Women's Cultural History

From Hieroglyphs to High Society

[nefertiticlub]

On the theme of Nefertiti, this is such an enchanting book, filled with humour and fact. The diary of a young secretary working for the Egypt Exploration Society in the late 1920s and 1930s, who was lucky enough to be sent to Egypt on an expedition. She describes the season with the thrill of a tourist but the detail of a scholar and it provides a delightful insight into dig life. She follows up with "City in the Sand" about her travels in Greece and subsequent work in Iraq. Amazon helpfully provides a preview, but it is also super cheap to buy!

[secretlesbians]

Lesbian pulp covers from the 1950s and 60s.

Shocking!

Twisted!

Tormented!

Passionate!

RAGING NEEDS

[nefertiticlub]

Whilst undertaking research into twentieth century Egyptomania, I came across this brilliant 1930s American club for attractive women with defects in one eye, the Nefertiti Club, hence the username for this blog. Drawing inspiration from the theory that Nefertiti was blind in one eye, due to the above bust found in 1912 (now in Berlin), they owned their disability in style! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find much more information about the club, such as the number of members or what kind of meetings they had, but the above snippet is from an larger article entitled ‘Making Affliction Attractive’ from a July 1939 edition of the Gloucester Citizen (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

[nefertiticlub]

From 'onesies' to wear in the air raid shelter to jewellery created from aeroplane parts our new exhibition looks at how fashion survived and even flourished under the strict rules of rationing in 1940s Britain.

[oupacademic]

Transgender culture and community, now and then | OUPblog

Today, there are countless ways to identify as trans, with new ways being created all the time, mostly by younger trans people. Gender was never a binary, and that has become especially evident in recent years.

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves contributor Genny Beemyn discusses the past and future of transgender culture.

[nefertiticlub]

Despite this being a women's history blog, I would like to pay homage to the most important man in history. Harry Pointer, Victorian cat photographer, I salute you.

[maudelynn]

The always fashionable Bebe Daniels 

[nefertiticlub]

This 1916 obituary for French explorer Jane Dieulafoy has got to be one of the greatest obituaries ever. Although cross-dressing was not just frowned upon, but illegal in late 19th century France, she was personally granted special permission from the government, known as permission de travestissement, to dress as she chose and wear her hair short for the rest of her remarkable life. Unlike many famous cross-dressers of history, she was fiercely loyal to her husband and spoke out openly against divorce. However, she was just as outspoken about women’s rights and campaigned to put them on an equal footing with men, both socially and in the military.

Article from the Daily Record, 27 May 1916, sourced from: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.