The Spinster and Her Enemies - Feminish

WOMEN’S FRIENDSHIPS AND LESBIANISM
at this time. All who spoke purported to be equally disturbed at
having to mention such a noxious subject, and they were united
in their condemnation. Those who opposed the amendment did
so on the grounds that making lesbianism illegal would only
spread the offence by giving it publicity. Colonel Wedgwood
declared, ‘it is a beastly subject, and it is being better advertised
by the moving of this Clause than in any other way.’ 25 Lieutenant
Moore-Brabazon suggested that there were three possible ways
of dealing with the ‘pervert’. The death penalty would ‘stamp
them out’, and locking them up as lunatics would ‘get rid of
them’ but the third way, ignoring them, was best:
The third way is to leave them entirely alone, not notice
them, not advertise them. That is the method that has been
adopted in England for many hundred years, and I believe
that it is the best method now, these cases are selfexterminating.
They are examples of ultra-civilisation, but
they have the merit of exterminating themselves, and
consequently they do not spread or do very much harm to
society at large…. To adopt a Clause of this kind would
harm by introducing into the minds of perfectly innocent
people the most revolting thoughts. 26
Lesbianism, then, did not escape legal penalty in Britain for so
long simply because of Queen Victoria’s fabled refusal to believe
lesbians existed, or because the legislature regarded lesbianism
as less ‘beastly’ than male homosexuality. Lesbianisin was an
alarming phenomenom to these MPs because they thought it
would spread like wildfire if women even heard of it. Silence,
and every attempt to make lesbianism invisible, was the only
effective weapon.
One reason the MPs gave for the great dangerousness of
lesbianism was its purported role in destroying civilisations:
These moral weaknesses date back to the very origin of
history, and when they grow and become prevalent in any
nation or in any country, it is the beginning of the nation’s
downfall. The falling away of feminine morality was to a
large extent the cause of the destruction of the early Greek
civilisation, and still more the cause of the downfall of the
Roman Empire. 27
It could, according to another MP, cause ‘our race to decline’. 28
Another reason given was the danger posed to husbands who
might lose their wives to the ‘wiles’ of the lesbian. Most cogent
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