood? The theme of performance creates a space for girls to be whoever they desire, and travel far beyond their home. Girlhood in the society of Alcott is delineated by a heteronormative view of womanhood, and another mode of performance which shows the sisters’ inclusion and exclusion is through fashion and class. As a series of ‘repetitive acts’, Judith Butler’s seminal model of the repeated performance of gender asserts that the identity of ‘woman’ is never fixed, but that clothing is one mode of establishing a normative gender appearance (Butler 2543). In the instance of growing up and desiring to leave girlhood behind, Little Women ’s focus on performing being a ‘grown-up’ woman reflects the nineteenth century beliefs of what a woman should look like. Here, the focus on hair and costume to achieve what the young girls consider an ideal woman’s fashion is telling of their youth and act of being a ‘grown-up’ woman. They aspire to the lifestyle of a wealthier middle-class society woman. One comic example of this is when the older March sisters are getting ready for a Christmas ball. Alcott brings humour to the moment where Meg’s hair is burnt, as they are imitating how a grown-up woman would act. There is irony behind the so-called ‘all-important business of `getting ready for the party'’, which connects the performance of girlhood for the March sisters to contemporary readers who see the pressure to get ready for an event (Alcott 25) The desire to grow up and attend these parties is a desire that reveals the eve of womanhood, and perhaps this is a timeless wish. For example, Gerwig phrases Amy’s complaint to her sisters comically as she asks ‘Why can’t we all go to the party?! It’s not fair!’, suggesting her position as a girl wanting to be older and able to join her sisters (alas the youngest sister’s curse!) (Gerwig 11). She is excluded due to her age, class, and gender, but the tension here relates back to Butler’s useful model of performativity around gender roles. Amy’s wish is to conform and grow up, as she sees in her sisters’ participation in the grown-up world of dresses and ballgowns the model of womanhood. Alcott subverts the normative performance of girlhood however through Jo’s characterisation. She subverts codes of ‘proper’ behaviour for girls, exemplified at the party, where she observes the dancing as an outsider. She intentionally looks on from the curtain, symbolising her desire to not fit in and to not become another society woman. She meets Laurie, and in their first dance, another joyous experience of youth is captured by Gerwig’s script: ‘Laurie bows, Jo awkwardly curtsies and then they go dancing wildly up and down a wrap-around porch’ (16). They dance ‘wildly’, another image of youth and unbridled emotion which is much more natural that Jo’s ‘awkward’ curtsey (Gerwig 16). Alcott describes their dance as equally spontaneous and liberating, where Jo is ‘full of swing and spring’ (Alcott 31). This moment is crucial in establishing Jo’s journey to womanhood is non-traditional, as she rebels against the social circle represented by the ball. A harsh truth is made lucid by Canayong and Matalines, as they state that: ‘Following the norm receives acceptance and being deviant becomes a social outcast’, suggesting that Jo becomes a pariah in this resistance to the norm(59). Alcott’s representation of both traditional gender roles, particularly in the moral behaviour we have already seen, and the unconventional Jo, posits a new interpretation of nineteenth century girlhood that is more imaginative than Canayong and Matalines suggest. As the sisters both participate in the world of dressing as young women and following society events, but also keep a critical distance, the novel offers a reading of an alternative girlhood.  Furthermore, re-examining the space of the home repositions it as a place of escapism from the stereotypes of girlhood that I have outlined. The primary way in which the sisters occupy themselves at Christmas is through their acting . The theatre, or attic, is a space reserved for play and imagination, a world which the sisters define and control. As children, the Christmas show that they create is evidently a way to overcome class and gender limitations which prevent them from going out into society to see shows and spend money. We admire their ‘clever’ design of ‘antique lamps made of old-fashioned butter boats covered with silver paper, gorgeous robes of old cotton, glittering with tin spangles from a pickle factory’, (17). Figure Six. Ibid. Evoking the glittery and colourful set design, Alcott underlines the second-hand nature of their set, costumes and props, but adopts a tone of admiration which reinforces how creativity is an incredible gift that marks sisterhood. Through their resourcefulness and imagination, they can make tin into glitter, and such a magical description places Christmas as a font of nostalgic memory for sisters. This spectacle and theatrical space for the sisters offers a wider view of girlhood as a creative time. Indeed, this is shared with other local girls, as Alcott describes their home becoming a theatre: ‘On Christmas night, a dozen girls piled onto the bed which was the dress circle, and sat before the blue and yellow chintz curtains in a most flattering state of expectancy’ (18). Readers are invited to share in the revelry and the homemade nature of their show. Theatre offers a creative outlet which is fulfilling and much more diverse than the stereotype of dutiful obedience in young girls. The message of the novel and its reflection on the role of young women in society may be to upkeep virtue and goodness, but, as I have shown, the portrayal of girlhood as purely pious is too narrow to describe the rich and colourful lives of the March sisters. The novel engages with societal trends where Christmas is a female centric celebration, following the Christian nineteenth century traditions of goodwill and morality. Equally, Little Women offers an alternative model of girlhood through the creative freedom to perform and experiment with the grown-up world of women as well as in their attic theatre. As the film adaptations have shown, the festive joy is a key facet of childhood memories and encapsulates their love and formative period coming of age as young girls. Alcott reflects on gender roles propagated by society and the performance of the girls, through the shared experiences of the sisters, effectively represents the 19th century experience of girlhood as a multidimensional and creative time in their lives. Coupled with the adaptations, the anxieties and joys of girlhood in Little Women  maintains the timeless experience of sisters which resonates with a modern-day audience, even if readers today are often much less restricted by their gender. Bibliography Primary Sources Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women . Vintage, 2012. Armstrong, Gillian. Little Women . Columbia Pictures, 1994. Gerwig, Greta. Little Women, in ‘Read Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ Screenplay’. Variety Magazine , 2019. https://variety.com/2019/film/news/little-women-screenplay-greta-gerwig-full-script-1203447712/ . Gerwig, Greta. Little Women . Sony Pictures, 2019. Rossetti, Christina. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, Poetry Foundation , https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53216/in-the-bleak-midwinter   Secondary Sources Armstrong, Frances. ‘‘Here Little, and Hereafter Bliss’: Little Women and the Deferral of Greatness’, American Literature , Vol. 64, No. 3, Duke UP, pp. 453-474, Sep. 1992. JSTOR , https://www.jstor.org/stable/2927747 BBC Music Magazine. ‘Here we come A wassailing lyrics’, Classical Music , 30th Oct. 2022. https://www.classical-music.com/articles/here-we-come-a-wassailing-lyrics Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity . London: Routledge, 2006. Canayong, Niña Jen R. and Matalines, Rey-ann C. ‘Gender Behaviour and Class Envy in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women ’, Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Perspective , Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 55-63, May 2022. Lyceum of the Philippines University , https://research.lpubatangas.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/7-APJEP-42-Canayong.pdf . Estes, A., & Lant, K. ‘Dismembering the Text: The Horror of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women ’ Children's Literature ,   John Hopkins UP, vol. 17, no.1, pp.98-123, 1989. Klein, Shana. The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food, and the Politics of Race in the Age of American Expansion. California UP, 2020. Melani, Lilia.   ‘The Angel in the House’, The Nineteenth Century English Novel , March 2nd 2011. Brooklyn College , http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/thackeray/angel.html Murfin, Patrick. ‘Those Little Women Showed an Early Glimpse of the American Christmas’, Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout , 18th Dec. 2015. https://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2015/12/those-little-women-showed-early-glimpse.html

The china cabinet in the dining room at St. Nicholas’ Abbey in Speighstown, Barbados. Author Photo This Colonial Era china cabinet from Barbados, along with the portrait hanging above it, encapsulates a Caribbean history steeped in plantation culture. The only similarity between the Caribbean of today and that of centuries past is the year-round heat. A spirit of resentment plagued white, landed settlers and their descendants. Many dreaded the idea of living in the Caribbean, and for those who did, it often became a nightmare. The inhabitants relied heavily on the Americas and Europe for everything—from furniture to food to patriarchal traditions. White landed settlers clung to Old World heteropatriarchal customs as if they were lifelines to Europe, which imposed barriers on white landed women seeking authority on English and French Caribbean plantations. The Role of Women in Plantation Authority White landed Caribbean women occasionally occupied positions of authority as landlords or landladies. Yet, male servants and governors often undermined their authority, creating obstacles for women in these roles. An exchange of letters between Governor Roger Wood of Bermuda and the Countess of Dorset, a landed woman in Bermuda, illustrates this dynamic. In their correspondence from the 1630s, the Governor threatened to deprive the Countess of her indentured servants if she failed to produce enough tobacco. The Countess' indentured servants undermined her authority, leading the Governor to assert, "They should be [paying] the rent they were rated at and afterwards upon halves [as before]…they return no profits [to] your honour nor benefit themselves." If uninterrupted, landed women could control their tenants and earn revenue, allowing them to assert their authority. However, uninterrupted female authority on plantations was a rarity across the English and French Caribbean. Landed men and women operated under the mentality, as penned by Elizabeth Robbins, that women were "Confined at the home, are so Blown Up and Corrupted, with the flattery of Servants and Tenants." Robbins' The Whole Duty of a Woman provides insight into white Caribbean landed men’s perceptions of their female counterparts. Written for other women, Robbins literally outlines the ideal woman's life cycle through her work, which circulated on both sides of the Atlantic. Consequently, landed white Caribbean men often relegated their female counterparts to mere ornaments. Nonetheless, white landed Caribbean women persisted, finding authority through inheritance, commodification, and participation in the plantation economy. Understanding Primogeniture Before I continue, I must explain primogeniture. This legal principle, granting the right of the eldest son to inherit everything, was weaponized against landed women to prevent them from occupying positions of authority. Colonial Caribbean courts sought to uphold primogeniture, clinging to this European heteropatriarchal custom. In response, landed women pursued legal action through requisition trials, attempting to challenge primogeniture in court. These trials often dragged on for years and frequently ruled against women's interests. However, if there was a will, there was a way. To circumvent lengthy courtroom battles, landed men cleverly drafted their wills to allow their wives and daughters to inherit land, slaves, and the corresponding authority. Such strategically written wills often contained clauses that reassured men that a woman’s authority would only be temporary. For example, a will from Bermuda's infancy stated, "it shall be lawful for the said Neptunia Downham to dispose of or give away three shares of land." Listing a female beneficiary as a creditor was a loophole; men expected generosity from "creditor…Widow HILTON for two shares of land [for] 100 lb Tobacco" instead of outright authority. Allowing women to inherit land bypassed primogeniture and, in doing so, recognised their capacity to occupy and assert positions of authority on plantations. Following or challenging wills in court acknowledged, albeit reluctantly, a woman’s mobility within the systems of plantation patriarchy. What remains of the Governor’s House in St.George’s Parish Bermuda. Author Photo. The Intersection of Patriarchy and Plantation Life White landed Caribbean women faced not only the challenges posed by primogeniture but also the pervasive patriarchy inherent in plantation life. A father was not merely the head of the household; he was also the head of the plantation. Randy M. Browne’s works, Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean (2017) and The Driver’s Story (2024), along with Paul Cheney’s Cul De Sac (2017), attest to how patriarchy permeated Caribbean plantation systems. Both resident and absent plantation owners relied on male subordinates to sustain their plantations. The European Caribbean colonies were vulnerable to both external and internal threats. It is essential to remember that even landed individuals could not escape the Caribbean’s overall dependency on Europe and the Americas. Furthermore, demographic imbalances haunted the English and French Caribbean. Enslaved people vastly outnumbered non-enslaved individuals, and men outnumbered women among the landed class. Clinging to European heteronormative patriarchy was not conducive to a plantation economy. Yet, landed plantation women played this game, often rigging it in their favour. The remainder of this article will explore a landed white Caribbean woman’s pathway to authority on plantations, from before her marriage to the crafting of her own will. Marriage as a Pathway to Authority Marriage offered a significant pathway for white landed Caribbean women to assert their authority on plantations. The importance of marriage was imported from Europe to Caribbean colonies, where it was believed that "the Marriage state…For here as you marry the person." Entire families invested in their children’s marriages. However, a demographic imbalance between men and women made arranging marriages exceedingly difficult for these white landed families. Women capitalised on their scarcity, leveraging it to negotiate unrealistic provisions in marriage contracts. Given the pervasive debt among landed Caribbean families, requiring both spouses to be debt-free was often unrealistic. Including a lack of debt in the marriage contract further narrowed the already shallow pool of potential husbands. If this selection pool was not already limited enough, absolving (or being willing to absolve) landed wives of their husbands' past or future debts evaporated this already dry marriage pool. Women created positions of authority from their scarcity. Property, particularly slaves, became a point of negotiation. Future fathers-in-law would be contractually obligated to transfer slaves to their future daughters-in-law. This transfer of property simultaneously conferred the corresponding position of authority as a property owner. White landed men ceded their patriarchal authority to their female counterparts, for "it is necessary for men to multiply; it is no less than a man’s responsibility to marry." Joint-Mastery Partnerships Joint-mastery partnerships represented another avenue for white landed Caribbean women to assert authority on plantations. These partnerships were essentially business relationships between a plantation owner husband and his wife. The reasons behind the establishment of joint-mastery partnerships remain complex. However, being in such a partnership enabled landed Caribbean women to participate in the plantation economy with corresponding authority. Theoretically, these partnerships were centred on equality, as husbands and wives conducted plantation business together. In practice, the extent to which wives were genuinely equal in joint-mastery partnerships requires further investigation. Existing evidence suggests that Caribbean courts provided wives in joint-mastery partnerships a platform to assert their authority in the presence of landed men, often before a male judge. Acknowledging a joint-mastery wife’s authority in court was a significant step. Instead of creating courtroom drama, the legal system took the landed female authority of joint-mastery wives seriously. The Heights of Authority: Planters Joint-mastery partnerships were not the pinnacle of authority that a landed white Caribbean woman could achieve on a plantation. Beyond these partnerships, women could hold immense authority as planters, a position typically reserved for men. As planters, they owned entire plantations and tracts of land. Landed white Caribbean women purchased property, such as "belonging to the said Mrs. Agnes Heydon, at 12s for the share of the first payment, and at 13s 14d being for 10 shares" (Using the Bank of England’s Inflation Calculator, 12s is approximately £1,208.20 and 13s 14d is approximately £1,409.57). Having property in a landed woman’s name was a significant achievement. These women could utilise their property as they saw fit, with the option to live on-site near their slaves. However, many opted for absentee landownership, meaning they did not reside on or near their property. Absentee landowners were not exempt from the responsibilities of land ownership. They had to manage the high turnover of overseers, who were invariably male; there are no records of female overseers in the English and French Caribbean. These overseers directly managed a landed person’s land. With high overseer turnover, landed white women perpetuated a cycle of subordinating plebeian white men to work on land owned by a woman, for a woman. When an overseer was not quitting, they were managing property belonging to a landed female landowner. If a woman owned multiple parcels of land, she required more than one overseer to manage her holdings. Regardless of the number of overseers, the ownership of land in a woman’s name subtly asserted authority in a predominantly male-dominated system of plantation patriarchy. Wills and Testaments: A Strategic Tool Finally, following the example set by their male counterparts, landed Caribbean women utilised wills and testaments to their advantage. Crafting a will during a landed Caribbean woman’s lifetime enshrined her authority, allowing her to distribute property posthumously. Slaves and land were commonly bequeathed by white landed Caribbean women to surviving relatives, both male and female. One such will exemplified the routine provisions of bequeathing slaves to children and grandchildren: "[has] given to my grandchild, Paul Vaughan, my … boy Robin to hold for him and his heirs so long as the … liveth." However, wills and testaments could only go so far in preserving landed female authority, especially in the Caribbean, where such authority was often contested. White landed Caribbean men could challenge a woman’s will, as illustrated by "widow Durham, Henry Durham, who made a request to have the school lands they now held at halves to be let unto them at an annual rent." Ultimately, the ruling on such challenges would largely depend on the discretion of a male judge. Nonetheless, contesting a will acknowledged the authority vested in a white landed Caribbean woman’s testament. This photo is a striking example of what Caribbean plantations look like today, a haunting shell of what they used to be, outside Basseterre, Saint Kitts, Saint Kitts and Nevis. Author Photo. Conclusion: The Legacy of Authority In conclusion, white landed Caribbean women occupied and asserted positions of authority on plantations. Despite the wealth of primary source evidence supporting the existence of landed female authority in the Caribbean between 1615 and 1776, the historiography remains deficient. Women often appear only tangentially in histories of the Caribbean. Virginia Bernhard’s 1999 book Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda 1616-1782 made significant strides in this area over the past 30 years. However, Michael Jarvis’ 2022 book Isle of Devils, Isle of Saints is among many that continue to sideline women. This article has focused solely on landed white women, as there is no evidence of landed black or indigenous women in the English and French Caribbean during this period. The predominance of absentee plantation ownership—where the owner does not reside on the plantation—fostered the misconception that no landed families existed in the Caribbean, as they lived in the comfort of Britain or France. The final image exemplifies an absentee plantation. Returning to the first and second images, it is clear that white landed families did inhabit the Caribbean. Obstacles to white landed female authority in the Caribbean between 1630 and 1776 were created by a suffocating spirit of resentment. Some Old World traditions, such as marriage and estate planning, charted paths for these women to assert their authority within the systems of plantation patriarchy. And if the Old World path was closed, a white woman’s scarcity was leveraged, enabling her to be more than just an ornament in a plantation home. Endnotes A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 71. Elizabeth Robbins, The Whole Duty of a Woman (London: J. Guiffem, 1701), 91. A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 2. A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 263. Elizabeth Robbins, The Whole Duty of a Woman (London: J. Guiffem, 1701), 65. Jacques Chaussé, Traité de L’Excelence du Mariage (Paris: Chez Martin Jovenel, 1690), 131. A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 2. A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 278. A.C. Hollis-Hatchett, Bermuda Under the Somer Isles Company vol. 3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005), 312. Bibliography Archival Sources from the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture Sc MG 383 Printed Primary Sources Chaussé, Jacques. Traité de l’excelence du Marriage (Paris 1690). Foster, Nicholas. A Briefe Relation of the Late Horrid Rebellion Acted in the Island Barbados (London 1650). Hollis-Hatchett, A.C., editor. Bermuda Under the Somer Islands Company, vols. 1-3 (Pembroke: Juniper Hill & National Maritime Museum Press, 2005). Ligon, Richard. A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados (London 1657). Robbins, Elizabeth. The Whole Duty of a Woman (London 1701). Secondary Sources Bernhard, Virginia. Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda 1616-1782 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999). Brown, Randy M. Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Brown, Randy M. The Driver’s Story: Labor and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Cheney, Paul. Cul De Sac: Patrimony, Capitalism, and Slavery in French Saint-Domingue (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017). Jones-Rogers, Stephanie. They Were Her Property, White Women as Slave Owners in the American South (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019). Higman, B.W. Montpelier Jamaica a Plantation Community in Slavery and Freedom 1739-1912 (Kingston: The Press University of the West Indies, 1998). O’Day, Rosemary. Agency in Early Modern Britain and the American Colonies (New York: Routledge, 2007). Ragatz, Lowell Joseph. The Old Plantation System in the British Caribbean (London: The Bryan Edwards Press, 1925).

Trigger Warning: Images of Human Remains & Mentions of Rape/Necrophilia Glossary Deviant - Deviating from normal social, etc., standards or behaviour. Hundred - a subdivision of a county or shire, having its own court; also formerly applied to the court itself Perimortem - At the time of death Wergeld - the price set upon a man according to his rank. This would be paid as compensation in the event of death, harm, or a broken oath.  Isotopic Analysis  - analysis of isotopes that are taken from archaeological remains to provide details on how old the remains are, where the individual lived at birth and later in life, and further information A depiction of a young Anglo-Saxon woman and the troubles they faced with men (The End of the Song by Edmond Leighton, 1902) “The dead are not all remembered equally.” - Howard Williams, 2011 It is the 1960s in Oakridge, Basingstoke. The solitary cranium of a young female is uncovered  by a construction crew at a roadside. Oakridge is an exceedingly rare site in that the remains are singular and exhibit a show of brutal punishment and mutilation at the time of death. This is considered to be “the first case of formal facial mutilation” as the evidence is frequently limited due to the deterioration or loss of the soft tissues and a lack of marks left on the skeletal structure. The discovery of this site provides the opportunity for further understanding of local law, mob mentality, as well as legal action that is usually lost on the archaeological record, especially in reference to the Anglo-Saxon period which is dated from 410 AD to 1066 AD. It is theorised by archaeologists that this mutilation was not intended to kill her, but done as an extreme form of humiliation and debasement. This belief is based on analysis undertaken on the perimortem cut marks, which are multiple and precise. This mutilation does not align with a single law, rather is an accumulation of several, which leads archaeologists to believe that this is the work of local people rather than a formal judicial action, and was done as a way to mark her for an offence - a form of scarlet letter. It is remarked upon that the aim was to ensure that these criminals, and in this instance this young girl, ‘lost face’.  Her isotopic results and tooth analysis have revealed that she was between 15 and 18 years old and was not local to the area. Her remains have been radiocarbon dated to between 920 - 946 AD. There is extreme perimortem trauma to her nose and mouth, with no remodelling, further proving that this was inflicted at the time of death. Only the skull was recovered, and it is possible that decapitation was included as part of her humiliation and punishment but this cannot be confirmed. This site is a rare occurrence that aids in the understanding of local law, mob mentality, as well as revealing legal action that is usually lost on the archaeological record due to the loss of organic materials. The cranium itself was found 80 metres south of a parish hundred boundary, as well as near an Iron Age site, which would have been used as a reference point within the landscape. The repeated use of a site over successive stages of occupation and having these earlier connections allows this case to stand out further as it implies some form of ritualism or reverence of space, time, and the ancestors. Selection of images to show the angled and linear cuts to the Oakridge remains (Cole et al., 2020) Anglo Saxon Legal Codes Legal texts are among some of the oldest written documents that survive from many different civilisations across time. In reference to Anglo-Saxon communities specifically, Andrew Reynolds (University College London) comments that whilst legal texts are significant and provide a lens through which to see these communities, that it is also pertinent to be aware that the enforcement of these laws and the standard to which they are upheld will differ depending on where and when you are in the territory. It is also critical to consider that regional and local laws would likely also have been in use and may not feature on the national legal records. Moreover, many laws may have communicated through oral tradition rather than viewing these laws in their entirety in a written form. Law and order saw a change throughout the Anglo-Saxon period with laws being introduced on a national scale, and Christianity becoming a major factor within the formation of new laws and the upholding of new Christian ideals. This is reflected through burial evidence across the UK. These changes also coincide with the major change of the conversion to the Catholic Church in the 9th century. At this time, there was a sharp increase in the country’s lawmaking and the enforcement of laws, with gallows being placed at ports, entrypoints, and they are thought to have been placed within the majority of large towns. Several laws themselves lay out punishments, usually in reference to wergeld  (or ‘man’s price’). These laws commonly focus heavily on the male experience, and later also encompass religious and ecclesiastical laws which are held to the very highest standard. It is thought that women sometimes evaded the law due to the legal codes being heavily tailored towards male perpetrators. This is also seen within the archaeological record where the majority of the deviant remains found are those of young men.  Mutilation was a form of punishment undertaken by the judiciary, short of execution. Many Anglo-Saxon laws decree scalping and mutilation as the primary punishment as wergeld  appears to have been a tangible honour to the Saxon peoples and its right must be upheld. Moreover, King Cnut’s clause 53 (a law) shows a female adulterer losing her nose and ears as punishment, a code that aligns with the damage seen on the cranium at Oakridge. This could also be implemented for thievery, such as with the idea that thieves lost their hands, as well as through activities such as branding, that would not be evident in the osteological record due to the loss of the soft tissues. Despite these being seen as kinder punishments than execution, many likely would have lost their lives due to complications and infections from the mutilation site. Grave Reopenings Historically, the reopening of graves was primarily for the purpose of grave robbing. However, new research by Aspöck has shown that graves from the Anglo-Saxon period were opened relatively close to the date of internment and that it is likely that some of the bodies had not finished decomposing by the time their grave was opened. This brings forth new considerations into the treatment of the dead, as well as how the dead were treated and remembered.  In the case of these deviant cemetery sites it is likely that these graves were reopened as a secondary form of punishment where they are once again humiliated after death. The opening and viewing of decomposing remains reinforces fear and allows for the punishment of the deceased individual to be felt within the community for an extended period of time, maintaining fear and order within the population. There is some consideration that this may have been a ritual occurrence to revisit the deceased, however, the movement of bodies and in some cases, the removal of parts of the remains from the grave, present this as an abusive and degrading act. The reopening of graves may not always be obvious and it is unknown how many graves would have been opened during the Saxon period.  Some theories show that these graves, mostly of younger women, were reopened for nefarious means, specifically for the further debasement and rape of these women. This is theoretical and based on the positioning of the remains, as well as the times of reopening. The graves were cut to the size of the individual, however, after they were reopened the bodies were pushed far up to the head-end with legs akimbo. Rape and necrophilia are unsettling but very real considerations in this instance. Grave desecration was outlawed within the Anglo Saxon code, and these offences may have resulted in legal action themselves.  The reopening of deviant burials is a further aspect of deviance that requires further analysis. These instances of desecration are highly motivated, and by understanding these motivations archaeologists can produce a clearer understanding of the societal and cultural driving forces that allow deviancy to be so prevalent.  What does this tell us? Throughout the period, women were needlessly debased and defiled, even after death. These instances build an image of a society where women were clearly second class citizens who were not even important enough to factor into the legal codes. However, this is not always the case as there are many instances of Anglo-Saxon men championing their female counterparts, such as King Edward the Elder building and endowing an abbey for his daughter Elflaeda. Women of all echelons, with a few exemptions, were not afforded the same opportunities or respect as their male counterparts. Despite these occurrences, it is clear that Anglo-Saxon attitudes were not kind to women and heavily favoured men and even young boys who were considered to be adults around the age of 10! This is again reinforced by the likely mob action against this teenage girl, which resulted in her losing her nose, ears, and her scalp. Further Reading: Aspöck, E. (2011). Past ‘Disturbances’ of Graves as a Source: Taphonomy and Interpretation of Reopened Early Medieval Inhumation Graves at Brunn Am Gebirge (Austria) and Winnall II (England). Oxford Journal of Archaeology , 30(3), pp.299–324. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.2011.00370.x . Aspöck, E. (2015). Funerary and Post-Depositional Body Treatments at the Middle Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Winnall II: Norm, Variety – and Deviance? In: Death embodied: Archaeological Approaches to the Treatment of the Corpse . [online] Oxbow Books, pp.86–108. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1989441.7 [Accessed 19 Apr. 2023]. Cole, G., Ditchfield, P.W., Dulias, K., Edwards, C.J., Reynolds, A. and Waldron, T. (2020). Summary justice or the King’s will? The first case of formal facial mutilation from Anglo-Saxon England. Antiquity , [online] 94(377), pp.1263–1277. doi: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.176 . Hough, C. (2021). Early English Laws: Women and Law in the Anglo-Saxon Period . [online] Earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk. Available at: https://earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/reference/essays/women-and-law/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2023]. Lucy, S.J. (1996). Housewives, Warriors and slaves? Sex and Gender in Anglo-Saxon burials. In: Theoretical Archaeology Group, ed., Invisible People and processes; Writing Gender and Childhood into European Archaeology , Theoretical Archaeology Group. Leicester University Press, pp.150–168. Reynolds, A. (2011). Crime and Punishment. In: H. Hamerow, D. Hinton and S. Crawford, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology . Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.238–259. Reynolds, A. (2013). Judicial culture and social complexity: a general model from Anglo-Saxon England. World Archaeology , 45(5), pp.699–713. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2013.878524. Reynolds, N. (1988). The rape of the Anglo-Saxon women. Antiquity , 62(237), pp.715–718. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00075141. Williams, H. (2011). Mortuary Practices in Early Anglo-Saxon England. In: H. Hamerow, D. Hinton and S. Crawford, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology . Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.238–259.

The Historiography of Women The phrase ‘winners write history’ helpfully encapsulates how men have treated women throughout history. How is a ‘winner’ defined other than the one with control over both the pen and the sword? The idea that men have always been the main characters on the world’s stage has been upheld by one persistent system; patriarchy. This system has attempted to sideline women’s stories in all realms, be it medicine, war, poetry or art. One quotation that summarises this atavistic but sustained belief comes from Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys; ‘In an anti-male era, it’s important to remember that men built the planes, fought the wars, laid the railroad tracks, invented the cars, built the hospitals, invented the medicines and sailed the ships that made it all happen.’ If this is to be believed, Pankhurst herself would hang her head in shame.  With the fourth wave of feminism advancing through society there has been an increasing volume of historiography surrounding women’s histories and contributions to politics, culture and science. This series ‘Winners Write History: Or is it just Men?’ aims to explore this historiography and the evolving discussion on the true nature of women’s history and how it is represented. History itself arguably cannot be rewritten, but it can be better represented and better understood. In fourth wave feminism we are battling with the infinitesimal intricacies of sociopolitical equalities. It is important to remember, however, that all movements are started by and propelled by continuous questioning, even of the movement itself. How have women been treated in their lifetimes, in spite of or because of their achievements? How has this treatment impacted ongoing perceptions of these individuals and of women’s contributions to society in general? Ultimately, how have men used their control over historical narratives to shape our idea of gender in society? Alice Perrers Alice Perrers Perrers is a lesser-known royal mistress from the mediaeval period of British history, living alongside the court of Edward III in the 14 th  century. Perrers is a classic example of the vilification of women in history by men who sought the power she wielded. This process was aided by her sexuality, supposed promiscuity and the enforcement of gendered expectations. A more famous example of this is the life and memory of Anne Boleyn, the ‘great whore’ whose extraordinary rise to power angered courtiers and countries alike and whose memory has been sullied continuously by misinformation spread during her lifetime. As mistress to Edward III (r.1327-77) Perrers possessed an extraordinary amount of independence in an age where women were still considered property and had little to no legal protection or rights. Perrers’ life defied these constraints on mediaeval women even in the highest of circles. This did not sit well with her contemporaries. Alice differs in an important way to the story of Anne Boleyn; her rise defies the stereotype of sexualised women elevated by men around her and simultaneously defies the image purported by her contemporaries of an evil manipulative shrew that has lasted the centuries.  Historiography generally agrees that many of Alice’s contemporaries have given an inaccurate account of her character and events in her lifetime. However, the overall narrative of a manipulative woman still influences her image today. These sources, namely Thomas Walsingham and Jean Froissart, are pivotal to the depiction of mediaeval warfare, royalty and politics including the Hundred Years War, Edward III’s kingship and that of his counterpart Philip VI of France. Their understanding and depictions of women’s roles, however, is severely lacking in accuracy, let alone empathy. Alice has been depicted as a manipulative gold digger, using an ageing Edward III for her own financial gain, offending his pious queen, Phillipa of Hainault as well as the Christian sensibilities of the court. Phillipa’s queenship has also been used against Alice as evidence of her inferiority and immorality. The mere connotations of ‘mistress’ already have inbuilt ammunition against women like Alice who worked for their livelihoods. Alice became one of the wealthiest people during her lifetime through various means that have been erased by antagonistic contemporaries and biased historiographical works. This wealth was all but lost by her death as Edward III died before her, leaving her undefended against the Good Parliament. With modern understanding of the reality women faced in these years, Alice’s life deserves a sympathetic reassessment to better understand the complexities of mediaeval life. A Woman Born and a Woman Made   Perrers' Lover, Edward III Mediaeval historiography is subject to a paucity of sources remaining today to tell us about life in this period. This has made the invisibility of women in society ever more present. Little is known about Alice’s origins, even the time and place of her birth is contested with most estimating around 1348 in the south of England, possibly London. Her parentage is also unknown, but it is generally agreed (Given-Wilson, Ormrod, Tompkins) that her father was a jeweller of the Salisbury family making her suitable for a traditional education of French, basic literacy and numeracy as well as the economic abilities necessary in her family’s industry. Alice was also born in a time of economic prosperity for the mercantile class of London, so prosperous in fact that the first sumptuary laws were implemented dictating what the lower ranks of society could eat and wear so as to not compete with nobility. Alice therefore received a comparatively privileged upbringing and benefited greatly from her family’s business, making her relatively well suited for court life.  English chronicler Thomas Walsingham wrote that Alice was born to a thatcher. Whilst a jeweller was not a noble profession, it did rank higher than a thatcher and this debasement of Alice’ birth has evident intentions. We don’t have to dig deep to decipher Walsingham’s bias as he calls Alice a ‘shameless, impudent harlot’ and rallies against her role at the king’s side. Criticism of royal favourites, be they mistresses, advisors or soldiers, is an age-old tactic of indirectly criticising a king himself without facing the consequences of doing so (see the fate of Henry VIII’s courtiers). Edward III has been described as the ‘perfect king’ (Mortimer) however he has also been subject to heavy criticism for his later kingship. In the years before his death Edward is criticised for his personal conduct and his military record, the time when Walsingham was writing his chronicles again furthering his bias against Edwardian rule. Walsingham was also a monk of St Albans Abbey, which became a rival of Alice Perrers in her rise to prosperity, furthering his bias against the royal favourite. Although a prominent English chronicler, Walsingham’s account of Alice’s life has largely been dismissed as unreliable. Contextual clues can also be used against this chronicler’s description of Alice, as a low-born, ill-educated woman would not be elevated to the position of lady-in-waiting to a queen. It can be concluded that Walsingham exploited societal expectations of mediaeval English women, being the categorisation of obedient, quiet and subservient Christians vs disruptive, promiscuous and disobedient ‘harlots’ against Alice in her rise to prominence.  Perrers is the name by which Alice is generally known as her maiden name cannot be certified; she is also sometimes referred to as Alice de Windsor following her second marriage, however both unions left little evidence of their occurrences. Alice’s first husband was ostensibly of French descent so it is fair to say that her understanding of the language would have made her suitable for life at court, where French was the primary language until the Statute of Pleading issued by her lover Edward III in 1362. As with most royal mistresses, Alice’s husband was known to the king through his work, in this case as a jeweller offering Alice the opportunity to meet the king herself.  It was common in these times for women of the peasant and mercantile classes to marry a man of the same profession as their father. Alice had begun to exercise her knowledge of her family’s trade, carrying out business herself following her first husband’s death in 1364.  Alice’s official entrance into court was as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Phillipa, to whom Edward was reportedly devoted to throughout their 41-year marriage. This role opened the door for Alice’s most rewarding career move. As a royal favourite, Alice received many gifts and, through a diversity of means, became one of the richest people in the realm. This wealth was only protected, however, by the presence of the king and after his death Alice was exiled by the Good Parliament and her lands stripped. Although this has been referred to as her fall from grace (Moorhouse), Alice went down fighting. A Career Woman   Reese Witherspoon, Glamour Women of the Year Awards, 2015 The primary issue contemporaries and historians have taken with Alice is the vast wealth she amassed in her lifetime, ostensibly at the expense of Edward’s purse and pride. Some of the most infamous royal mistresses throughout history have amassed great wealth through their influence like Madame de Pompadour, Barbara Palmer, and Diane de Poitiers. In many ways Alice’s treatment in history has not been so different from her counterparts as the work of women not of the blood at royal courts is often degraded or dismissed. This is habitually achieved through the hyperfocus on the sexual life of a mistress and, although this is often a key part of such a career, it is not the backbone of its success. Palmer maintained her influence in the Caroline court through patronage, Poitiers allied herself with Henry II’s closest courtiers and Alice secured her wealth with the knowledge and skill learned through her time spent in her family’s industry. The lens through which Alice’s wealth has been assessed has been a misogynistically motivated and cynical one. Edward’s wife Philipa was ailing by the beginning of his relationship with Alice and died before they became public. Edward himself was ageing and Alice has been accused of manipulating the weakened, mourning king to her own financial gain at his expense. I argue, however, those without official power, in the feudal world, cannot manipulate those with ultimate power - the king. Undoubtedly, Alice took advantage of the situation, utilised her skills and exploited the system to her benefit but this does not warrant the image of a ‘manipulative shrew’ to which she has been subject throughout the centuries. It could even be argued that her actions in her time when an unmarried woman could not own property, stand in court, or, (God forbid) vote, is admirable. However the connotations of the profession ‘mistress’ perforates today’s understanding of women’s lives in royal and noble history. Oversexualisation of women both vilifies and victimises these women as it reduces their achievements to a sexual conquest, disenfranchising their independence or contributions to the world of politics, art, literature or economics. Alice, in addition to a romantic and sexual partner of the king, was also a skilled businesswoman and property investor using her skills and good fortune to increase her net worth and secure her independence and protection when society offered her none.  The evidence that Alice formed alliances at court to protect her economic interests following the uncertainty of her early widowhood has been used to represent alternating portrayals of her life and personality. As always in historical analysis, context is key. Alice undeniably used her sex to her advantage, utilising her close relationship with the king to line her coffers. Yet she had already amassed a considerable fortune relative to her birth and made her family proud with her position in the queen’s court as a lady-in-waiting. Men born into similarly modest backgrounds throughout history have faced starkly different treatment from society and historians alike. To quote Reese Witherspoon, ‘ambition is not a dirty word’, but when it comes to women in the royal court, their successes have not been treated kindly. Instead, they are often debased and slandered in an attack on women outside of biblically archaic expectations of a meek and modest woman; ‘That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands’ -  Titus 2:4-5 Drawing from Fiona Tolhurst's insights, royally associated women have faced unjust criticism and condemnation for exhibiting traditionally masculine traits like ambition, financial autonomy, and intellectual prowess—qualities that are often commended in men. Where Edward VI’s 1 st  Duke of Northumberland had a ‘determined ambition’ as he worked to control the young king and implement the soon-to-be Nine Day Queen, Jane Grey. Meanwhile, Tolhurst helpfully encapsulates the plight of women’s characterisations in history through the lens of Empress Matilda, who for modern historians is ‘both too feminine in her weaknesses and too masculine in her aggressive exercise of power.’ Witherspoon’s speech at the Glamour Women of the Year awards is obviously from a wildly different context than the life of Alice Perrers, yet serves to illustrate the way in which she has been remembered. Her ambition was her cause for success but also her adverse memorialisation. Hollman’s biography of Phillipa and Alice illustrates the sympathetic approach to women’s history we should be taking today with our understanding of the realities these women faced without an icon like Witherspoon to inspire them. Without looking at Alice through rose-tinted glasses, we can remove the ‘caricature’ recognised by Hollman and assess the mediaeval figure through a less biassed criteria.  It can be argued that mistresses throughout history have partaken in one of the most controversial jobs in society. They exchanged sexual relationships for wealth and protection and used the position this work gave them to further their interests and those of their friends, families and allies. The narrative of a rapacious, manipulative, vindictive woman is based on the shame associated with sex work. Even the word ‘mistress’ pertains certain connotations around femininity and promiscuity despite the many successful careers shared by women in countries across the world (Hürrem Sultan, Madame de Montespan). Looking at the context of her time, Alice had very limited pathways to bettering herself. Alice’s supposed promiscuity has made it all too easy to dismiss her meteoric rise as a misuse of her feminine virtues and thus she has been treated harshly throughout history. Alice was involved in the business of her family, her husband and later for herself when she became a widow in 1364. The beginnings of Alice’s extensive property portfolio began in Kent with a deal exchanged between herself and John de Mereworth, a knight at Edward’s court. A major part of economic and social success in these courts was to be seen to be successful and owning property such as this would have significantly aided Alice onto her path of wealth and fortune. Behind the scenes, this land deal was even more impressive and is highly indicative of Alice’s hidden potential as a financial investor and property manager. This deal was the beginning of Alice’s independent income and has no relevance to her relationship with Edward; the introduction was made through her role at Phillipa’s court attained through her own means. This business attitude was sustained throughout her time at Edward’s side as she only became richer and richer until his death. Bothwell has described the role of ‘mistress’ as a passive one whose ‘ position, her wealth, and even her fate were dependent upon the will of the king’. If this is to be proven true, should Alice not be heralded as the ultimate ‘girlboss’ who navigated these constraints and surpassed all expectations? Woman to Woman  Phillipa of Hainault  The feudal system of Edward’s reign thrust high expectations of mediaeval kingship upon him. Chivalric values embodied by the Order of the Garter formed by Edward in 1348 demanded military prowess, achieved at the Battle of Crecy, and domestic domination, achieved through the obtainment of an obedient wife. In Edward’s case this was the pious and loyal Phillipa of Hainault, who herself deserves a historical re-analysis. Jean Froissart, a French chronicler of the Hundred Years War described Phillipa as the ‘most gentle Queen, most liberal, and most courteous that ever was Queen in her days’ and this has been the general consensus of Phillipa’s queenship since her death (Hollman). Our old friend Thomas Walsingham similarly described Phillipa as ‘the most noble woman’ from which we can infer an additional motivation behind his slander of Alice’s name.  If one meets the societal expectations of womanhood and femininity, one must fall short to perpetuate general masculine superiority. Phillipa’s maternal, beautiful, charitable queenship heightens the standard by which Alice is contrasted, painting an image of a white sheathed maiden angel on one shoulder and a red cloaked horned devil on the other. Comparing women in order to maintain power over them is an age-old strategy of the patriarchy that remains present in modern society; think Olivia vs Sabrina or Haley vs Selena. Evidently the standards to which Alice and Phillipa were, and continue to be, held vary greatly from today’s modern pop icons. Gentle femininity and obedience have been key characteristics of the ‘perfect woman’ for centuries in most cultures; the fact that Phillipa was able to publicly meet these requirements has served as fuel for the fire surrounding the continuous deformation of Alice’s character when compared to the pious queen. Alice has also been vilified through the victimisation of Phillipa in her final years as she watched her once faithful husband conduct his affair with the decades younger Perrers. To this, I refer to my earlier argument that those without official power in the feudal world, cannot manipulate those with ultimate power, such as the king. This means that Alice did not ‘steal’ her husband from her and should not be cast in the role of master manipulator.  By separating these women as individuals whilst simultaneously recognising their coexistence we can better assess their characters, faults and virtues. Gemma Hollman’s comparative work on Phillipa and Alice seamlessly highlights the two women’s characters including their respective flaws without using either to elevate or vitiate the other. The Queen and the Mistress exemplifies changing attitudes towards women in history and especially those who lived in a time with strongly enforced gender expectations with a more empathetic analytical approach.  The Rise and Fall of an Empire  Artwork of Alice reportedly taking the rings off a dying Edward III’s fingers The evidence of Alice’s shrewd cunning is apparent on multiple fronts, not least in the physical manifestations of her wealth. Her portfolio of 56 properties across 25 counties by the time of her lover’s death made her one of the richest people (not just women) in England, transcending all gender expectations. This manifestation of wealth has been used as evidence of her ‘greed’, rather than her immense success (Ormrod). Notably, 15 of her manors were gifted to her by Edward III while the remaining properties were acquired through Alice’s own financial acumen by Alice herself owing to intricate land deals, agreements and negotiations.  Alice's tale is a fascinating account of a woman’s ambition, fortune, and the prejudices that often accompany the elevation and memory of successful women. This success, however, inevitably stirred resentment, leading to a concerted effort from her adversaries to strip her of the wealth she had meticulously accumulated and fought to protect as she foresaw the vulnerability Edward’s death would expose her to. The Good Parliament was formed in 1376 in response to Alice’s excessive accumulation of landed wealth.  Mediaeval historiography faces the challenge of a great paucity of sources due to the obvious problem of time. Most material has decayed in centuries past and so few people were literate, written sources are also scarce. This has meant a heavy reliance on sources with ostensible biases, including court documents, chroniclers as aforementioned and religious material. In Alice’s case the primary sources on her life come from the former, namely documentation of the trials of the Good Parliament and her demise. These trials represented public sentiment towards the royal mistress who had achieved so much in her lifetime. Alice’s contemporaries resented her for the wealth she had amassed with the aid of Edward III, who for so long had been the figurehead of chivalric kingly values as Froissart wrote ‘his like had not been seen since the days of King Arthur’. There is little evidence that Alice had any real parliamentary or military influence and although she was better educated that most would give her credit for, she was not so politically inclined. The influence she is accused of wielding over Edward was primarily financial as she exploited her position to benefit her coffers, arguably conflicting with the chivalric dictum of domestic control i.e. control over one’s household, including its women. Edward has been recorded as the ‘perfect king’ and this deference to a woman, a low ranking one at that, did not suit this narrative of a great and noble king (Mortimer). This was unacceptable to a proud and patriotic community as the English. Alice represented a threat to traditional masculine and chivalric values, further transcending gendered expectations of strict feudal society.  Edward’s politicians and courtiers also blamed her for his later downfalls including ill health, military losses in France and costs to the royal coffers. The Good Parliament, so named after their desire to reform the corrupt royal house, exiled Alice from the realm and seized her worldly goods. By this time Alice had secretly married Sir William Windsor in order to protect herself from what she saw coming as her lover was dying and those in power despised her. This marriage was further ammunition to use against the royal mistress as a supposed betrayal of the king’s love. A targeted decree was made against Alice declaring;  some women have pursued various business and disputes in the king’s courts by way of maintenance, bribing and influencing the parties, which thing displeases the king; the king forbids any woman to do it, and especially Alice Perrers, on penalty of whatever the said Alice can forfeit and of being banished from the realm. Gesta abbatum Monasterii Sancti Alba This declaration showcases Alice as a conniving gold digger defying the rules of femininity set out by the mediaeval patriarchy and feudal system that demanded a strict hierarchy in society that placed women in the lowest ranks. The ‘bribing and influencing’ found in the royal courts has been rife throughout all of history and is arguably what the nation is built on. The reason for the direct attack on Alice for these crimes which all courtiers and politicians were guilty of, is plain (misogyny, if you weren’t sure). It is a disappointment but not a shock, then, that this depiction has been the one to stand the test of time.  The seizure and exile were not so effective in reality as planned. Under Richard II parliament again rallied to condemn Alice for her manipulation of the ageing king and misuse of royal power. In this court Alice was tried as a femme sole  as she was believed to be unmarried and as such was not granted the protection offered to married women (a wife could not be tried as an individual as she was the property of her husband, along with all her worldly goods). This fact was not unbeknownst to Alice. It is unclear when she married for a second time but following her conviction William Wyndsore petitioned the result of the court on the basis of an unfair trial (Ormrod). Perrers had secretly married Wyndsore, Lieutenant of Ireland. A risky move, as it ostensibly painted Alice as a disloyal mistress betraying the love and kindness of the late king. Then again, Alice anticipated the danger of being an unmarried woman at the court of her lover’s son, now king, surrounded by enemies and wannabes. After constant petitioning, Wyndsore secured a substantial portion of his wife’s lands. Without this marriage Alice would have been left with nothing. It is this alliance that prevented her from total ruin in the end, although she suffered great losses at the hands of a vengeful consortium of men masquerading as a parliament.  The image these courts aimed to paint of Alice as a universally hated seductress and gold digger, responsible for the depletion of royal treasury is contradicted by the circumstances of the bloody Peasant’s Revolt close by to Alice’s homestead. Alice’s properties were not attacked unlike many of those similarly convicted by the Good Parliament and Alice herself was never threatened with violence unlike her counterpart Richard Lyons who was killed in the street by leader Wat Tyler.  The artistic licence taken with Alice’s reputation by her contemporaries reached levels of absurdity when it was rumoured she thieved the rings off a dying Edward’s fingers when left alone with him on his deathbed. This can be easily disproved by the apparent fact that no king would be left alone on his deathbed, unguarded especially  by such a loyal and loving family as Edward’s had proved to be. Walsingham has proven to be more of a dramatist than a chronicler as Alice supposedly; ‘artfully removed from the royal hands the rings, which the king wore on his fingers to display his royalty… so, in this way bidding the king farewell’ Yet, no such rings existed and no such action was taken. Alice was no thief in the night and had more foresight than to act on whim.  Undeterred by vicious hearsay, legal constraints and feudal expectations, Alice fought fiercely against the forces determined to dismantle the empire she had worked decades to build. She bore losses to the wealth and honour of her children by the king, her own capital and reputation but died having lived an astoundingly affluent life. The resulting legacy is one of tenacity, wisdom and cunning tragically tinged by misogynistic rumour, false accusation and outright attacks on her wealth and character both in her lifetime and years after. Conclusion The aim of this article has not been to perceive Alice Perrers through rose-tinted glasses or to resituate her as a heroine or tragic victim of her time or the androcentric narrative of mediaeval history. Feminist history does not seek to put women on a pedestal. Rather, by employing the facts and information available, we can evaluate women like Alice in a manner akin to the treatment men have traditionally received, with a degree of empathy, respect and even sympathy for the times in which they lived. Alice did not live as a victim and should not be remembered as one, although the men who envied her success threw everything they had at her to take it. While Phillipa led a life of piety and ‘womanly’ obedience, Alice defied these constraints of femininity yet neither better or worse than the other. Both experienced loss, affluence, and even a degree of power. Both have been subject to the gendered bias of their contemporaries and historiography that followed. There is one question left to ask in light of this. If Alice manipulated Edward III, used him for her own gain, rinsed him for all he was worth and lied and cheated to protect herself, in a time where women had so few rights or protection, would that be so bad?  Bibliography  Biddulph, Steve, 2015, Raising Boys , Thorsons. Bothwell, James, 1998, ‘The management of position: Alice Perrers, Edward III, and the creation of a landed estates, 1362–1377’, Journal of Medieval History,  Volume 24, Issue 1, Pages 31-51. Dawson, Ian, 1993, The Tudor Century 1485–1603, Nelson. Given-Wilson, C., 2004, Perrers [other married name Windsor], Alice  (d. 1401/02) , ODNB. Hollman, G., 2022, The Queen and the Mistress: The Women of Edward III, The History Press, Cheltenham. Holmes, G., 1975,  The Good Parliament , Oxford University Press, Oxford. Lewis, Jone Johnson, 2020,  Alice Perrers ,  ThoughtCo,  < https://www.thoughtco.com/alice-perrers-facts-3529651 > Accessed November 2023. Lewis, K., 2013, Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England, Routledge. Moeslein, Anna, 2015, ‘Reese Witherspoon's Moving Speech at Glamour's 2015 Women of the Year Awards: 'Like Elle Woods, I Do Not Like to be Underestimated’, Glamour . Moorhouse, D., The Hundred Years War: Alice Perrers , < https://thehundredyearswar.co.uk/alice-perrers/ > Accessed November 2023. Mortimer, Ian, 2006, The Perfect King. The life of King Edward III, Pimlico.  Ormrod, W.M., 2006, ‘Who was Alice Perrers?’,  Chaucer Review  40, 219-229. Ormrod, W.M., 2008, ‘Alice Perrers and John Salisbury’,  EHR  123, 379-392. Ormrod, W.M., 2008, ‘The Trials of Alice Perrers’,  Speculum  83, 366-396. Ormrod, W.M., 2004,  Edward III,  < https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8519?rskey=14rXk7&result=1 >Accessed November 2023. The Royal Women, Alice Perrers: The Manipulative Mistress , < https://theroyalwomen.com/2022/03/22/alice-perrers/ >Accessed November 2023. Thompson, E.M., 1874, [T. Walsingham], Chronicon Angliae, ab anno Domini 1328 usque ad annum 1388 , Rolls Series, 64. Tompkins, L., 2015, ‘Alice Perrers and the Goldsmiths’ Mistery: New Evidence Concerning the identity of the Mistress of Edward III’,  EHR  130, 1361-1391. Westminster Abbey, Edward III and Philippa of Hainault,  < https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-iii-and-philippa-of-hainault > Accessed November 2023.

Glossary ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg) - A looting group created by Alfred Rosenberg, initially their goal was to collect archives, books, and other Jewish cultural goods to examine and develop anti-Jewish studies. In 1940 they became a plundering group for all types of valuables from their "enemies" when the seizure of cultural holdings - ranging from art pieces to antique furniture - was authorised by the Führer. Reichsmarschall - Second in command to Hitler, a position created for Herman Göring who was commander of the Luftwaffe and an avid art collector. He made sure to take thousands of the looted pieces for his private art collection - going as far as stealing from Hitler. MFA&A - The Monuments, Fine Art and Archives Division of the Allied Forces created in the United States. Members of other Allied countries, mainly from the United Kingdom and France made up the division with both men and women having important ranks in it. Born in the commune of Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs in France, Rose Valland (1898-1980) is - in my humble opinion - one of the most important women in art history, despite not being an artist herself. Volunteering as an art historian and assistant curator at the Jeu de Paume, Valland's job consisted of cataloguing artworks housed at the museum. The first record of her work at the Jeu de Paume was in 1933 of the painting ' Paysage ' by Else Berg, acquired by the French government. Berg was a Dutch woman with both German and Jewish heritage - an intriguing coincidence considering the work that Mademoiselle Valland would carry out in the years to come. Portrait of Rose Valland taken in the 1930s Paris, previously a beacon for cultural development, became a central location for the Nazi government. There the ERR catalogued much of the art plunder before shipping it to hidden locations around the Third Reich. Modern databases tell historians that 20% of all art in Europe was stolen by the Nazi regime. While most remain missing, from the 10% that were recovered by the Allied army, much was only found because of the list put together by Rose Valland. She was the only French worker kept at Jeu de Paume after the Nazi occupation of France. Undermined for being a woman, she was able to work from the inside in favour of the French resistance and continue her previous work with a new motivation: cataloguing to save European culture. Life before the War Little is known about her personal life before the period during which she volunteered and later worked at the museum. However, something known to those that study her story is the fact she was queer. To twentieth century standards, Valland was an "out and proud" lesbian. After the war she shared an apartment in Paris with her partner, author Joyce Heer, and they were buried together in the Valland family crypt. Paris in the 1920s and 1930s was a centre for the lesbian community, but during the war they were forced to hide. Sadly, little of the Parisian lesbian subculture survived the Occupation. Valland was extremely well educated in the arts, having studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and Lyon as well as studying art history at the École du Louvre and at the Sorbonne Université. Regardless of her large number of academic achievements, she began her career at the Jeu de Paume as a volunteer - only receiving her first paid position during the Occupation. The atmosphere of the heritage world after the Great War and the fears of the war to come were well noticed by the art historian - something she wrote about in her book ' Le Front de L'Art: Défense de Collection Française' (1961) . Valland wrote about the pre-war preparations that took place both at the Jeu de Paume and the Louvre under orders of the Director of French National Museums, Jacques Jaujard, who already faced the perils that the previous war had posed to the cultural world. She describes how the staff of Parisian museums began to 'box up' the valuable paintings and statues so they could be sent to safe locations and, the more noble ones - such as the Mona Lisa - were hidden around the country. In 1938, Jaujard trusted Valland with the responsibility of overseeing the collections and running the Jeu de Paume whilst the curator was ill. She remained in the position as, not long after, in 1940, Nazi forces occupied Paris. The Occupation Throughout her book ' Le Front de L'Art: Défense des Collections Françaises' (1961), Valland describes that soon after the Nazis took over Paris they began to remove French workers from governmental and civil work positions - this included museum officials. However, she was able to stay employed throughout the entire war period - regardless of their many attempts to fire her. Nonetheless, they undermined her for being a woman, believing she would be compliant and obedient. They were unaware that not only did she quickly understand their cataloguing system and began one of her own, but also that she understood German, listening in on all of the officers' conversations about plans and information on the Reich. During the four years of occupation, Valland kept a careful log of the large collection of art pieces that passed through the Jeu de Paume. The pieces were divided between the private collections of the Führer, the Reischmarschall's and the pieces chosen for the Linz Museum Project. She recorded the artist, the provenance, and the title of the pieces - the ones that were kept and the ones considered degenerate by Nazi officials, which were destroyed. Valland filled books with this information, which would become some of the most important files for the Allied forces. Scanned pages from Valland's catalogue, it is possible to see names such as 'Degas', 'Gauguin' and 'Picasso' listed. Valland also achieved what many believed impossible: she uncovered six of the locations the ERR sent their plunder for 'safe-keeping'. These were five castles - Neuschwanstein, Köge, Nickolsburg, Chiemsee and the Seiseinegg - and the Kloster Buxheim Monastery. They also used of salt mines located around the Third Reich. The only art that was not kept in any of these places was Göring's personal collection, which made the pieces he selected harder to locate. Her thorough research into the Nazi's own illegal art market, was one of the main reasons as to why the MFA&A were able to locate and repatriate around 60,000 pieces of stolen art - with 20,000 alone being found at Neuschwanstein Castle. Beaux-Art Captain Valland Rose Valland (left), Edith Standen (center) and Hubert de Bry (right) posing with art crates in May 1946. As the war neared its end, the Allied forces created the MFA&A - later receiving their famous nickname: the Monuments Men. A division formed by art historians, museum officials, architects and artists of all calibre composed by both men and women. A division that understood the threat faced by art and culture and were determined to save, restore, and repatriate the lost art. Rose Valland became invaluable to this division, as she held both the up-to-date information and deep knowledge of art. Like most professional organisations of the time, the MFA&A was mainly composed of men, but they had women in high ranks and working in important roles in the army. While they did not go to the front and fight to recover the plundered art, they were responsible with completing provenance research, organisation of restitution documents and helped analyse and locate Nazi hiding spots so platoons could go out and look for the loot. Rose Valland was one of these important women. Though she was not part of the MFA&A, she enlisted and became part of the French First Army in 1945 to continuously work for the safeguarding and return of art - granting her a Captain rank in the French army. She worked closely with the Allied division and became close with several members - describing in her book the friendship with Lieutenant James Rorimer, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as one with complete trust between them. He was the one to whom she entrusted her list. For her efforts in assisting in recovering tens of thousands works of art, as well as her work during the war years, she received a series of medals and became the most decorated woman in the French Army. In the Monuments Men and Women website (which only changed its title to include 'Women' in 2022), she is listed to have received: the Legion of Honor, the Medal of the Résistance, the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, became Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters appointed by the French government and, in 1948, she was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. Even though she received several military medals throughout the years, she was only recognised as a professional and granted the official work title of art curator in 1953. Rose Valland receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1948. Overlooked but not forgotten While Rose Valland might not (yet) be part of World War II discussions in academia, she certainly has not been entirely left out of the narrative. Films, biographies and books about her continue to be published. At the Jeu de Paume, a plaque was placed to honour her work and in Lyon an exhibition was put together presenting her story. All of this shows that her importance has not been entirely forgotten. Captain Valland might be remembered by few but with these acts she is able to come to life a little more through every new representation. In cinema she has been represented in two films, The Train (1964) and The Monuments Men (2014) but, in both feature films, her actions were diminished. The most recent film, which used Valland for character inspiration, even put the character back in the closet through an attempt of creating a romantic narrative with the Rorimer inspired character. Hollywood's change in her identity to construct - what they believe to be - an "interesting" narrative shows how little research was done on Valland and her importance and participation in the war efforts. An exhibition named Le Dame du Jeu de Paume was curated in 2009 and displayed through to 2010 at the CHRD (Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation) in Lyon, portraying the history of the art curator and her importance to France. A few books worth mentioning that have been published are her own, Le Front de L'Art (1961) that had a new edition printed in 2014 - with two articles and photos being added to the print -, Le Carnet des Rose Valland (2011) by Emmanuelle Pollack, which unites all of her manuscripts in one publication, and the most recent Rose Valland, l'espionne à l'oeuvre (2023) by Jennifer Lesieur, a biography about Valland's life and impact in art history. Plaque unveiled in 2005, located by the entry of the Jeu de Paume museum at the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris. Even though the majority of the publications about her originate in France, many of the French themselves are not familiar with one of their national heroes. I was recently in a bookshop in Paris hunting down Valland's book and other pieces written about her and upon asking one of the shopkeepers whether they had it in stock, they wrote her name down incorrectly when checking. Her book about the war period stopped being published a few years after it was first released and - even though Valland expressed a desire to do so - it was never translated into English, something that diminished the outreach of her important work. The Saviour of Culture Rose Valland during her retirement, Collection Camille Garapont / Association La Mémoire de Rose Valland When the history and culture of Europe was at risk of being lost forever, Rose Valland made sure that this heritage would not disappear. A task that seemed impossible to complete, her efforts to continuously keep art safe and where it belonged is one of the biggest legacies left by Valland. She participated largely in the work for restitution of looted artworks for the French and Jewish families all over Europe. Captain Valland must be remembered and presented to the public. Without her, it is likely that tens of thousands of artworks would have been forever lost because of looting during the war. Further reading Campbell, Elizabeth. 2021. ‘Monuments Women and Men: Rethinking Popular Narratives via British Major Anne Olivier Popham’, International Journal of Cultural Property , 28.3: 409–24 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0940739121000308 Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation. 2010. ‘La Dame Du Jeu de Paume’, CHRD | Musée d’Histoire | Lyon Dans La Guerre, 1939-1945 https://www.chrd.lyon.fr/chrd/edito-musee/la-dame-du-jeu-de-paume Christie's. 2023. ‘Celebrating the Contributions of Women in Art Restitution, on the 25th Anniversary of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art’, Christie’s https://www.christies.com/features/celebrating-the-contributions-of-women-in-art-restitution-12668-1.aspx ERR Project. 2015. ‘Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR): Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume’, Errproject.org https://www.errproject.org/jeudepaume/about/err.php Flanner, Janet. 1947. ‘The Beautiful Spoils - Collector with Luftwaffe’, The New Yorker (Condé Nast) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1947/03/08/the-beautiful-spoils-3 ‘Valland, Capt. Rose | Monuments Men and Women | Monuments Men Foundation’. [n.d.]. Monuments Men and Women Foundation https://www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/valland-capt-rose Valland, Rose. 2016. Le Front de l’Art : Défense Des Collections Françaises : 1939-1945 (Paris: Réunion Des Musées Nationaux)

Motorsport has never been a welcoming space for women. But that never stopped Susie Wolff from karting at eight to becoming a Formula One test driver, proving that talent doesn't recognize gender. Her influence, however, runs far deeper than the racetrack. She is now using all that she has learned to create opportunities for future generations of women racers, women who would not have to fight so hard for their chances. Susie Wolff's Journey: From Karting to Formula One Susie Wolff Born on   December  6 ,  1982 ,  in  Scotland, Susie was introduced into the world of motorcars because of her family's keen interest in motorsport .   From  the age of 8 , she quickly made  a name  as a natural. From karting, her talent earned her a place in Formula Renault and Formula 3, the two most competitive junior single-seater categories. Here, she learned her racecraft, fighting wheel to wheel with the best young racers in the world. But breaking into Formula One was another nut altogether. Women have reached the highest tier in the sport only in a handful of cases. A prime example is Lella Lombardi, who made history in the 1970s as the only woman to score points in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, finishing sixth at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. Then came Susie's chance in 2012. Williams F1, one of the oldest teams in the sport, recognized her potential and signed her as a development driver. This was a huge moment not only for Susie but for all women in motorsport. Two years later, in 2014, she became the first woman to participate in an official Formula One Grand Prix weekend, driving in free practice for the British and German Grands PrixWhile she may not have secured a permanent F1 seat, limited track time, especially after a mechanical failure in her first session, meant she never had a full chance to prove herself in race conditions. She had already done something phenomenal: she proved that female drivers had a place on the topmost pedestal of motorsport. More Than Just a Driver: Building a Legacy For many drivers, stepping away from the cockpit means fading into the background. For Susie Wolff, this was hardly ever the case; she resolved to take an even bigger challenge, changing it from within. After retirement from racing, she stepped into management and took on the task of team principal at Venturi Racing in Formula E, the world’s foremost electric racing series. Under her decisive guidance, the team made up serious ground, which says much for her talents beyond the cockpit. However, her greatest contribution to racing would come in 2023, when she was made managing director for the F1 Academy. This would prove to be a ground-breaking initiative that gives aspiring female drivers a real shot at competing at the very highest echelon of motorsport. Rise of F1 Academy: Changing the Future of Women in Racing Over the years, female racing drivers have had a hard time making their way up, not due to a lack of talent, but rather because of the absence of opportunities. The F1 Academy aims to change that. Specifically designed for young female drivers, this championship offers the resources, funding, and high-level competition necessary to cultivate the next generation of female racing stars. Unlike other junior series, the F1 Academy focuses not only on racing but also on education. Susie fully understands that motorsport demands more than just speed; many other factors contribute to successful driving, including training and the significance of being in the right place at the right time. Her leadership in the F1 Academy is already paving the way for change. Never before have so many female drivers gained serious recognition as genuine competitors, and the sport as a whole has been making strides toward greater inclusivity. Another prime example is when, in 2024, Jessica Hawkins became the first woman in nearly five years to test a Formula 1 car, driving for Aston Martin. The goal is not merely to place women in F1 cars;   it's to make sure young girls watching at home believe that it is possible. The F1 Academy is just the beginning. A post race cuddle Through Susie Wolff's vision and hard work, a new generation of female drivers is ready to step out and take on the world, showing that women do belong in every corner of F1.     Susie Wolff on the Impact of F1 Academy Reflecting on the Academy’s impact, Wolff shared in an interview with Formula 1 Official Website  (2025): “We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved in a short space of time, but this was always a long-term project. We need to see more young girls in karting, and they’re calling it ‘the F1 Academy effect.’ I’ve never seen so many young girls in karting, and that for me is just as important as the success of the series because we need to inspire the next generation. We need to get more young women racing for the best to rise to the top.” Why Susie Wolff’s Work Matters Motorsport is changing, but change does not happen overnight. It takes pioneers, leaders, and people willing to push the boundaries. Susie Wolff is all of those things. Her career proves that with determination, resilience, and the right opportunities, women can compete at the highest levels of motorsport. More importantly, she is making it easier for the next generation. The Future: What’s Next? Thanks to initiatives such as the rise of F1 Academy and the promotion of diversity in motorsport, the future seems bright. More female drivers are competing than ever before, and the barriers that once held them back are starting to crumble. Would we see a female driver on the Formula One grid soon? If Susie Wolff has anything to do with it, the answer is yes. She has already changed the landscape of motorsport. Now, she’s shaping its future. And that future looks faster, more competitive, and more inclusive than ever before. The future of race car driving Susie Wolff's journey is a testament to resilience and passion. Despite the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated sport, she never let societal norms dictate her path. Her determination and skill earned her respect in the racing community, breaking barriers and inspiring future generations of female drivers. Beyond the racetrack, she became a symbol of empowerment and courage for women everywhere.   Her legacy continues to remind us that with dedication and support, we can achieve remarkable feats, no matter the obstacles.

What Does a Bartender Do? As the summer turns to autumn, sunny pub gardens and rooftop bars filled with drinkers fizzle out. I find myself reflecting on my friends in the hospitality industry, pondering the question, "What does a bartender do?" A more intriguing proposition, however, is "What did bartenders do?" The roles of bartenders, particularly female bartenders, have significantly influenced economics, civil rights, and social norms in both American and British contexts. In this article, I aim to unpack the role of female bartenders in the economics of the past and present, using London and New York as case studies. I will conclude by discussing the modern bar scene and the increasing appeal of alcohol to women. A Personal Journey into Bartending Having worked as a bartender for over five years, I have a personal interest in the origins of drinks, their influences, and the trending bars that shape our social experiences. Initially, I believed that female bartenders were a minority in the hospitality sector—a fluctuating statistic depending on the country and type of establishment. Research proved challenging, as I struggled to find reliable statistics on the percentage of female bartenders. However, the data I did uncover suggested a near 50/50 gender split in both the USA and UK (Martin, 2025). As of 2023, the total number of employees in pubs and bars reached approximately 470,000, an increase from 460,000 in 2019 (Statista, 2024). So, is bartending still a male-dominated profession? While stereotypes persist, the reality is more nuanced. Historically, women were integral to bars, taverns, and inns, often serving in front-of-house roles. Landladies and barmaids were essential to the functioning of respectable establishments (Powers, 1995). Yet, as the decades progressed, fewer women found employment in the hospitality workforce. When and why did this seemingly favourable occupation change? The Impact of Prohibition One significant turning point in both economic and domestic spheres was Prohibition in the USA during the 1920s and 30s. The United States faced heavy economic losses and a surge in illicit alcohol smuggling (Sutcliffe, 2025), affecting both men and women across various sectors, not just hospitality. As the USA modernised, larger cities like New York began to scrutinise the "virtue" and "respectability" of women in the workforce. This topic is explored in Diane Kirby's 1997 article, Barmaids: A History of Women’s Work in Pubs . After World War I, returning men reclaimed jobs that women had filled during their absence, including positions in traditional male drinking establishments. This shift led to laws in multiple states that barred women from entering bars. Women had bolstered the wartime economy only to be sidelined once the war concluded. Despite the lack of a nationwide law prohibiting women from working as bartenders and barmaids, individual states and cities enacted their own regulations. According to these laws, no respectable woman should be found in places where alcohol was served (Kirby, 1997), lest she be deemed indecent and suffer reputational damage. Women could drink privately or at parties, provided they were chaperoned by a man. Establishments that employed women faced legal repercussions and economic losses, as male patrons expressed their displeasure (Powers, 1995). The Hotel and Restaurant Employers and Bartenders International Union (HREI), formed in 1890, imposed strict regulations against women in the industry (Powers, 1995). However, female membership in the union grew from 2,000 in 1908 to 181,000 by 1950, indicating a clear trend towards the feminisation of the hospitality industry. Despite this rise in female membership, campaigns against women in bars emerged after World War II in the USA, targeting those soliciting drinks from men. Known as "b-girls" or "bargirls," they were branded as sleazy and immoral (Sholtis, 2020), often compared to prostitutes. This stigma effectively socially banned women from drinking publicly in some states. The Changing Landscape Post-Prohibition After Prohibition ended in 1933, by 1948, 17 US states still had laws forbidding women from bartending. By 1960, this number had grown to 26 (Silverman, 2025). Yet, women remained the predominant customers when ordering cocktails in states where they were permitted entry into bars. Female-only spaces occasionally existed within bars or pubs, and even hotels had designated Ladies' rooms and tables. The women who frequented these establishments were often the mothers, sisters, daughters, or wives of men who worked or owned them. Meanwhile, men continued to drink ales and hard liquors, both illegally during Prohibition and afterwards. In the United Kingdom, the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act preceded the Equality Act of 2010, initiating the dismantling of outdated and sexist laws. While there were no laws outright prohibiting women from entering bars or pubs, it remained socially acceptable to refuse service to women until a 1982 London court case ruled this practice as an infringement of rights (Kirby, 1997). This legal loophole stemmed from the perception that bars and pubs were traditionally male spaces, and women would not desire entry. However, the reality was that bars and pubs were losing male customers, leading me to believe that women indeed influenced economics and alcohol sales. For instance, from 1900 to 1933 in the USA, drink orders shifted from straight liquor to mixed drinks, as I will elaborate on in the following sections. Women’s movements, such as the UK’s Suffragettes, began to advocate for equal rights, resulting in an increase in female patrons in bars (Sholtis, 2020) as a form of protest. The Role of Women in Shaping Cocktail Culture The influences of changing alcoholic consumption patterns, including available spirits, trends, and economic positioning in society, fundamentally altered how women (and men) ordered drinks in bars. One influential figure in this transformation is bartender Ada Coleman, affectionately known as "Coley" (1875-1966). She became the first female Head Bartender at the American Bar in The Savoy Hotel in London in 1903 (Sutcliffe, 2025). Born in 1875, she began her professional bartending career at the age of 24 in London’s Claridges Hotel before quickly rising to work at The Savoy alongside another female bartender, Ruth "Kitty" Burgess. Ada became renowned for her eccentric personality, innovative drinks, and impeccable service. Many bartenders credit her with trailblazing and creating classic cocktail recipes. She is best known for crafting the ‘Hanky Panky’ cocktail for actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, who requested a surprise drink (Sutcliffe, 2025). This cocktail, a delightful mix of gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca, is a variation of a sweet martini known as a Martinez. The Hanky Panky was a major success and remains a staple at The Savoy today. Ada served there for 23 years before retiring as the highly respected Ladies Cloakroom attendant in her mid-60s. Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman pictured in 1920 at The Savoy (Wikipedia, 2025) As previously mentioned, women significantly influenced economics through alcohol sales, as drink demands evolved after Prohibition. The barmaids and bartenders who navigated these changes are described as "legends" by Kirby, capable of making or breaking the trade. The commercialisation of women’s spaces also drove up the demand for drinks and leisure venues, yet much scholarship surrounding these topics tends to overlook this impact. When women popularised cocktails and transformed bars into spaces of leisure in both the USA and UK, it coincided with the economic freedom they gained in the workforce (Kirby, 1997). Consequently, women could advocate for their right to drink in public bars, as they represented a growing clientele. The new cocktail culture not only generated revenue but also fostered creativity in bars after Prohibition ended (Sutcliffe, 2025) and, in the UK, before, during, and after World War Two. Women ventured into movie theatres, drive-throughs, amusement parks, dance halls, and hotels, challenging traditional societal norms. This shift unsettled many men in power, as women gained both freedom and disposable income. The Modern Bar Scene: A New Era Connecting alcohol to women’s liberation is explored in detail in Elizabeth Sholtis’ 2020 article, Shaking Things Up: The Influence of Women on the American Cocktail . This piece examines drink orders and classic recipes that women popularised or invented. Sholtis begins with the aftermath of Prohibition. Prior to this period, cocktails featured fewer and simpler ingredients. However, once alcohol became readily available again, bars needed to entice customers back with flair. Some women ordered hard spirits, just like men, opting for rum, brandy, whisky, gin fizzes, and Old Fashioneds—the latter being a traditional male drink. Yet, many women preferred to dilute their drinks, using egg white and sugar syrup, known as a ‘Flip’. This concoction is akin to a modern-day ‘Sour cocktail’, which typically includes citrus juices. When hosting parties, women would often prepare a punch recipe: a mix of water, citrus, sugar, liquor, and nutmeg. This approach catered to female tastes, prompting the economy to respond with bars and hotel bars adding these drinks to their menus. This adaptation led to increased revenue for these establishments, as more customers spent time and money within their walls. Gin emerged as a common ingredient in new cocktails because it could be easily mixed with water or fruit juices (Sholtis, 2020). This versatility gave rise to one of my favourite cocktails, The Bees Knees. Attributed to The Ritz in Paris during the 1920s, it has its origins in Prohibition. The Bees Knees consists of lemon juice, gin, honey, and sometimes egg white. Like the ‘Flip’, it avoids the harsher taste of pure gin, appealing to many women’s palates with its floral sweetness. Other cocktails in this vein include variations like ‘The Last Word’, the ‘French 75’ with champagne, and the classic martini with vermouth. The images below are from my previous workplace, The Castle Hotel, where I was involved in creating and photographing these drinks, circa Christmas 2024 and March 2025. Over time, I have learned that family ventures and businesses involving women in taverns or inns became self-sustaining professions before being made illegal. Bartending is a relatively recent profession, gaining recognition over the last century alongside advancements in unions, such as the HREI. Social conventions and laws have evolved, including a new zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment in the workplace. This evolution has forced bartending and drinking cultures to adapt, as discussed throughout this article. As we enter the 21st century, a new drinking culture emerges, drawing inspiration from remnants of the past scattered throughout pubs and classic hotels. I find great enjoyment in the London nightlife; trends are constantly emerging, creating a dynamic evening out. From 2023 onwards, we have witnessed a rise in intimate spaces, smaller music venues featuring themed drinks, and bars inspired by popular culture, such as those themed around Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter . Additionally, we see popular themed bars like Art Deco speakeasies, dungeons, retro discos, or tropical rooftops (O’Neill, 2025). Mixology is gaining popularity, with conceptual experiences for handcrafted cocktails (O’Neill, 2025). Late-night venues remain a favourite among young adults in the workforce. Overall, in London, going out to bars has transformed into a meaningful, intimate event rather than a casual hangout. In contrast, New York City adopts a more casual approach to engage customers, with business owners excelling at managing casual food spots alongside quality drinks, emphasising the "clubstaurant" concept. Wellness, social interaction, and mental health have become central to emerging trends in the Big Apple (Kumamoto, 2025). The flashy venues, glamour, and excessive alcohol consumption have seemingly taken a backseat. Notably, New York City hosts female-only bartender competitions like "Speed Rack," where many up-and-coming bartenders showcasing innovation are women (Archibald, 2024). Nevertheless, traditional pubs, clubs, and popular bars continue to thrive despite the rise of gimmicky trends. Both cities boast fantastic drinks and quality food, focusing on customer experience and branding in recent trends. I believe these bars and clubs appeal more to women than men, as they offer fewer legal constraints, safer spaces, and a wider array of drink choices, including themed or mixed cocktails rather than just hard liquor, beer, or wine (Kumamoto, 2025). Female bartenders are influential in the New York City bar scene, notably establishing some of the city's most exclusive cocktail bars, such as Clover Club, Temple Bar, and Leyenda (Archibald, 2024). In my view, this grants female bartenders greater freedom and creative space. I also believe that women are more drawn to bars where other women are visible—both as employees and patrons. This observation has been evident throughout my article, highlighting that women are essential customers who contribute to the profits of establishments and the local economy. We have witnessed the upward mobility of women in bars and as bartenders, thanks to their influence on consumer patterns. More women are choosing to defy historical social values and drink in public. Alcohol, bars, and pubs hold significant cultural and economic value, and I believe this will remain constant, even amid demographic changes. We have seen consumers and alcohol foster diversity and creativity in the workplace, prompting changes to 20th-century laws in America, especially (Sutcliffe, 2025). Cocktails, in my opinion, were among the fastest-growing drink items between the 1930s and 2000s due to their appeal and marketing as a "woman's drink," leading to a behaviour where women dominated that specific market. As explored in Kirby and Sholtis’s articles, diverse drink orders from new female patrons have resulted in significant economic success for bars and pubs, with many classic drinks, like Ada Coleman’s Hanky Panky, being invented. Currently, the demand for new bars, spaces, and events remains unwavering across all gender demographics. Both London and New York City showcase talent in curating these venues, catering to women and fostering innovation, offering fresh perspectives on the overall drinking culture. We must not forget that today’s cocktail culture was propelled to the forefront by women who simply wanted a drink. Sources Archibald, A. (2024). Meet 6 “Spirited” Women Who Are Changing NYC’s Cocktail Scene. online] NYC Tourism+Conventions. Available at: [https://www.nyctourism.com/articles/meet-the-women-changing-nyc-cocktail-scene/ [Accessed 28 Jul. 2025] Kirby, D. (1997). Barmaids: A history of women’s work in pubs. online] Academia. Available at: [https://www.academia.edu/97374044/Barmaids_A_History_of_Womens_Work_in_Pubs [Accessed 19 Jun. 2025] Godwin, E. (2019). A Potted History Of Women In Bars. online] Broadsheet. Available at: [https://www.broadsheet.com.au/perth/food-and-drink/article/potted-history-women-bars [Accessed 23 May 2025] Powers, M. (1995). Women and Public Drinking. online] History Today. Available at: [https://www.historytoday.com/archive/women-and-public-drinking-1890-1920 [Accessed 19 Jun. 2025] Holtman French, A. (2021). How Women Fought for the Right to be Bartenders. online] Available at: [https://daily.jstor.org/how-women-fought-for-the-right-to-be-bartenders [Accessed 6 May 2025] Sholtis, E. (2020). Shaking Things Up: The Influence Of Women On The American Cocktail. online] Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Review. Available at: [https://vtuhr.org/articles/10.21061/vtuhr.v9i0.4 [Accessed 18 Jun. 2025] Silverman, S. (2025). Female Bartenders Barred (1937). online] Available at: [https://uselessinformation.org/female-bartenders-barred-1937 [Accessed 11 Jun. 2025] O’Neill, L. (2025). Forget Wine Bars, London’s New Bar Culture Is All About Casual Late Night Eateries. online] British Vogue. Available at: [https://www.bing.com/search?q=-+Lauren+O%E2%80%99Neill+%E2%80%98Forget+Wine+Bars%2C+London%E2%80%99s+New+Bar+Culture+Is+All+About+Casual+Late+Night+Eateries%E2%80%99+2025%2C+British+Vogue&qs=ds&form=QBRE [Accessed 3 Jun. 2025] Statista (2024). Number of employees in pubs and bars in the United Kingdom. online] Statista Research Development. Available at: [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1118453/employment-in-pubs-and-bars-uk/#statisticContainer [Accessed 3 Jun. 2025] Martin, D. (2025). Exploring The Demographics of Bartending: Are Most Bartenders Female? online] TheBlog Journal. Available at: [https://theblogjournal.com/are-most-bartenders-female [Accessed 3 Jun. 2025] Kumamoto, I. (2025). Out Late: What insiders and partygoers are predicting for NYC nightlife in 2025 online] TimeOut. Available at: [https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/out-late-what-insiders-and-partygoers-are-predicting-for-nyc-nightlife-in-2025-022525 [Accessed 4 Jun. 2025] Sutcliffe, T. (2025). Ada Coleman online] Difford’s Guide. Available at: [https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/2857/people/ada-coleman [Accessed 10 Jun. 2025] Sutcliffe, T. (2025). A Brief History of Cocktails online] Difford’s Guide. Available at: [https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/2294/cocktails/a-brief-history-of-cocktails [Accessed 10 Jun. 2025] Images: Wikipedia (2025). Ada Coleman online] Available at: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Coleman [Accessed 21 Sept 2025] Acknowledgments: HERstory Project The Castle Hotel, Taunton

Cook, Susan, Alethia Lethe Tanner, Https://Www.alethiatanner.com/, 2014 Given the outcome of the most recent American presidential election, the story of Alethia ‘Lethe’ Tanner (c. 1785–1864) feels particularly necessary to recount and reclaim. Her narrative underscores the often-overlooked but vital role Black women have played, and continue to play, at the forefront of the fight for democracy in America. Lethe, an enslaved woman in the early nineteenth century, surmounted enormous obstacles to purchase her freedom and become a community leader in modern-day Washington, DC. She not only secured freedom for herself and eighteen relatives but also made significant social and financial contributions to local churches and schools that were critical to the newly freed population in Washington. Her efforts were rooted in her entrepreneurial beginnings as a produce cart vendor on what is now Lafayette Square, just outside the White House. The Misrepresentation of Lethe Tanner A precursor to note is that while Alethia is often referred to as “Alethia Browning Tanner,” this name is historically inaccurate. Key documents, such as her manumission papers and her final will and testament, consistently show that she signed her name as “Lethe Tanner.” Lethe, likely a shortened form of Alethia, reflects the name she preferred and will be used accordingly in this article. The first appearance of “Browning” in connection to Lethe occurred in 1868, four years after her death, in the report Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools in the District of Columbia . This report contains many factual inaccuracies, such as misrepresenting the means Lethe used to purchase her sister’s freedom. Such errors undermine its credibility as a source for remembering Lethe’s life and reflect a recurring pattern of government documents inaccurately depicting the identities of enslaved individuals. Reconstructing Lethe's Life Reconstructing Lethe’s life requires us to fill in the gaps left by archival silences, an endeavor historian Annette Gordon-Reed describes as an “imaginative enterprise.” To minimise conjecture, we turn to firsthand accounts, such as those of Susan Cook, Tanner’s four-time great-niece, whose memory has been preserved through generational rediscovery. Interviewing Cook has been indispensable to this article, offering unique insights into the significance of Lethe’s story and the lessons it holds. Given, however, the scarcity of these accounts, interpretive frameworks are useful to understand and reconstruct Lethe’s life. Her story is often placed within the self-emancipation historiographical narrative, advanced by scholars like James McPherson and Michael Johnson, which emphasises the agency of enslaved people in securing their freedom through independent resistance, separate from abolitionists and external forces. However, this framework is ill-suited to Lethe’s story and fails to do it justice. The narrow focus on the Civil War era overlooks earlier acts of resistance in the early nineteenth century and remains heavily androcentric, often neglecting the experiences of enslaved Black women. Moreover, and most importantly, its emphasis on exceptional acts of freedom obscures the broader, collective dimensions of resistance that shaped enslaved people’s lives and aspirations. Instead, I adopt Tamika Nunley’s commendable concept of ‘self-making’ as a more fitting lens for interpreting Lethe’s life. Unlike the traditional self-emancipation narrative, which centres on the singular act of achieving legal freedom, self-making explores the ongoing process of constructing a self-determined identity, even within systems that denied enslaved individuals legal or social recognition. Freedom vs. Liberty This article maintains a clear distinction between freedom and liberty: while freedom often marks the breaking of legal barriers, liberty reflects the broader, ongoing struggle to fashion an identity and live on one’s own terms. Saidiya Hartman’s concept of “afterlives” resonates strongly here, arguing that America’s ideals of “democratic individuality” often failed to extend to formerly enslaved women who continued to face systemic constraints rooted in race and gender even after manumission. Lethe, as a free woman in a slave-holding region with no tangible power or resources to rely on, exemplified this struggle. Her afterlife was defined by sustaining her produce cart business until 1853, purchasing the freedom of her relatives, and establishing a school — all of which reflected her enduring commitment to community and liberation. Early Life and Path to Freedom Originally enslaved on the Chelsea Plantation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland — first by Tobias Belt and later by his daughter, Rachel Belt Pratt — Lethe began her path to freedom as a produce vendor on today’s Lafayette Square. Through her earnings, she was able to purchase her own freedom, a significant moment documented in July 1810 when she provided $275 to Joseph Daugherty. Given the legislation of the time barring a direct transaction, Daugherty paid Pratt on Lethe’s behalf. The purchasing of her own freedom was not a transactional, isolated act of emancipation; it was rather the culmination of a longer history of her “small” — as Cook describes — everyday acts of self-making which served as catalysts for lasting change. This narrative challenges conventional accounts that often exclude figures like Lethe from exploration within the archival record, merely reducing them to generalised and simplified examples of emancipation. Moreover, her freedom was the product of sustained identity formation, resistance, and self-determination within a system built to suppress her very existence. Cedric Robinson’s outline of ‘racial capitalism’ further contextualises her within this system that relied on the persistent subjugation of Black people in the American labour economy. Lethe’s navigation of this system reflects her awareness of how her race and gender shaped her proximity to the law and how self-making involved managing diverse pathways between her imposed social position and reimagining herself outside their confines. Viewed through this lens, Lethe not only resisted the structures of power that sought to define her identity but actively destabilised them; challenging the misconception of passivity, showing that resistance was not confined to overt or isolated acts but included the transformative power of striving for identities that transcended the legal and social constraints of their time. A Commitment to Family and Community Fifteen years after her initial manumission, Lethe remained persistent, paying approximately $1,400 in multiple installments to secure the freedom of her sister Laurana Cook in 1826, along with her six children — reflective of her selflessness and commitment to family over her own financial benefit. Drawing on N. Z. Davis’s micro-historiographical framework, which focuses on human agency within systemic contexts to reveal broader social practices and collective mentalities, Lethe’s story demonstrates that freedom was neither a singular nor isolated act. Instead, it was part of a larger, interconnected network of community efforts that made her emancipation — and that of those around her — possible. Hartman’s concept of afterlives is evident in Lethe’s post-emancipation life, as her establishment of the Bell School in 1807 fostered an ethos of community-driven resilience and self-determination, particularly for young girls, enabling Black women to articulate their readiness to assume societal roles otherwise denied to them. Lethe’s legacy also included providing her nephew, John F. Cook Sr., with the space to establish both his church and school in her home; institutions which played a crucial role in educating and raising the next generation of key figures, including Charles Hamilton Houston, who would go on to drive the Civil Rights Movement. These vital educational institutions symbolised Lethe’s commitment to creating a self-sufficient community, showcasing the vibrancy and resilience of free Black Washingtonians in the early nineteenth century. By the time of the Civil War, this commitment of personally freeing more than eighteen individuals contributed to the District’s transformation into a majority-free Black population, growing from 2,549 in 1810 to 11,131 by 1860. The Ongoing Struggle for Freedom Yet, the shadow of slavery persisted, as enslaved women faced exploitation from neighbouring counties in response to the declining Chesapeake tobacco economy between 1800 and 1820. For free Black residents during the Antebellum period, the dangers were severe, with violence and laws that made their freedom precarious. Without freedom papers, they could be legally abducted and sold back into slavery in the Deep South. This underscores the deeply entrenched systems of power designed to maintain the status quo — structures that have endured for centuries. For Lethe, self-making was not solely about achieving freedom, both before and during her afterlife, but also redefining her relationship to her context, her space, and her community’s future. Indeed, the sociological context of Lafayette Square carries layered spatial significance. Lethe’s reality unfolded in the shadow of the White House and Congress; buildings which imposed the normative and legal powers of the legislative and executive branches of government, where both de jure and de facto influence was felt upon those in proximity. Her daily occupation of this public space directly challenged the exclusion enforced by these surrounding powers, exemplifying sustained resistance to systemic oppression. Rather than relying on isolated acts of defiance, Lethe actively shaped an identity that transcended her immediate circumstances. The Legacy of Alethia Tanner Lethe’s life, situated at the intersection of personal agency and spatial significance, exemplifies how Black women’s self-making was both an act of resistance and a means of reshaping their environments. As Nunley asserts, Lethe transformed the square into a stage for experimentation and the assertion of freedoms at a time when the nation’s capital was still defining itself. Underscoring, however, the paradoxical nature of the District itself: while the nation’s founders envisioned the city as a beacon of Republican virtues, it instead embodied the contradictions of a country built on the lack of freedom of many. Most importantly, through the claims she made, the life she built, and the identities she forged, Lethe laid the foundation for a free Black Washington, asserting agency and equality in a space that professed liberty while excluding Black women from its vision of freedom. Defiance of these codes underscores the navigational strategies these women must have employed. Historians have uncovered aspects of these women’s experiences through sources like runaway advertisements, vigilance networks, kidnapping cases, and judicial accounts, including criminal records. Reading these sources against the grain reveals how the Black codes of the time shaped the legal parameters of Black women’s claims to liberty, even after manumission in their ‘afterlives’. What is particularly striking about Lethe’s case is her absence from criminal records, suggesting she navigated the law with remarkable skill and resilience, in an atmosphere overtly against her. This absence speaks to the power of perseverance — a legacy embodied in her daily acts of showing up and refusing to be erased. Remembering Lethe in this way defies the long-standing narratives that underestimate the agency of enslaved women. Instead, it offers a deeper understanding of the resilience and creativity Black women employed in envisioning, surviving, and giving meaning to liberty in nineteenth-century America. The Importance of Remembering Lethe As a first-generation Washingtonian, I was deeply moved to learn about Lethe’s remarkable history. It was surprising — and somewhat disheartening — that her story had remained so unfamiliar to me, and I assume to many others. Lethe’s contributions are pivotal not only to the history of Washington DC but also speak to the resilience and ingenuity of marginalised individuals whose voices have been overlooked in traditional archives and grander historical narratives — particularly in women’s history, where their values are often dismissed since they are rarely articulated according to their own terms. Uncovering and honouring Lethe’s life demonstrates the value of ‘anecdotal’ history in amplifying the experiences of those too often excluded from conventional historiography. Personal stories like hers are deeply impactful and vital for understanding the complexity of the past. By piecing together her legacy, we can better appreciate her profound influence and ensure her story takes its rightful place in the broader tapestry of American history. Cook’s recollections, alongside public commemorations, serve as a bridge between Lethe’s life and her enduring influence. Alessandro Portelli’s insights on oral history are particularly valuable in this instance, as they highlight how memories, even when factually inaccurate, can capture the emotional truths of historical events. Lethe’s legacy is preserved through public commemorations and contemporary accounts from descendants like Cook, reflecting how these spaces become a continuum of her contributions, enshrining her legacy for future generations. Events and spaces such as Alethia Tanner Day and Alethia Tanner Park continue to honour her memory, hosting activities centred on the same values of community building she championed back in the early nineteenth century. As Cook describes, “it’s a full-time job” to uncover Lethe’s story — research continuously emerges, reshaping our interpretations of her. Though her story has often been overlooked, its resonance with people is undeniable. “The heroes we seek aren’t always those in power,” as Cook says, “knowing these stories of people who toiled without the fanfare or the accolades from the powers that be,” reminds us of the strength and determination of ordinary individuals. These untold stories need to be celebrated. The individual nature of her story is deeply impactful, helping us understand that these were real people with names, and that their lives truly mattered. To fully understand her story, one must consider the turbulent environment in which she lived: Washington DC was in its early stages of development, with the capital city still under construction. The conflicts and challenges of that time resonate with the struggles and complexities of today, making her story all the more relevant. Lethe’s legacy reflects not only her resilience but also the countless untold stories of others like her. Her story endures not only in the historical record but also in the collective memory of those who honour and preserve it, as Cook reflects, “she was a linchpin to the successes that my family was able to have after that,” underscoring how Lethe’s influence shaped the course of the lives of her family and likely many others. There is still much to uncover about Lethe and other “self-makers” of her time. Lethe’s memory, therefore, transcends her individual achievements, highlighting the transformative power of collective agency in formulating new identities and strategies for liberation — defying the racial and gendered boundaries of their time and leaving legacies that influenced subsequent generations. Bibliography Primary sources   Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools: In the District of Columbia , HathiTrust (Department of Education: Commissioner of Education, June 1868) < https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951000947607p&seq=9 > Susan Cook, ‘Lethe Tanner Was Here’, Lethe Tanner Was Here , 2014 < https://www.alethiatanner.com/transcriptions > Tanner, Alethia ‘Lethe’, LAST WILL and TESTAMENT: ALETHIA LETHE TANNER , 1847 < https://www.alethiatanner.com/transcriptions > Tanner, Alethia Lethe, and Senator Richard Mentor Johnson, BILL of SALE: Oscar Fitz, Allen Cook, William Cook, Alfred Cook, Betsey Cook, John Cook, and Their Mother Laurana Cook , 1826 < https://www.alethiatanner.com/transcriptions > Thornton, William, and Joseph Daugherty, MANUMISSION: For Lethe Tanner (Recorder of Deeds, 1810) Secondary sources Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli, and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1991) Arzate, Héctor Alejandro, ‘The Long History of Black Street Vendors in D.C.’, DCist (WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio, 2023) < https://dcist.com/story/23/03/14/dc-alethia-tanner-black-street-vendors/ > Baptist, Edward E., The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (New York: Basic Books, 2016) Crawford-Lackey, Katherine, ‘Public Protest as a Claim to Citizenship: Twentieth-Century Occupations of Washington, D.C. And Their Role in Public Memory’ (2020) < https://www.proquest.com/docview/2396699103?sourcetype=Dissertations%20 &%20Theses> Daniels, Omari, ‘Alethia Tanner Day Honors Enslaved Woman Who Bought Her Freedom’, Washington Post , 24 July 2022 < https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/07/23/alethia-tanner-day-noma- park/> Gordon-Reed, Annette, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W. W. 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It’s that time of the year where romance is in the air (or maybe it isn’t) and the perfect opportunity to watch a classic rom-com presents itself. Please excuse me as I indulge myself; romantic comedies happen to be my favourite film genre, so interesting to me that I wrote my undergraduate dissertation about 1990’s rom-coms. Did I do it as an excuse to rewatch some (not-so-guilty) guilty pleasures? Yes. But did I also want to examine the representations of women, sexuality and feminist discourse in these surprisingly complex films? Absolutely.  We all know the well-versed story of girl meets boy, they fall in love, face adversity, overcome said adversity, and live happily ever after. The end. The romantic comedy is “a genre that has continually been vilified for its poor artistic quality”, and the fact that, even today, it is regarded with contempt signals the low cultural value society places upon women’s interests. So the various mechanisms and ideologies that are in place within the rom-com, influencing perceptions of womanhood and romance, are not always highlighted within mainstream discourse of these films. On the face of it, most of them depict women falling hopelessly in love, sacrificing themselves or their dreams in the pursuit of a husband, which doesn’t seem very 'feminist'. At a time where pop culture was promoting Girl Power, romantic comedies were proposing a more nostalgic, traditional and hegemonic version of womanhood. Film scholars Steve Neale and Tamar Jeffers McDonald, building on Neale’s work, have coined this period of rom-coms as ‘new romances’ or ‘neo-traditional romances’, noting conventions of conservatism in the films of this time. I also suggest that there is a distinction to be made between the ‘rom-com’ and the ‘chick-flick’; the latter is associated with “a return to femininity, the primacy of romantic attachments, girlpower, a focus on female pleasure and […] the value of consumer culture and girlie goods[…]”, while the new romance is focused entirely on securing the most traditional and modest ending for its characters. Notably, the rise of ‘postfeminism’ emerged around this time. Purporting to offer women choice over the way they lead their lives and citing the redundancy of feminism now that gender equality has supposedly been achieved, postfeminism often  promotes conservative life choices for women, reinforcing gender expectations rather than dismantling them. In these new romances women are encouraged to hold a complex and contradictory position; pursuing success in both their professional and personal lives, which inevitably results in unequal roles in relationships and failure in not meeting society’s expectations. It is important to note that the romantic comedies of this time, and postfeminism more generally, favour white, heterosexual, middle-class women, therefore failing to recognise diversity and disparity within womens’ experiences which means that this version of womanhood is not accessible to all. If you couldn’t already tell, I’m not exactly the biggest believer in postfeminism’s promise that women can have it all.  The neo-traditional rom-coms embody the postfeminist inclination for conservatism and conventional femininity; women are encouraged to seek out romance, yet be virtuous, to view marriage as the pinnacle of life, but not appear desperate, and above all strive for a life of domestic bliss. Women enjoy these films and identify with their characters, yet the female representations are not necessarily empowering nor aligned with contemporary feminist thought. But I, and millions of others, still love classic rom-coms like Sleepless In Seattle  or Notting Hill , and they don’t necessarily empower women and their life choices. There must be something at work within these films for them to have experienced such prolonged popularity, but is it at the expense of feminist principles? Sex (or a lack of) in neo-traditional rom-coms The de-emphasis of sex is central in the romantic comedies from this period, presenting women who are less interested in having sexual, physically-fulfilling relationships than they are in forming an emotional connection with ‘the one’. The ‘neo-traditional’ woman possesses a certain innocence and conservatism as she desires romance, a husband and family just as much as, if not more than, individual success in life. In You’ve Got Mail , when asked about having ‘cyber-sex’ with her chatroom friend ‘NYC152’, Kathleen (Meg Ryan) primly responds, “it’s not like that”, insinuating that the concept is shocking, or simply too sexy to be something she engages with. Apart from Pretty Woman ’s Vivian (a sex worker), the new romance woman is a desexualised being. The neo-traditional woman’s sexuality (her hetero sexuality) is inherently foregrounded by the genre, which showcases the perceived stability and romantic supremacy of heterosexual relationships, but her body is never a site of sex appeal. Women are therefore rewarded with a relationship and success in return for enacting post-feminism’s conservative version of femininity. Casual dating is not relevant to these women, instead abstinence is framed as the responsible, ‘right’ decision before meeting ‘the one’. This sets an expectation for women to be selective in their choice of romantic or sexual partner if they want to be completely romantically fulfilled. Postfeminist ideals of ‘having it all’ are pertinent to every aspect of women’s lives, and these rom-coms aid in creating that precedent. A traditional modern woman: Kathleen unknowingly falls in love in real life with the the man she speaks to online. You've Got Mail, Nora Ephron (Warner Bros., 1998) Of course, an exception to this trope is rom-com icon Bridget Jones (Reneé Zellweger). She engages first in a lustful, thrilling love affair with her boss  Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and later a passionate, albeit tumultuous, relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). She enjoys her independence as a modern woman, free to enjoy sex and casual dating, but also acknowledges that she still lives under the patriarchy. In order to feel feminine and attractive she attempts to quit smoking and lose weight; she painfully waxes, shaves and plucks her body hair and dreads the prospect of becoming a spinster, despite being just thirty. While Bridget does represent a new kind of womanhood for the new millennium, she also represents the postfeminist hangover from the 1990s, believing that the conventions of traditional femininity will bring her lifelong happiness in the form of a man who loves her. Since the film’s release almost 25 years ago, it has been debated online and in academia alike whether Bridget Jones’s Diary  is a piece of feminist work. I don’t think this film seeks to radically empower women and I don’t see Bridget as the ultimate feminist icon. But what she represents, a simultaneous awareness of the patriarchy yet conformity to its gender expectations, is something most women can relate to. For that reason, Bridget represents a very real and sympathetic version of womanhood and femininity which I believe makes her at the very least a female icon. She isn’t perfect, but neither is the woman watching her at home. New romance women in the workplace While women in new romances are depicted as professionally successful, as Diane Negra notes, these films “offset the threat of the urban ‘career woman’ by establishing her use of workplace resources as a means in the pursuit of romance”, constructing a retrograde image of modern working women. In Sleepless In Seattle Annie (Meg Ryan) uses her journalist resources to locate Sam (Tom Hanks) after hearing him on the radio, while Vivian accidentally finds love working as Edward’s prostitute in Pretty Woman . Bridget Jones has a flirty (pretty inappropriate) workplace relationship with her boss, which would certainly bring up some red flags and an email to HR in our current society. Kathleen’s first face-to-face meeting with Joe (Tom Hanks) in You’ve Got Mail is in her independent bookstore, ‘The Shop Around the Corner’. Throughout the film they shift from acquaintances, to rivals in the book-selling business, and eventually become lovers, connecting Kathleen’s career to the romantic plot. So while the women in neo-traditional rom-coms do not necessarily enter their professions seeking romance, the continuous use of this narrative reinforces the representation of women not taking their work seriously, encouraging their regression out of the workplace and into domestic roles. This rejection of the workplace in the pursuit of love directly challenges the matter of ‘having it all’ that I mentioned earlier. Under postfeminist thought, women are expected to balance a high-flying career, a fulfilling romantic relationship and maintenance of rigorous beauty standards. These romantic comedies profess to depict women embodying the harmonious achievement of all three of these categories by the end of the film with their happy endings. But what they actually portray is the struggle to attain this equilibrium; in many of these films the female protagonist is required to sacrifice an element of herself in order to reach the conservative postfeminist pinnacle of a heterosexual relationship. “Big, Huge”: Vivian can only embark on her journey to ‘having it all’ once she looks the part. Pretty Woman, dir. by Garry Marshall (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, 1990) In Sleepless In Seattle , Annie is opposed to the idea of destiny at the beginning of the film, however once she hears Sam’s voice on the radio one night she suddenly believes that she belongs with this man she has never met. She embodies a simultaneous dichotomy of passive follower of fate and active believer in her own choices as the film sees Annie forgo her principles (dismissing destiny) and  search to find the mysterious man to whom she is inexplicably drawn. This demonstrates how, under the guise of postfeminist ‘choice’, destiny presents women with “well-regulated liberty” rather than complete free will. In the neo-traditional rom-com, postfeminism is ideologically linked with the concept of destiny; what is framed as a magical alignment of soul mates in actuality justifies the reinstatement of women in a position of domesticity. Similarly, in You’ve Got Mail , Kathleen renounces her career, personal judgement and independence after Joe (her love interest) puts her out of business and conceals the truth about knowing her true identity on an over-thirties’ chatroom. Bridget Jones also feels compelled to leave her desirable publishing job because of her love interest. Although it is her decision to leave the publishing firm, the uncomfortable position Daniel puts her in (by having begun a relationship with someone he is in charge of’ and subsequently cheating on her) speaks to the choices modern women have to navigate, prioritising a relationship over a career, which confirms the difficulty of truly being able to have it all. She ultimately quits because of a man who makes her feel desperate and embarrassed. Crucially, in many of the romantic relationships portrayed in the neo-traditional rom-coms their foundations are built upon duplicity and power imbalance between man and woman. Joe knows Kathleen’s online identity, closes her bookstore, and still romantically pursues her, while Edward in Pretty Woman  is aware of his growing feelings for Vivian and continues to engage in their relationship, despite its transactional nature. Vivian and Kathleen are not equal to Edward and Joe in terms of knowledge, power or economic standing during the foundational moments of their relationships, thus setting a precedent for the behaviours and power dynamic that women should expect from aspirational on-screen relationships. This simply reiterates postfeminism’s roots in conservative heterosexual identity. These films are able to construct romance from male agency and female passivity by depicting such relationships with ‘happily ever afters’ and the promise of a stable future in the form of blissful domesticity. Having it all: Anna achieves fame, family and romance in Notting Hill, Roger Michell (Universal Pictures, 1999) Interestingly, Anna (Julia Roberts) in Notting Hill  subverts this trend. She does not forfeit any part of herself or lifestyle, instead ending up with a more desirable way of life than she has at the beginning of the film. Through gaining a relationship with William (Hugh Grant), Anna is able to maintain an acting career, husband, children and fame, but only because he is the one to devote his life to her, rather than her to him. But it is clear that Anna is only able to achieve this position as the epitome of the postfeminist woman because of her social standing as a wealthy white woman. So while she represents something idealistic for the postfeminist rom-com, she is not necessarily an example of modern intersectional feminism. Feminists vs rom-coms? The neo-traditional romantic comedies can be held partially responsible for maintaining the perception of romance and women’s popular entertainment as trashy or outdated; by guiding their female characters into positions of passivity these films represent typical conservative postfeminism. Therefore the relevance of their representations of womanhood is considered limited to contemporary women. Despite this, real women do relate to the neo-traditional romantic comedies. Their depictions of postfeminist struggle (balancing feminism, traditional femininity, and individuality) are familiar to all women, demonstrating that these rom-coms are not totally incorrect in their representations. Enjoying neo-traditional rom-coms does not necessitate an absolute agreement with the types of romance, relationships and female representations that these films propose. Perhaps, the ‘feminist’ thing to do is to celebrate these films on the basis that their cultural value is overlooked and sneered at; the reclamation of women’s popular entertainment (made by and for women) can be empowering in its own right. In boxing things into binary, opposed categories of ‘feminist’ and ‘not feminist’ we are at risk of losing the nuance and contradictions of being not only women, but simply human. Just as these romantic comedies are not perfect or consistent in their ‘feminist’ stance, people are flawed and complicated. It would be wrong to say that the rom-coms of this era are models of perfectly enacted feminism (whatever that may be); but why must everything a woman enjoys be dissected and proved ‘worthy’? Why can’t I be a feminist while also enjoying something romantic, nostalgic and entertaining? The people who watch these films form their own interpretations of the representations of women, romance and society depicted on-screen from their own experiences. To quote Michele Schreiber, it is wrong “to pigeonhole these films and [...] ignore the many complex issues with which they engage, and to assume that women spectators cannot find a variety of pleasures in the same texts that they simultaneously understand to be limited in their representations of women’s choices.” Who doesn't love a rom-com? Sleepless In Seattle, Nora Ephron (TriStar Pictures, 1993) This is where I stand with my enjoyment of rom-coms. Like Schreiber says, I trust my judgement and media literacy to recognise that the era in which some of my favourite films were made differs from the world I live in today. If anything, it is fascinating to study how certain attitudes and conversations around topics like body image, patriarchy and femininity have evolved over thirty years. I simply enjoy these films for the comfort and entertainment value that they offer, and many women love them for this reason. With iconic moments, brilliant acting partnerships (hello, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts), and heartwarming stories, anyone can find something to enjoy about romantic comedies. So the verdict is: yes, you can love rom-coms and still be a feminist. But maybe I’m biased… Sources Ferriss, Suzanne and Mallory Young, Introduction: chick flicks and chick culture’ in Chick Flicks: Contemporary Women at the Movies , ed. by Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young (New York, Routledge, 2007), pp. 1-25 Guilluy, Alice, “Guilty Pleasures”- European Audiences and Contemporary Hollywood Romantic Comedy (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021) McDonald, Tamar Jeffers, Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre (London: Wallflower Press, 2007) McRobbie, Angela, ‘Postfeminism and and Popular Culture: Bridget Jones and The New Gender Regime’, in Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture , ed. by Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negra (North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2007), pp. 27-39 Neale, Steve, ‘The Big Romance or Something Wild?: Romantic Comedy Today’, Screen , vol. 33.3 (1992), 284-299 Negra, Diane, What A Girl Wants?: Fantasizing the Reclamation of Self in Postfeminism (Abingdon: Taylor & Francis Group, 2008) Schreiber, Michele, American Postfeminist Cinema: Women, Romance and Contemporary Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014) Filmography Bridget Jones’s Diary , dir. by Sharon Maguire (Universal Pictures, 2001) Notting Hill , dir. by Roger Michell (Universal Pictures, 1999) Pretty Woman , dir. by Garry Marshall (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, 1990) Sleepless In Seattle , dir. by Nora Ephron (TriStar Pictures, 1993) You’ve Got Mail , dir. by Nora Ephron (Warner Bros., 1998)