I've never heard of her before now. But after a quick search I wonder if she was transgender. Yes she may have been biologically a woman who was attracted to women, but given she is described as doing things that were more typical for men, having a masculine appearance, and even being known as "Gentleman Jack" by estate residents and "Fred" by a lover makes me wonder if the "first modern lesbian" idea is at all accurate.
Well, good one Shadow Wolf. Yours is the only serious response so far.
Yes, it does sound like Anne probably had higher than average testosterone levels. But some lesbians clearly do, and others don't.
DallasApple - you seem to have got most of the basic information quite confused. Not to worry. Whatever gives you a laugh
I thought there was a lot of interesting and illuminating material in this documentary, and not only about Anne Lister. I don't think I'm alone in that. Clearly it is just the demographic represented here at RF who find it so .... insignificant ? boring ? stupid ? ... no-one bothered with it in the Men's Issues DIR either. So only me (and my partner) and a bunch of historians and the BBC consider it worth anybody's attention . Pay no attention to us.
That tells me something about current state of dialog about gender issues, so I actually appreciate all the non-replies. That casts light on the subject of what is discussable, and what is considered merely cussable.
Thank you to all those who helped me get this clear. Silence is a meaningful response. As an unknown genius once said ..." Spot the obvious omissions".
But if any of you watch it and begin discussing it, you may find that there is some interesting material here, if you find human nature interesting, as I do.
I'll leave it at that.
