Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Suffrage Movement

Join the Women's Museum of California and historian Wendy L. Rouse, author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement on Tuesday, January 17 at 12:00 p.m. pacific on Zoom.

In this book, Wendy Rouse explores the important role of queerness and queer suffragists in the fight for the vote. The traditional narrative of women’s suffrage history sanitized the lives of queer suffragists contributing to the historical erasure of the queer history of the movement. Yet, it was often their very queerness that helped propel the movement forward.

This book highlights the personal and professional alliances that queer suffragists built and the innovative strategies they developed to protect and preserve their most intimate relationships— relationships that were ultimately crucial to the success of the women’s suffrage movement.

Order the book before the talk: https://wendylrouse.com/queer-suffragists/

Wendy L. Rouse is Professor of History at San Jose State University. Her scholarly research focuses on the history of women, gender and sexuality during the Progressive Era. Rouse’s most recent work, Public Faces, Secret Lives: The Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, explores the ways that suffragists challenged norms of gender and sexuality in their era. Rouse is also the author of Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1880-1920 and Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women’s Self-Defense Movement. https://wendylrouse.com/

*Attendees must register in advance for the Zoom link