Our Dyke Histories

<p>In this season one finale, Jack talks with historian <strong>Roey Thorpe</strong> about lesbian and queer life in <strong>Detroit</strong> from the <strong>1930s</strong> through the early <strong>1970s</strong>, before and beyond Stonewall. Centering working-class <strong>bars</strong>, <strong>sex work</strong> economies, and informal gathering spaces like <strong>softball</strong> and <strong>picnics</strong>, the episode traces how Black and white queer women—especially those who were <strong>poor</strong>, <strong>working-class</strong>, and <strong>gender nonconforming</strong>—built lives under conditions of <strong>criminalization</strong>, <strong>surveillance</strong>, and <strong>police violence</strong>. </p><p>Thorpe highlights the central role of sex work as <strong>labor</strong>, survival, and community infrastructure, and shows how bars functioned not only as sites of leisure but as workplaces, political hubs, and mutual aid networks. The conversation foregrounds Detroit as a major site of lesbian and queer history, shaped by industrial labor, <strong>racial segregation</strong>, and the <strong>Great Migration</strong>. Together, Jack and Thorpe show that resistance, world-building, and dyke life were already flourishing for decades.</p><p>The season closes with a powerful reminder: dyke history has always been rooted in labor, risk, pleasure, and the ongoing creation of livable worlds.</p><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, &amp; more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, &amp; Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer &amp; Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer &amp; Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Co-Editor: Becca Moses</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClain</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p>

<p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, &amp; more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, &amp; Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer &amp; Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer &amp; Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Co-Editor: Becca Moses</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClain</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p>

<p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, &amp; more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, &amp; Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer &amp; Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer &amp; Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClain</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p>

<p>Recorded just before the ICE invasions of the Upper Midwest, this episode takes up queer people’s enduring creativity in making life possible in the <strong>Upper Midwest</strong> during the <strong>1970s</strong>—and why these histories matter urgently now. In this first of a two-part conversation, host Jack Gieseing interviews historian <strong>Finn Enke</strong> about lesbian, queer, and trans spaces with a focus on <strong>Detroit</strong>, <strong>Minneapolis–St. Paul</strong>, and <strong>Chicago</strong>. Moving beyond bars as isolated sites, the episode explores how networks of movement—what Enke calls “<strong>travel stories</strong>”—connected <strong>house parties</strong>, <strong>dollar parties</strong>, <strong>bookstores</strong>, <strong>coffeehouses</strong>, <strong>softball fields</strong>, <strong>warehouses</strong>, and <strong>bars</strong> into living <strong>constellations</strong> of queer life. Drawing on Enke’s book <strong><em>Finding the Movement</em></strong>, the conversation foregrounds how race, class, gender, music, and the built environment shaped who could gather where, who could dance, and who felt welcome.</p><p>Particular attention is paid to <strong>Black lesbian dollar parties</strong> in Detroit, feminist institutions like <strong>Amazon Bookstore</strong> in Minneapolis<strong>,</strong> the impact of <strong>blue laws</strong> in Detroit, and the role of <strong>print culture</strong> such as <strong><em>Lesbian Connection</em></strong> and <strong><em>Dykes to Watch Out For</em></strong>, as well as the <strong>economic precarity</strong>, <strong>feminist organizing, </strong>and <strong>dancing</strong> that structured all of these spaces everywhere. The episode frames queer space not as permanent territory but as fragile, imaginative world-building sustained through movement, care, and resistance.</p><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, &amp; more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, &amp; Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer &amp; Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer &amp; Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClain</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p>

<p>Episode 8 of <em>Our Dyke Histories</em> takes us into the revolutionary cultural work of the late 1970s—from <strong>consciousness-raising circles</strong> to the birth of <strong>women of color feminism</strong> with all of the work that preceded the creation, production, and envisioning of the most core women's studies text of all time, <strong><em>This Bridge Called My Back</em></strong>. With <strong>SaraEllen Strongman</strong>, <strong>June Thomas</strong>, and <strong>Maxine Wolfe</strong>, host <strong>Jack Gieseking</strong> explores <strong>lesbian archives</strong>, <strong>lesbian newsletters</strong>, <strong>house parties</strong>, <strong>lesbian feminist presses</strong>, and <strong>dyke bars.</strong></p><p>All together, these spaces created a vast <strong>dyke ecosystem</strong> of queer life beyond nightlife alone. The episode spotlights <strong>Kitchen Table Press</strong>, the <strong>Combahee River Collective</strong>, and the <strong>grassroots publishing networks</strong> that preserved lesbian histories and made political coalitions possible. This is the story of how activists labored—in libraries, activist groups, non-profits before they were part of the non-profit industrial complex, prisons, community centers, and bars—to build the world we inherit today.</p><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, &amp; more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, &amp; Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer &amp; Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer &amp; Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes and Sophie McClain</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p><p></p>