Category: Talks

Breaking the Silence

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Film and discussion

Lesbian History Group, London, 24 May, 2025
Topic : Breaking the Silence – film.

Guest Speaker: Melanie Chait

“Breaking the Silence” (1984) directed by Melanie Chait, is a documentary highlighting the struggles of lesbian mothers in the UK in the 1970s/80s. It details the experiences faced and the custody battles fought when women left their husbands, as judges considered them unfit mothers because of their sexuality. The film was groundbreaking in its portrayal of the experience of lesbian mothers and led to increased awareness of the discrimination against them.

Melanie Chait has made award winning social justice documentaries in countries around the world for the last 40+ years

Note: Could Melanie Chait have feedback on the film? If there are lesbian mothers or grown children of lesbian mothers, she would love to hear from you, at email – kboschind@gmail.com

Discussion following the screening.

Research referred to in discussion:

  • Lesbian Mothers’ Legal Handbook.
    Rights of Women Lesbian Custody Group.
    Women’s Press. 1986.
    ISBN: 0704339889, 9780704339880
    Available here

  • Valued Families: Lesbian Mothers’ Legal Handbook.
    Lynne Harne and Rights of Women.
    Womens’ Press. 1997.
    ISBN: 9780704345171
    Available here

Lesbian History Group would like to thank MaryM for videoing the talk and creating this web page.

What happened? Who Changed?

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The Metamorphosis of The Wild and Woolly (and Awful) Lesbian into
An Ordinary Woman (in some places, sometimes)

Talk and Discussion
Lesbian History Group, London 1 March 2025

Suniti Namjoshi

Suniti grew up in India, worked in Canada and has lived in a small village on the Devon-Dorset border with Gillian Hanscombe for many years. She says that if you live long enough, you can give a quarter of a century to each continent.

Her books include Feminist Fables, Goja, Suki (a memoir about her beloved cat) and the most recent O Sister Swallow (an elegy for her sister).

All these are available from Spinifex. Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains will be published in March 2025 by Zubaan and Penguin, India.


Second Wave Lesbian Feminists wanted to change the world, fight the patriarchy and counter the prevalent inimical attitudes towards lesbians and women in general. We each used what skills we had. I was a fabulist, so I was concerned with language. I still am.

The world changed; and instead of being outsiders, we were more or less normalised, at least in some places, sometimes. The battle seemed to fizzle out; but it left us feeling uneasy. There were still problems, but perhaps things weren’t so bad.

Today when I look at the state of world, that uneasiness has turned into appalled dismay. Bear with me then, if I do not now offer a chronological account. Though we tread the time track in a straight line, memory is simultaneous, and what we thought then impinges on what we think now.


Transcript of Suniti’s Talk

Download

Video Highlights

Intro: What do we do now?
It doesn’t feel like we won!
Battle seemed to fizzle out
Beauty & the Beast
The Digital Revolution
Who can be heard?
Freedom of Speech
Hypocritical

Buy Suniti Books

*Gazelle Book Services search works on book titles but not by author.

Also check out Spinifex Press one of the last if not the last Feminist Publishers established in 1991 for more fabulous, funny and thought provoking titles by other female authors.

A Taster of Suniti’s Work

A selection of Suniti books

Lesbian History Group would like to thank MaryM for videoing the talk and creating this web page.