My friend Melisa is inviting us all to get together to go watch Women's Will - an all-girl Shakespeare company- do The Rover by Aphra Behn, and so it bears reminding that Aphra Behn was a kick-ass proto-lesbian.
A 17th century professional playwright, poet, novelist, spy for the king, crossdresser, etc., also she wrote love poetry to women (from To the Fair Clarinda):
- In pity to our Sex sure thou wer't sent,
That we might Love, and yet be Innocent:
For sure no Crime with thee we can commit;
Or if we shou'd - thy Form excuses it.
For who, that gathers fairest Flowers believes
A Snake lies hid beneath the Fragrant Leaves.
She was also opposed to the practice of slavery-- her play "Oroonoko : Or, the Royal Slave" served the abolitionist cause for centuries. Check her out, people.
Isle of Lesbos: Poetry of Aphra Behn
Queer Theory: Aphra Behn
