Episodes

Saturday May 21, 2022
Saturday May 21, 2022
The Long History of the Lavender Menace
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 230 with Heather Rose Jones
In this episode we talk about:
- The changing focus of feminist activism across the centuries
- Different ways in which feminism was attacked
- The rationale behind accusing feminists of lesbianism
- Cycles of activism and backlash
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Saturday May 07, 2022
On the Shelf for May 2022 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 229
Saturday May 07, 2022
Saturday May 07, 2022
On the Shelf for May 2022
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 229 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
- The merry month of May
- Book shopping!
- The Cambridge Companion to Lesbian Literature edited by Jodie Medd
- Ingenious Trade: Women and Work in Seventeenth-Century London by Laura Gowing
- New and forthcoming fiction
- What I’ve been reading:
- The Company Daughters by Samantha Rajaram
- Passing as Elias by Kate Bloomfield
- Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
- Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
- Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Stormsong (Kingston Cycle #2) by C.L. Polk
- Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott
- This month we interview Ursula Whitcher about her story in the previous episode.
- The inspirations for the story
- Writing disability in a historic context
- Braiding different interests into a single story
- Ursula’s previous fiction appearances on the LHMPodcast
- Huebner, Sabine R. & Christian Laes (eds). 2019. The Single Life in the Roman and Later Roman World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-108-47017-9
- ”The Last Tutor” by Ursula Whitcher in Asimov’s Science Fiction May/June 2022
A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Ursula Whitcher Online
- Website: yarntheory.net
- Twitter: @superyarn

Saturday Apr 30, 2022
Saturday Apr 30, 2022
”The Spirits of Cabassus” by Ursula Whitcher
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 228 with Heather Rose Jones
This quarter’s fiction episode presents “The Spirits of Cabassus” by Ursula Whitcher, narrated by Heather Rose Jones.
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Ursula Whitcher Online
- Website: yarntheory.net
- Twitter: @superyarn

Saturday Apr 16, 2022
Charlotte Charke - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 227
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
Charlotte Charke
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 227 with Heather Rose Jones
In this episode we talk about:
- The decidedly queer life of 18th c English actor Charlotte Charke
- The full text of A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke…Written by herself can be found through Google Books
- This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Charlotte Charke
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Saturday Apr 02, 2022
On the Shelf for April 2022 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 226
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
On the Shelf for April 2022
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 226 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
- When is a fairy tale retelling a historic story?
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- Frye, Susan & Karen Robertson (eds). Maids and Mistresses, Cousins and Queens: Women’s Alliances in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0-19-511735-2
- Book Shopping
- Huebner, Sabine R. & Christian Laes (eds). 2019. The Single Life in the Roman and Later Roman World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-108-47017-9
- New and forthcoming fiction
- Promises in Pompeii (Ancient Ashes #1) by Violet Morley
- Cowboys and Kisses by Karin Kallmaker
- Once in Berlin by Jo Havens
- The Undesirables by Lumen Reese
- Walks with Spirits by Edale Lane
- Spear by Nicola Griffith
- The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones
- Something Bright by R. Cooper
- This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke
- What am I reading?
- A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock #2) by Sherry Thomas
- The Hollow of Fear (Lady Sherlock #3) by Sherry Thomas
- The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock #4) by Sherry Thomas
- Band Sinister by K.J. Charles
- Backwards to Oregon by Jae
- Orlando Furioso by Ariosto (trans. Guido Waldman)
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Monday Mar 21, 2022
Monday Mar 21, 2022
A History of Lesbian Sex in Pornography
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 225 with Heather Rose Jones
With apologies for the sound quality problems in the originally-posted version of this episode.
Note: This episode has an accompanying slide show, which can be accessed through the YouTube version of the podcast. (See transcript link.) Please note that the video includes explicit sexual imagery.
In this episode we talk about:
- A brief history of pornography/erotica as a social and legal category
- The varied and changing place of sex between women in pornography
- The rise of pornography as a socio-political force across the 18th and 19th centuries
- The intertwined history of pornography and sensational medical literature
- How pornography of the “decadent” era both objectified lesbian sex and opened doors to lesbian self-representation
- Images—all images are sincerely believed to be in the public domain, based on the evidence cited in Wikimedia, which is linked when available.
- 1. From Jean-Charles de Latouche(?) Histoire de Dom Bougre, portier des Chartreux 1748
- 2. From I Modi (The modes), sonnet by Pietro Aretino art by Marcantonio Raimondi, mid-16th c
- 3. Marcantonio Raimondi Woman with a dildo mid-16th c
- 4. Johann Heinrich Tischbein Diana & Callisto 18th c
- 5. Pompeii - fresco in a bathhouse
- 6. Illustration of “sodomites” from a Bible Moralisée Vienna MS 2554
- 7. Jean Mignon Women bathing ca. 1535-1555
- 8. Nicholas Chorier L’Academie des Dames 1660
- 9. L’Ecole des filles (The School for Venus) 19th c. illustration
- 10. Jean Barrin Venus dans le Cloitre, ou La Religieuse en Chemise (Venus in the Convent) 1683
- 11. Delarivere Manley The New Atalantis 1714
- 12. Denis Diderot La Religieuse (The Nun) 1797 edition
- 13. Thérèse Philosophe (Therese the Philosopher) 1748
- 14. From Jean-Charles de Latouche(?) Histoire de Dom Bougre, portier des Chartreux 1748
- 15. Illustration from Giacomo Casanova A History of My Life by Jules-Adolphe Chauvet, late 19th c illustration for 18th c text
- 16. Marquis de Sade Juliette 1797
- 17. Illustration from Le paysan ét la paysane pervertis; ou Les dangérs de la ville (The Perverted Peasant-man and Peasant-woman; or the Dangers of the Town by Restif de La Bretonne 1787
- 18. Political attack pamphlet showing Queen Marie Antoinette in a lesbian embrace
- 19. Political attack pamphlet showing Queen Marie Antoinette in a lesbian embrace
- 20. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres The Turkish Bath 1862
- 21. Les Deux Amies (The Two Girlfriends) by Jean-Jacques Lagrenée
- 22. Lesbian Games – anonymous lithograph ca. 1840
- 23. Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley for Théophile Gautier’s Mademoiselle de Maupin, 1835
- 24. Nicolas Francois Octave Tassaert Le Femme Damnée (inspired by the poetry of Baudelaire) 1859
- 25. Cover for Adolphe Belot Mademoiselle Giraud ma Femme (Mlle. Giraud my Wife) 1870
- 26. George Barbier 1922 illustration for Pierre Louÿs The Songs of Bilitis 1894
- 27. Frontispiece for Catulle Mendès Lila and Colette 1885
- 28. Gustave Courbet Le Sommeil (the sleepers) 1866
- This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Sex between women
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Saturday Mar 19, 2022
Saturday Mar 19, 2022
A History of Lesbian Sex in Pornography
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 225 with Heather Rose Jones
Note: This episode has an accompanying slide show, which can be accessed through the YouTube version of the podcast. (See transcript link.) Please note that the video includes explicit sexual imagery.
In this episode we talk about:
- A brief history of pornography/erotica as a social and legal category
- The varied and changing place of sex between women in pornography
- The rise of pornography as a socio-political force across the 18th and 19th centuries
- The intertwined history of pornography and sensational medical literature
- How pornography of the “decadent” era both objectified lesbian sex and opened doors to lesbian self-representation
- Images—all images are sincerely believed to be in the public domain, based on the evidence cited in Wikimedia, which is linked when available.
- 1. From Jean-Charles de Latouche(?) Histoire de Dom Bougre, portier des Chartreux 1748
- 2. From I Modi (The modes), sonnet by Pietro Aretino art by Marcantonio Raimondi, mid-16th c
- 3. Marcantonio Raimondi Woman with a dildo mid-16th c
- 4. Johann Heinrich Tischbein Diana & Callisto 18th c
- 5. Pompeii - fresco in a bathhouse
- 6. Illustration of “sodomites” from a Bible Moralisée Vienna MS 2554
- 7. Jean Mignon Women bathing ca. 1535-1555
- 8. Nicholas Chorier L’Academie des Dames 1660
- 9. L’Ecole des filles (The School for Venus) 19th c. illustration
- 10. Jean Barrin Venus dans le Cloitre, ou La Religieuse en Chemise (Venus in the Convent) 1683
- 11. Delarivere Manley The New Atalantis 1714
- 12. Denis Diderot La Religieuse (The Nun) 1797 edition
- 13. Thérèse Philosophe (Therese the Philosopher) 1748
- 14. From Jean-Charles de Latouche(?) Histoire de Dom Bougre, portier des Chartreux 1748
- 15. Illustration from Giacomo Casanova A History of My Life by Jules-Adolphe Chauvet, late 19th c illustration for 18th c text
- 16. Marquis de Sade Juliette 1797
- 17. Illustration from Le paysan ét la paysane pervertis; ou Les dangérs de la ville (The Perverted Peasant-man and Peasant-woman; or the Dangers of the Town by Restif de La Bretonne 1787
- 18. Political attack pamphlet showing Queen Marie Antoinette in a lesbian embrace
- 19. Political attack pamphlet showing Queen Marie Antoinette in a lesbian embrace
- 20. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres The Turkish Bath 1862
- 21. Les Deux Amies (The Two Girlfriends) by Jean-Jacques Lagrenée
- 22. Lesbian Games – anonymous lithograph ca. 1840
- 23. Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley for Théophile Gautier’s Mademoiselle de Maupin, 1835
- 24. Nicolas Francois Octave Tassaert Le Femme Damnée (inspired by the poetry of Baudelaire) 1859
- 25. Cover for Adolphe Belot Mademoiselle Giraud ma Femme (Mlle. Giraud my Wife) 1870
- 26. George Barbier 1922 illustration for Pierre Louÿs The Songs of Bilitis 1894
- 27. Frontispiece for Catulle Mendès Lila and Colette 1885
- 28. Gustave Courbet Le Sommeil (the sleepers) 1866
- This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Sex between women
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Saturday Mar 05, 2022
On the Shelf for March 2022 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 224
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
On the Shelf for March 2022
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 224 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
- The 2022 fiction line-up
- What I look for when buying fiction
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
- Fisher, Will. 2013. “The Erotics of Chin Chucking in Seventeenth-Century England” in Sex Before Sex: Figuring the Act in Early Modern England. ed. James M. Bromley and Will Stockton. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-8076-4 pp.141-69
- Ballaster, Ros "`The Vices of Old Rome Revived': Representations of Female Same-Sex Desire in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England", in Suzanne Raitt (ed.), Volcanoes and Pearl-Divers: Lesbian Feminist Studies. Onlywomen, 1993.
- Frangos, Jennifer. 2009 “The Woman in Man’s Clothes and the Pleasures of Delarivier Manley’s ‘New Cabal’” in Sexual Perversions, 1670–1890, ed. by Julie Peakman. Palgrave Macmillan, London. ISBN 978-1-349-36397-1 pp.95-116
- Barker, Jessica. 2020. Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture. The Boydel Press, Woodbridge. ISBN 978-1-78327-271-6, pp.79-88
- Wilson, Jean. 1995. “Two names of friendship, but one Starre: Memorials to Single-Sex Couples in the Early Modern Period” in Church Monuments: Journal of the Church Monuments Society 10:70-83
- Frye, Susan & Karen Robertson (eds.). 1999. Maids and Mistresses, Cousins and Queens: Women’s Alliances in Early Modern England. Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford.
- New and forthcoming fiction
- Queen and Bandit by Geonn Cannon
- Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix (Remixed Classics #3) by Aminah Mae Safi
- Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
- One for All by Lillie Lainoff
- Her Duchess to Desire by Jane Walsh
- A Lady's Finder (When the Blood is Up #3) by Edie Cay
- Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
- The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson
- The Ribbon Leaf by Lori Weber
- Into the Underwood: Maiden by J.L. Robertson
- What I’m reading:
- The Odyssyey translated by Emily Wilson (audiobook)
- ”Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances” by Aliette de Bodard (no f/f content)
- The Phoenix Empress by K. Arsenault Rivera (audiobook)
- The Company Daughters by Samantha Rajaram
A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Sunday Feb 20, 2022
Sunday Feb 20, 2022
The Marriage(?) of Berenike and Mesopotamia
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 223 with Heather Rose Jones
In this episode we talk about:
- References to women’s same-sex desire in 2-5th c Egypt
- The 2nd c Greek novel Babyloniaka and it’s possible presentation of marriage between two women.
- The full discussion of Iamblichos’ Babyloniaka can be found in this blog entry which has links to the source materials I used.
- This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Babyloniaka (Iamblichos)
A transcript of this podcast is available here.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Saturday Feb 05, 2022
On the Shelf for February 2022 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 222
Saturday Feb 05, 2022
Saturday Feb 05, 2022
On the Shelf for February 2022
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 222 with Heather Rose Jones
Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.
In this episode we talk about:
- Visibility and advance publicity
- Bid on my research consultation in the Romancing the Vote 2022 fundraiser.
- Classics…But Make It Gay volumes 1 and 2 available to order
- Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
-
- Blondell, Ruby & Kirk Ormand (eds). 2015. Ancient Sex: New Essays. The Ohio State University Press, Columbus. ISBN 978-0-8142-1283-7
- New and forthcoming fiction
-
- The Raven and the Firebird (From the Ashes of Victory #5) by Cameron Darrow
- Daring Duplicity, the Wellington Mysteries, Vol.1: Adventures of a Lesbian Victorian Detective by Edale Lane
- The Luring of a Lovely Lady (Scandalous Spinsters #8) by Emma Locke
- March in Time by E.A. McNulty
- Flung Out of Space: The Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith by Grace Ellis & Hannah Templer (graphic novel)
- The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
- Sweet Paladin: A Lesbian time-travel fantasy romance (In the Queerness of Time Book 1) by Alex Washoe
A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
- Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
- RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
- Twitter: @LesbianMotif
- Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
- The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon
Links to Heather Online
- Website: http://alpennia.com
- Email: Heather Rose Jones
- Twitter: @heatherosejones
- Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)