Gloria's Oversexed Mind

Speaking of gender fluid fun... Snickers Commercial: Road Trip

via www.youtube.com

Wednesday means business!

via Watch Flight of the Conchords on youtube

morsels of trans history: Celebrities

The last of my trans photos for today.

Do you recognize her? It's Andy Warhol.

morsels of trans history: Patriarchal Humor

Vintage postcards, ca. 1900 - 1920.

morsels of trans history: Transsexed

Early 20th century sideshow star.

1970s erotic model.

morsels of trans history: Special Ladies

Big kisses to Tyler Saint Mark for sharing these gems from his personal collection.

morsels of trans history: Marriage Ritual

morsels of trans history: 1930s

morsels of trans history: 1920s

morsels of trans history: Calamity Jane

Glimpses of Gender Fluidity: morsels of trans history

I've been slowly collecting a wide range of vintage and historical images in hopes of having an adequately diverse range to create a kind of extended visual thought piece on the meaning of gender. Though the show today barely scratches the surface, I think it's enough to feed your brain some new food to savor. Draw your own conclusions about what you are seeing and who these people may have been.  I'm keeping commentary to a minimum.

I'll begin with a female impersonator called "The Transformist." Grandsart is listed in the Andrew M. Schwartz Collection on Cross-Dressing of the One Archives

Sexologist rediscovered: Clelia Mosher

Thanks to Alan B. for sending me the link to this article. The story itself -- about the unearthing of Mosher's ground-breaking Victorian-era study of female sexual attitudes -- is fascinating. Ms. Mosher is fascinating too, particularly her habit of wearing "mannish" clothes and uniforms. The timing couldn't be more serendipitous: starting with the next post, today's blog will be devoted "Glimpses of Gender Fluidity," photo essays on trans and cross-dressing history.

In 1973, historian Carl Degler was combing the University archives, gathering research for a book on the history of the family. Sifting through the papers of Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher, who taught in Stanford's hygiene department around the turn of the 20th century, he came across a mysteriously bound file. Degler nearly put it aside, figuring it was a manuscript for one of Mosher's published works, mostly statistical treatises on women's height, strength and menstruation. But instead, he recalls, "I opened it up and there were these questionnaires"— questionnaires upon which dozens of women, most born before 1870, had inscribed their most intimate thoughts.

In other words, it was a sex survey. A Victorian sex survey. It is the earliest known study of its type, long preceding, for example, the 1947 and 1953 Kinsey Reports, whose oldest female respondents were born in the 1890s. The Mosher Survey recorded not only women's sexual habits and appetites, but also their thinking about spousal relationships, children and contraception. Perhaps, it hinted, Victorian women weren't so Victorian after all.

via www.stanfordalumni.org

Think of me tonight

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome: Paris, 1943

Two beauties on the Parisian cabaret circuit during WWII. Oh, les jambes!

Joe Boy goodness: 2 fantasy pix

From the deliciously wicked imagination of gay artist, Joe "Boy" Phillips

Portrait of a dominatrix as a young child

Vintage humor postcard: Undressed Potatoes

British (very), ca. 1910, and ouch the class humor as the upper crusters react to the maid's misinterpretation of instructions on serving the potatoes.

Nude Female Dancer: strange

Found these two vintage (ca. 1930s-40) photos in the same collection on eBay and was mystified.  At first I thought it was 2 different women but now I think it's the same one, with her hair down.  Besides the obvious, what do you think is going on?  (Bonus points for creativity.)

Men in Motion: vintage nude photos

Circa 1930s, Europe.

Me. Wordless, for a change.

_{Brief note about the recent proliferation of image shows....}

I'm almost at the half-way point with my new book, and find myself needing and wanting ever more solitude and silence.  I attribute it to "book fugue," a semi-magical state where you keep leading your normal life but stay inside your book in your mind. Except for therapy sessions -- which require an equally intense but very different level of concentration and thought -- I'm trying to keep that fugue buzz going as much of the time as possible. All by way of explaining why text has been brief and visuals long on my formerly chattier blog. Expect it to be more pictures than words for a few months more, and I promise I'll be verbose all over again once it's done.

Lesbian Tango: vintage prints

Fine art reproductions of 1900 - 1910 prints.

_{(Note: later that same day... Ms. Topaz questions whether these are lesbians or just women having fun. She is most correct: I shouldn't have specified because I don't know it for a fact. Mea culpa.)}

Viva Las Vegas Lesbians

Goofy but good-natured story about a trek through the temptations that make Vegas Vegas.

Sin City is a perfect place for lesbians, because as your grandparents may have told you, lesbians are all sinners. Las Vegas, home of classic NSFW film Showgirls. [related: Hottest Person From Worst Movie poll at nerve.com]

So, next week we’re gonna pick up where we left off with the lesbian sexy tumblr appreciation, but today, a dispatch from Naked City, USA, where photos of naked women are everywhere (like under your feet on cards) and actual naked ladies can be in your room in 20 minutes if you call a magical phone number. So me, Alex, and our friend Ryan (straight, but in a very lesbianish way) saw a show of a sexual nature called FANTASY!

via www.autostraddle.com

GOP au go go

Yesterday's newsbyte about Republican campaigners spending a whopping $2k at a bondage club caused snickers across the blogosphere. From my POV, this was the best money they spent, and I'm only sorry they didn't rent the place out and drop some serious cash on pro doms, who would in turn patronize BDSM vendors, who would in turn be able to support events and groups that are struggling, so that, eventually, the GOP could claim the admirable title of "Official sponsor of the BDSM scene."  I'll personally donate a free whipping to the first Republican politician to stand up for Leather Family Values.

The Daily Caller has gotten its hands on some sexy new Federal Election Commission documents that detail the Republican National Committee’s expenditures. These expenses include $1,946.25 spent at Voyeur West Hollywood, “a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.”

via www.vanityfair.com

Ex Libris Libertinism 5th and last

Ex Libris Libertinism 4

Ex Libris Libertinism 3

Ex Libris Libertinism 2

Ex Libris Libertinism -- bookplates 1

Bearded Ladies, then and now

3 - Bearded Ladies