Rachael Lennon

Wedded Wife is a feminist study of the institution of marriage and its history around the globe

A Feminist History of Marriage

Wedded Wife

In this fascinating and insightful book, feminist curator Rachael Lennon provides an intimate and intersectional examination of the history of marriage around the world. In this fascinating feminist history, Rachael Lennon tells a remarkable story of how this institution has developed from the ancient customs of the stone age through to the modern form it takes today. In this eminently readable and relatable study, Lennon also explores themes such as the pressure to marry, the politics surrounding proposals, the spectacle of marriage, the business behind it, and the politics tied to consummation as well as issues such as taking a man’s name, the nuances of marriage vows and obedience, ‘having it all’ and trying to keep up the fight to have an enduring marriage. Having married her wife just a few years after the legalisation of same sex marriage in the United Kingdom, Lennon interweaves her own personal experiences of marriage with stories and anecdotes from throughout history to explore how marriage has transformed over the years. In shaking off patriarchal expectations, Rachael examines marriage’s troubling past and celebrates a more joyful present, celebrating the feminist activists who have fought to make marriage a pure and equitable celebration of love, open to everyone regardless of gender or sexuality. She also asks what compels us to keep making this choice? Can we let go of the gendered baggage that we have inherited? Can we hold true to feminist values as we commit to our partners? And what does that look like? How can we build on the past to continue to redefine marriage for the future?

a feminist history of marriage

Richard Sandell

Matt Smith

LGBTQ Heritage and Its Contemporary Implications

Prejudice and Pride

Dr Sophie Duncan

Celebrating a year of 'Women & Power' programmes throughout the Trust, this guidebook explores the roles of National Trust places in the women's suffrage movement, through the people who lived and worked in them - from the Midlands kitchen-maid turned suffragette arsonist to the aristocratic dynasties split by a daughter's campaigning.As well as offering a broad history of the Suffrage movement, readers will discover some of the debates heard in the drawing rooms, kitchens and bedrooms of National Trust places as the country fought over whether, and how, a woman might have a voice in public life. We continue to see the footprints of this intensely political argument in the places and collections cared for by the Trust across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Struggle for Suffrage

Women and Power

Matt Houlbrook

Rowena Hillel

Victoria Iglikowski

For much of the twentieth century being openly gay would frequently lead to prosecution and imprisonment; this guidebook seeks to tell the important story of some of the clandestine LGBTQ+ spaces that were raided and closed by police in London during this time. Photographs, court reports, police papers and witness statements on five different clubs of the era were selected from The National Archives' extensive collection to tell the story of these places and the people that inhabited them. The documents reveal great detail and insights into club culture and the everyday prejudices facing the homosexual community at the time.This guidebook is part of the National Trust's and The National Archive's programmes to explore and celebrate themes of gender and sexuality in 2017 as part of the nation's commemoration to mark 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.

London Club Culture 1918-1967

Queer City

Rachael Lennon

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