Venus figurine from Wickford, Essex

This figurine was found at the site of a Roman villa and would once have sat atop a household shrine as a focus of worship. Venus was the goddess of sexuality- which was described in the classical world as ta aphrodisia meaning “Aphrodite’s things.” This included lesbian sexuality, and the most celebrated lesbian of all time- Sappho of Lesbos- wrote many poems to the goddess. Her “Ode to Aphrodite” is a prayer calling upon the goddess to descend from heaven to yearning Sappho and aid her in winning the love of another woman. The cult of Venus was enthusiastically embraced in Roman Britain, and many women must have prayed just as Sappho did to such figurines, using them as objects of lesbian devotion. 

Venus figurine fragments from Canvey Island, Essex

In the first to second centuries AD, Venus figurines in pipeclay were mass-produced to an identical model in Gaul (modern France) and imported into Britain in significant numbers. They depicted the goddess at the moment of her birth as an adult woman, rising from the sea at Cyprus and wringing out her hair. A collection of fragmented parts were found on the foreshore at Canvey Island. Experimental studies have shown such figurines were fragile and prone to break when dropped, thus the fragmentation is likely accidental. Previously they would have stood in household shrines, and perhaps received lesbian prayers of their own

Hermaphrodite Callipyge figurine from the River Thames

Hermaphrodite was a figure likely originating from Aphrodite’s cult centre on Cyprus, where she was worshipped in various forms including as a female with a penis. In the classical context her gender was read from her overall form and not her genitals alone, and thus her penis became a feminine organ. This bronze figurine is of the callipyge or kallipygos type- meaning “beautiful buttocks”, an epithet once given to Venus who was also depicted in this pose. In one hand she holds a mirror, gazing down over one shoulder to admire the reflection of her beautiful buttocks. Her gaze invites the admiration of the viewer- who may have been of any gender.

Bronze head of Hadrian from the River Thames

 The emperor Hadrian was assuredly gay – his official marriage was never consummated and there is no evidence he ever had any attraction to women, while he wrote erotic poetry to his male lovers. His closest relationship was with Antinous, “a youth fair of face” with whom he shared a love of hunting. Sadly Antinous drowned during a journey on the Nile. Hadrian was distraught and in grief he commissioned an enormous number of statues of Antinous throughout the empire, named a city and constellation after him, and even defined Antinous as a god. His worship continued long after Hadrian’s own death.

Ornamented Clamp of Cybele from the River Thames  

The Roman goddess Cybele was served by priestesses known as gallae. The gallae were transfeminine- though assigned male they became female, adopting feminine names and speech. They applied make-up, wore feminine garments and removed body hair while growing long locks curled with irons and fragrantly perfumed. This was a permanent change in identity, body and appearance- in other words, they transitioned, their gender transformed in the eyes of society by the divine power of the goddess. This clamp may have been used to stop blood loss in the genital surgery we know at least some underwent.

STEEL PAN, JOSEPHINE MELVILLE, 2022

The Steel Pan exhibited is a Bass Drum and is played with wooden beaters that are encased with rubber at one end. As the sounds fuse together, and the harmonious tunes of the Steel Pans are played in unison, you can’t help but be lifted in spirit and for a moment, in some way be transported to the Caribbean.

UK Black pride 

Founded in 2005, UK Black Pride is Europe’s largest celebration for LGBTQ+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent, and is a safe space to celebrate diverse sexualities, gender identities, gender expressions and cultures. UK Black Pride organises an annual celebration during Pride month, as well as a variety of activities throughout the year, which promote and advocate for the spiritual, emotional and intellectual health, and wellbeing of the communities they represent.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (Lady Phyll), founder of UK Black Pride, discusses how the organisation began with a visit to Southend-on-Sea. In 2004, Lady Phyll was running the organisation BLUK (Black Lesbians in the UK) and organised a trip to Southend that spurred on the idea for UK Black Pride which was inaugurated a year later in the same place.

You can read the full interview with Lady Phyll in the Southend’s Twilight Worlds publication.

Southend Pride 

Southend Pride began in late 2017 and the first parade took place along the high street in the summer of 2018. This was not the first Pride the borough had seen however. In 2003, a seemingly discreet Pride took place in Southend to celebrate the repeal of Section 28 within England that year. Fifteen years later locals Sam Adams and Dan Turpin helped to bring people together to form what Southend Pride has now become, alongside a group of passionate people who manage the various different elements which form part of the organisation year round.

You can read the full interview with Sam Adams & Dan Turpin in the Southend’s Twilight Worlds publication. 

Spare rib 

This copy of Spare Rib magazine from October 1982 was just one of the many issues, amongst other feminist and LGBTQ+ magazines, donated to the project by Southend Pride’s Sam Adams. Spare Rib was an important part of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the late twentieth century, the magazine challenged the way society viewed women. The magazine started in 1972 and ceased production in 1993. 

The odd couple 

‘OH BOY! THE ODD COUPLE: Brothers who go gender bending’ was the headline of a tabloid article from an issue of the Evening Echo in 1984. The  author Peter Wilson wrote a short exposé on two brothers, who were two of many that used to attend ‘special gender bending nights at Rains club in Southend-on-Sea’. 

Gender Bending Nights

In this double-page spread within the Evening Echo from 1984, the reporter documents a Tuesday night party at the Rains club called The Zig-Zag Club. A person named Toni Valentine set-up the event for people who also wanted to ‘bend the rules of conventional fashion’. From these images we can see that in the 1980s there were people in Southend who sought to dismantle the gender binary and express their true selves despite the largely conservative attitudes held within the area at the time. 

Lecture on Lesbian Love

In January 1980, a woman named Jacqueline Forster gave a talk to the students of South East Essex Sixth Form College (SEEVIC). Forster was one of the most prominent founders of Sappho, a radical lesbian magazine which ran from 1972 to 1981. In this article, the reporter quoted some of her talk that told students to embrace their sexuality, stating that “it’s no-good kidding yourself any longer”. Forster apparently also spoke of lesbian stereotypes, of how lesbians are perceived to be “all big and butch with short back and sides” but this isn’t always the case, she noted how her lover is “quite beautiful”.

Sappho 

Sappho magazine was established in 1972 by Jackie Foster and other women involved in the Press Freedom Group. The magazine was a politically committed feminist magazine, linked to a program of social activities, including support groups for lesbian mothers and lesbian teachers. Sappho also coordinated and funded the legal defense of servicewomen accused of lesbianism, and it helped to establish the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard in 1974. Due to declining readership and criticism the magazine was not sufficiently political, Sappho’s last issue was in 1981. 

KEDDIES

Keddies had been a regular fixture of Southend-on-Sea’s high-street since 1892, until it closed down in 1996. Now, where the department store used to stand is a combination of commercial stores: HMV, Clinton Cards, Sports Direct and Super Drug. 

Changes in terminology 

This Christmas card housed within the stores of Southend Central Museum dates to around 1912, and was published in London by E.A. Schwerdtfeger and Co. An older gentleman dressed as Santa Claus peers through large wooden doors, with a sack of presents in hand. Whilst directly above their head is the writing: ‘May your Christmas be merry and gay, take your choice’. This card uses the word gay in its original meaning, as to be happy, or ‘light-hearted and carefree’. 

Gay Santa Gets Sack 

In 1986, a local actor named Danny Ford was subject to a tabloid scandal in The Sun newspaper with the headline ‘Gay Santa Gets Sack’. Ford was working at the Keddies department store as Santa Claus during the festive season. According to the Sun’s article, he was fired from his role as they found out about his sexuality. This was during the height of the AIDS crisis and so the reporters interviewed other employees who stated he did not have AIDS and would not be able to pass on the virus by kissing children who visited the grotto. However, HIV/AIDS could not be transmitted this way and so the article in The Sun is an example of the regular misinformation spread within the press then that often encouraged violence towards gay men. 

TIME, DEREK JARMAN, 1992

This painting by the widely known artist, film maker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman features the ‘Gay Santa Gets Sack’ headline from The Sun in 1986 about a local actor named Danny Ford. 

Actor Danny hits back, Santa: Gay tale made me quit

Two days later the Evening Echo interviews Danny in The Cliff enabling him to explain his side of the story. Ford had not been fired, but chose to leave after another national newspaper insinuated they were going to incorrectly publish that he had AIDS. This led to him making the decision to leave his role in order to avoid the unwanted attention and harm that such media exposure would have brought at the time. 

TABBY

The corsets in these photos were made in Southend in 1991. They were worn by a married couple on the occasion of the 1991 UK tour of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Southend. They are now in the Fashion and Textile collection of Southend Museums alongside the ephemera presented in this case. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as exemplified by the image of the couple wearing the costumes, challenged and played with the concept of gender and personal expression. 

The garments were made by Tabby, a successful business owner, designer, model and artist based in Westcliff. Tabby followed an ingenious business model where the production of her designs was boosted by her own career as a glamour model. These catalogues, printed locally, presented Tabby both as a brand and as a model, showcasing her advanced skills in designing and making corsetry, lingerie and hosiery.

Tabby’s business and career are an example of self-determination, representation, agency and sexual freedom in Southend. Together, these images show us a freer and less normative side of Southend’s 80s and 90s which, like for the rest of the country, were characterised by a return to conservativism and populist politics.