After reading Cecil’s column on ‘peg boys’ in which he writes:
“As in any environment in which males live in close quarters for extended periods (prison and boarding school are the other well-known venues in this respect), both consensual and nonconsensual homosexual behavior did and doubtless does occur aboard ships…”
Which made me wonder if the same is true of the fairer sex?
Stereotypes and television portrayals aside, how common are lesbian relations/relationships in prison, boarding school, etc?
I don’t have any figures, but it’s certainly mentioned a lot in the same way that sodomy in male prisons is mentioned. Did you ever get to see a British prison drama series called Bad Girls? They always featured some lesbian activity on that.
And I hate to break it to the boys, but lesbian experiences amongst women in general is far wider spread than women would lead you to believe. It’s just rarely mentioned. I would say that the majority of women of my acquaintance (think normal, middle class 20-40 something British ‘straight’ women) have at some point either
(a) had a same sex experience
(b) entertained the idea
(c) admitted to having had crushes on women or
(c) would admit to maybe entertaining the idea if the opportunity arose.
The only reason I know this is that I’m a lesbian, so straight women find it easier to bring the subject up with me than they would with their straight friends.
That irritating song that’s currently number one over here (‘I kissed a girl and I liked it, I hope my boyfriend doesn’t mind it etc’) pretty much sums it up for many straight women.
Ha, fair point. Although, putting fantasy aside, the reality is often of the ‘kicking boyfriend out of bed to sleep on the couch while cosying up to best friend’ variety.
I read a book (or maybe it was an article) once about intimate (in both or either senses of the word) relationships between women in brothels in Storyville and a nearby women’s college. The women’s college relationships were of that very Victorian “I love you, cousin!” type, but they were also putting their beds together and such. I wish I could find that again; it was interesting. (Particularly so because at the time I myself was in the weird hothouse environment of a women’s college.)
Only an anecdote, but my friend who has only been with men outside of prison, did sleep with women in prison because she needed the intimacy and that’s who was available.
Wow, really? You must have some super duper connection with the women of the world to figure that a majority of them have thought about a same sex experience. :rolleyes: