“Few and the Most Depraved of their Sex”: Queering Regency Female Reformers
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 07/06/2019

1819 saw the formation of the first working class female reform society in Blackburn to aid the cause of suffrage and parliamentary reform. The women were insulted, mocked, and satirised in the press and print due to the perceived instability of their gender. Their roles in the family were criticised in pamphlets and their bodies attacked through caricature. I utilise the idea of ‘female masculinity’ to interpret how the female reformers constructed their own identities but also how they were viewed from a conservative or Loyalist perspective. This paper will explore how through engaging with the story and experiences of these pioneering Lancastrians, my own queerness, sexuality, and gender intersected with the analysis. Simply put, does the analysis conceive of female reformers as deviant, othered, or masculine because of my own experiences? And then, does this matter?

Caitlin Kitchener (University of York)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: Queer Frontier: LGBTQ Research and Experiences in Archaeology