LGBT+ history - a taboo in Welsh history?
The
‘Hidden Heroines’ public vote has taken place, with the Welsh woman
who will be celebrated with a statue in Cardiff being revealed at the end of
the week. This BBC Wales project however has not gone without criticism. Celebrating
these five women has been great, as well as the 100 women put forward by WEN
Wales, who will continue to celebrate 100 Welsh women this year too. But this
campaign for a statue of a real woman in Cardiff becoming a competition has
been criticised before, with BBC Wales now making it an actual vote between
women.
BBC Wales also states that this will be the first statue of a real woman in Wales, though the research by Sara Huws shows there is no statue of a real woman in Cardiff, not all of Wales. The historical context is removed in placing the statue in Cardiff, outside BBC Wales HQ, rather than in a place these women were born, lived or worked. There is no suggestion of a statue to Cranogwen in Llangrannog, or to Elizabeth Andrews or Lady Rhondda in the Rhondda.
Betty Campbell is the only one from Cardiff, making a statue of her in Cardiff the most suitable, which has also been called for before by Uzo Iwobi, Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru. But she was from Butetown, where she was Wales’ first black headteacher, so shouldn’t her statue be in Butetown? There’s also of course the question of why don’t each of these women get a statue? And more Welsh women after that? Or is the statue by BBC Wales only symbolic of celebrating Welsh women rather than actually exploring the whole history of women in Wales? If Betty Campbell ‘wins’ the public vote, the only non-white woman in this final 5, will BBC Wales be committed to doing more to uncover the black history of Wales, to celebrate women of colour in Wales in proper historical contexnt, or with they only put up a statue?
That they’ve been called ‘Hidden Heroines’ has also been questioned. Deirdre Beddoe called for a ‘women’s history’ of Wales in 1981, and she and many other women have uncovered women’s history and gender history in Wales since. Their work is not recognised by BBC Wales, like Sara Huws’ original research into the lack of statues in Cardiff was ignored. Arguably, it puts Welsh history even more backwards than it is to say these most celebrated Welsh women are still ‘hidden.’ (The ‘Merched Mawreddog’ title in the Welsh version is preferable, though I would personally prefer ‘Menywod Mawreddog.’) Welsh history, however, continues to be behind in exploring gender history, queer history, as well as the continued erasure of the history of black populations and the many other populations of colour in Wales.
The issue I particularly want to highlight is the hypocrisy of BBC Wales patting themselves on the back for giving attention to these women they proclaim are ‘hidden,’ while still keeping a part of these women’s history hidden.
This was first evident from the article and video on Cranogwen. Much of the amazing history of Sarah Jane Rees is covered; her early life, her travels to the United States, her teaching and being the first woman editor in Wales. Y Frythones was the first Welsh journal by women for women, a follow-on from Y Gymraes, which was for women but edited by men. Cranogwen continues to be influential as the tradition of Welsh women’s magazines by and for women continues, with Codi Pais for example.
What was omitted was the LGBT history. The context given in Norena Shopland’s research into Cranogwen’s early life as a sailor is ignored, which also looks at the history of other sailor women (possibly queer women, possibly trans men). This historical context comes from a book on LGBT history of Wales, showing LGBT history was ignored, even when Shopland continues to research Cranogwen’s life.
Jane Aaron’s research on Y Frythones is also vital - though BBC mentioned Y Frythones, her entire influence as editor of Y Frythones is ignored when the queer influence is ignored, and therefore the whole scope of Cranogwen’s influence as editor. Similarly, though they mention her poetry they don’t mention the importance of her Eisteddfod prize winning poem 'Y Fodrwy Priodasol’ which gives women’s viewpoints on marriage, critical of the expectation on women to marry. Cranogwen’s writings to women were her most passionate, Aaron writes, such as 'Fy Ffrynd,’ written to Jane Thomas, her 'lifelong partner,’ who Cranogwen lived with for the last 20 years of her life.
This omitting of LGBT history in the ‘hidden’ history of these women continued with Lady Rhondda. This was not the first time this has been an issue - Shopland discussed the erasure of Lady Rhondda’s sexuality in a play on her life. It’s even worse when erased in the history of these women, and other LGBT+ figures, in mainstream media. It surely says something that mainstream Welsh media that erases LGBT+ Welsh history in 2019. This is presumably to not upset homophobes – if it was ‘out of respect,’ is that because it would be disrespectful to imply Cranogwen was a lesbian, when she probably was? The LGBT+ history needs to be included not just for the LGBT+ community but for those homophobes who need to know that LGBT+ are a part of Welsh history, a part of history that is celebrated as heroic.
The response to Shopland’s criticism was that their personal lives was omitted out of respect - they focussed on their influence and legacy. I’ve hopefully shown that LGBT+ history is influential and a part of their legacy. However, that response turned out to be inaccurate, as the video on Elaine Morgan’s life did mention that she had a husband and 3 sons. The personal lives that included a woman’s life partner being another woman, or a woman having had relationships with men and women, were omitted out of respect but not the heterosexual personal lives. What makes the queerness of Cranogwen’s life so disrespectful? What makes Jane Thomas irrelevant in a project that aims to recover hidden history but then keeps Jane Thomas hidden? Focussing on their influence and focussing on their queerness is not somehow mutually exclusive. Cranogwen’s influence was in part a ‘queer’ influence. She and Lady Rhondda influence LGBT+ people now, from lesbians and bisexual women to all LGBT+ Welsh people looking at their own history.
The issue I’m bringing up here isn’t really about the ‘Hidden Heroines’/’Merched Mawreddog’ project, or about a statue. A statue to celebrate a great Welsh woman, possibly a lesbian or bisexual woman or possibly a black woman, will be great. This project, and the way it was done, has however brought up a whole heap of questions. These issues regarding Welsh history, women in Welsh history and intersectionality in Welsh history, as well as how they’re discussed in the mainstream, need to be discussed. This will hopefully lead to a Welsh history itself not erased, but which also does not erase the histories of women, people of colour and LGBT+ people. That is not even to mention queer people of colour, whose history is nonexistent in Welsh history. Intersectionality is needed, where queerness is not erased in ‘women’s history,’ - decolonisation of Welsh history is needed.
This February will be LGBT+ History Month and is an excellent place to start to learn more about LGBT+ history. The events of LGBT+ History Monts inspired me to research further into the LGBT+ history of Wales, when I was amazed to learn that queer women like me actually existed in the history of Wales. When Queer Wales was published, though it wasn’t favourably received by all, I realised there was LGBT+ history all around me. Having a sense of your own inclusivity and belonging is vital. That is the necessity of having, and knowing, your own history.
This history should not only be considered in one month of the year however, which is symbolic of the whole issue here. LGBT+ history and Black history should not be treated as separate and given tokenistic attention for a part of the year. The history of people of colour and LGBT+ history should not be separate from each other, as they shouldn’t be separate from Welsh history. Use these months as a starting point to learn your own history and the history of the people around you - as a starting point to uncovering and decolonising the whole, real history of Wales.
Further reading on Queer Wales:
Jane Aaron, ‘“Gender difference is nothing”: Cranogwen and Victorian Wales’ in Queer Wales.
Jane Aaron, ‘Developing Women’s Print Culture’ in Nineteenth Century Women’s Writing in Wales, 2007.
Cranogwen, Caniadau Cranogwen. 1870.
Cranogwen ed. Y Frythones, 1879-1891.
Deirdre Beddoe ‘Towards a Welsh women’s history’ Llafur 3:2 (1981).
Kirsti Bohata in Queer Wales / anything by Kirsti Bohata on Amy Dillwyn, Queer literature or colonialism.
Katie Gramich & Catherine Brennan ed. Welsh Women’s Poetry 1460-2001: An Anthology, 2003.
Angela V. John, Turning the Tide: The Life of Lady Rhondda, 2014.
Norena Shopland, Forbidden Lives: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Stories from Wales, 2017.
Huw Osborne ed. Queer Wales: The History, Culture and Politics of Queer Life in Wales, 2016.
Sian Rhiannon Williams, ‘Y Frythones: Portread Cofnodolion Merched y Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg o Gymraes yr Oes’ Llafur 4:1 (1984)
http://www.rainbowdragon.org
Glamorgan Archives, Queer Glamorgan: A Research Guide to Sources for the Study of LGBT History, 2018.
+
Yasmin Begum, ‘An independent Wales must undo the darkness of white supremacy’, Planet, 2018.
Yasmin Begum, ‘25 Years on from Wales’ Race Riots,’ Media Diversified, 2016.
Dr. Jasmine Donahaye also called for a statue of Lily Tobias, showing there are more women than these 5 shortlisted who also need more attention in our history, as there is also a Welsh and Jewish history that should continue to be uncovered: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33497685
Dr. Nia Edwards-Behi, ‘How to challenge racism in white west Wales?’ Planet, 2018.
Sadia Pineda Hameed, ‘“Save Our Sculpture” Questioning Cardiff’s Priorities,’ Welsh Arts Review, 2018.
Sara Huws, 'A Modest Proposal: A Statue of an Actual Woman for Cardiff,’ 2001. (Sara Huws originally brought attention to the lack of statues of real woman in Wales.)
Codi Pais, Cara and other journals for and/or by women in Wales. (+Codi Llais)
Charlotte Williams, Neil Evans & Paul O’Leary ed. A Tolerant Nation? 2003.
Charlotte Williams, Neil Evans & Paul O’Leary ed. A Tolerant Nation? Revisiting Ethnic Diversity in a Devolved Wales, 2015.
decolonisecymru
Feel free to add any more sources or readings! (@mairsaysno on twitter) And please go find out what are your local LGBT+ history events!
BBC Wales also states that this will be the first statue of a real woman in Wales, though the research by Sara Huws shows there is no statue of a real woman in Cardiff, not all of Wales. The historical context is removed in placing the statue in Cardiff, outside BBC Wales HQ, rather than in a place these women were born, lived or worked. There is no suggestion of a statue to Cranogwen in Llangrannog, or to Elizabeth Andrews or Lady Rhondda in the Rhondda.
Betty Campbell is the only one from Cardiff, making a statue of her in Cardiff the most suitable, which has also been called for before by Uzo Iwobi, Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru. But she was from Butetown, where she was Wales’ first black headteacher, so shouldn’t her statue be in Butetown? There’s also of course the question of why don’t each of these women get a statue? And more Welsh women after that? Or is the statue by BBC Wales only symbolic of celebrating Welsh women rather than actually exploring the whole history of women in Wales? If Betty Campbell ‘wins’ the public vote, the only non-white woman in this final 5, will BBC Wales be committed to doing more to uncover the black history of Wales, to celebrate women of colour in Wales in proper historical contexnt, or with they only put up a statue?
That they’ve been called ‘Hidden Heroines’ has also been questioned. Deirdre Beddoe called for a ‘women’s history’ of Wales in 1981, and she and many other women have uncovered women’s history and gender history in Wales since. Their work is not recognised by BBC Wales, like Sara Huws’ original research into the lack of statues in Cardiff was ignored. Arguably, it puts Welsh history even more backwards than it is to say these most celebrated Welsh women are still ‘hidden.’ (The ‘Merched Mawreddog’ title in the Welsh version is preferable, though I would personally prefer ‘Menywod Mawreddog.’) Welsh history, however, continues to be behind in exploring gender history, queer history, as well as the continued erasure of the history of black populations and the many other populations of colour in Wales.
The issue I particularly want to highlight is the hypocrisy of BBC Wales patting themselves on the back for giving attention to these women they proclaim are ‘hidden,’ while still keeping a part of these women’s history hidden.
This was first evident from the article and video on Cranogwen. Much of the amazing history of Sarah Jane Rees is covered; her early life, her travels to the United States, her teaching and being the first woman editor in Wales. Y Frythones was the first Welsh journal by women for women, a follow-on from Y Gymraes, which was for women but edited by men. Cranogwen continues to be influential as the tradition of Welsh women’s magazines by and for women continues, with Codi Pais for example.
What was omitted was the LGBT history. The context given in Norena Shopland’s research into Cranogwen’s early life as a sailor is ignored, which also looks at the history of other sailor women (possibly queer women, possibly trans men). This historical context comes from a book on LGBT history of Wales, showing LGBT history was ignored, even when Shopland continues to research Cranogwen’s life.
Jane Aaron’s research on Y Frythones is also vital - though BBC mentioned Y Frythones, her entire influence as editor of Y Frythones is ignored when the queer influence is ignored, and therefore the whole scope of Cranogwen’s influence as editor. Similarly, though they mention her poetry they don’t mention the importance of her Eisteddfod prize winning poem 'Y Fodrwy Priodasol’ which gives women’s viewpoints on marriage, critical of the expectation on women to marry. Cranogwen’s writings to women were her most passionate, Aaron writes, such as 'Fy Ffrynd,’ written to Jane Thomas, her 'lifelong partner,’ who Cranogwen lived with for the last 20 years of her life.
This omitting of LGBT history in the ‘hidden’ history of these women continued with Lady Rhondda. This was not the first time this has been an issue - Shopland discussed the erasure of Lady Rhondda’s sexuality in a play on her life. It’s even worse when erased in the history of these women, and other LGBT+ figures, in mainstream media. It surely says something that mainstream Welsh media that erases LGBT+ Welsh history in 2019. This is presumably to not upset homophobes – if it was ‘out of respect,’ is that because it would be disrespectful to imply Cranogwen was a lesbian, when she probably was? The LGBT+ history needs to be included not just for the LGBT+ community but for those homophobes who need to know that LGBT+ are a part of Welsh history, a part of history that is celebrated as heroic.
The response to Shopland’s criticism was that their personal lives was omitted out of respect - they focussed on their influence and legacy. I’ve hopefully shown that LGBT+ history is influential and a part of their legacy. However, that response turned out to be inaccurate, as the video on Elaine Morgan’s life did mention that she had a husband and 3 sons. The personal lives that included a woman’s life partner being another woman, or a woman having had relationships with men and women, were omitted out of respect but not the heterosexual personal lives. What makes the queerness of Cranogwen’s life so disrespectful? What makes Jane Thomas irrelevant in a project that aims to recover hidden history but then keeps Jane Thomas hidden? Focussing on their influence and focussing on their queerness is not somehow mutually exclusive. Cranogwen’s influence was in part a ‘queer’ influence. She and Lady Rhondda influence LGBT+ people now, from lesbians and bisexual women to all LGBT+ Welsh people looking at their own history.
The issue I’m bringing up here isn’t really about the ‘Hidden Heroines’/’Merched Mawreddog’ project, or about a statue. A statue to celebrate a great Welsh woman, possibly a lesbian or bisexual woman or possibly a black woman, will be great. This project, and the way it was done, has however brought up a whole heap of questions. These issues regarding Welsh history, women in Welsh history and intersectionality in Welsh history, as well as how they’re discussed in the mainstream, need to be discussed. This will hopefully lead to a Welsh history itself not erased, but which also does not erase the histories of women, people of colour and LGBT+ people. That is not even to mention queer people of colour, whose history is nonexistent in Welsh history. Intersectionality is needed, where queerness is not erased in ‘women’s history,’ - decolonisation of Welsh history is needed.
This February will be LGBT+ History Month and is an excellent place to start to learn more about LGBT+ history. The events of LGBT+ History Monts inspired me to research further into the LGBT+ history of Wales, when I was amazed to learn that queer women like me actually existed in the history of Wales. When Queer Wales was published, though it wasn’t favourably received by all, I realised there was LGBT+ history all around me. Having a sense of your own inclusivity and belonging is vital. That is the necessity of having, and knowing, your own history.
This history should not only be considered in one month of the year however, which is symbolic of the whole issue here. LGBT+ history and Black history should not be treated as separate and given tokenistic attention for a part of the year. The history of people of colour and LGBT+ history should not be separate from each other, as they shouldn’t be separate from Welsh history. Use these months as a starting point to learn your own history and the history of the people around you - as a starting point to uncovering and decolonising the whole, real history of Wales.
Further reading on Queer Wales:
Jane Aaron, ‘“Gender difference is nothing”: Cranogwen and Victorian Wales’ in Queer Wales.
Jane Aaron, ‘Developing Women’s Print Culture’ in Nineteenth Century Women’s Writing in Wales, 2007.
Cranogwen, Caniadau Cranogwen. 1870.
Cranogwen ed. Y Frythones, 1879-1891.
Deirdre Beddoe ‘Towards a Welsh women’s history’ Llafur 3:2 (1981).
Kirsti Bohata in Queer Wales / anything by Kirsti Bohata on Amy Dillwyn, Queer literature or colonialism.
Katie Gramich & Catherine Brennan ed. Welsh Women’s Poetry 1460-2001: An Anthology, 2003.
Angela V. John, Turning the Tide: The Life of Lady Rhondda, 2014.
Norena Shopland, Forbidden Lives: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Stories from Wales, 2017.
Huw Osborne ed. Queer Wales: The History, Culture and Politics of Queer Life in Wales, 2016.
Sian Rhiannon Williams, ‘Y Frythones: Portread Cofnodolion Merched y Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg o Gymraes yr Oes’ Llafur 4:1 (1984)
http://www.rainbowdragon.org
Glamorgan Archives, Queer Glamorgan: A Research Guide to Sources for the Study of LGBT History, 2018.
+
Yasmin Begum, ‘An independent Wales must undo the darkness of white supremacy’, Planet, 2018.
Yasmin Begum, ‘25 Years on from Wales’ Race Riots,’ Media Diversified, 2016.
Dr. Jasmine Donahaye also called for a statue of Lily Tobias, showing there are more women than these 5 shortlisted who also need more attention in our history, as there is also a Welsh and Jewish history that should continue to be uncovered: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33497685
Dr. Nia Edwards-Behi, ‘How to challenge racism in white west Wales?’ Planet, 2018.
Sadia Pineda Hameed, ‘“Save Our Sculpture” Questioning Cardiff’s Priorities,’ Welsh Arts Review, 2018.
Sara Huws, 'A Modest Proposal: A Statue of an Actual Woman for Cardiff,’ 2001. (Sara Huws originally brought attention to the lack of statues of real woman in Wales.)
Codi Pais, Cara and other journals for and/or by women in Wales. (+Codi Llais)
Charlotte Williams, Neil Evans & Paul O’Leary ed. A Tolerant Nation? 2003.
Charlotte Williams, Neil Evans & Paul O’Leary ed. A Tolerant Nation? Revisiting Ethnic Diversity in a Devolved Wales, 2015.
decolonisecymru
Feel free to add any more sources or readings! (@mairsaysno on twitter) And please go find out what are your local LGBT+ history events!
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