You were butch, femme or sporty in the 1960s
1965
“There were three categories: you were
either butch, femme, or you were sporty, and I was sporty. You
socialised with your own little set - as a member of a hockey team you
played other hockey teams with gay women in and that was how you built
up your friends, because sport was something that attracted gay women,
especially hockey. I had a lot of gay friends from playing hockey; I’m
still in touch with some of them. It was a bit hit and miss telling the
gay ones from the straight ones, it was just an instinctive thing, or
the very heterosexual ones would talk about their boyfriends. Again,
the old ‘Well of Loneliness’ thing, the unwritten word, you just
instinctively knew that you were batting for the same side, even when
you were on opposite teams!”
Contributed by: Pam Hudson, 63