55Upitty

Su

December 19, 2019 by 55Upitty

We tell stories from our lives because as women and as lesbians they’re not heard enough. Life is long, in a good way. The most important thing I’ve done recently is make a feature documentary about my father and the family he kept hidden from me. I’ve always told stories. It’s a creative thread that runs through my life, no matter what I’m doing. I’ve been a performer, a writer, a theatre producer, an artist, a worker in a feminist […]

Categories: Academics, Activists, Artists, Fashion, Feminist, Film makers, Lesbians, Teachers, Uncategorized • Tags: 78er, abortion clinic, activist, Bidjigal, carpenter, clothes, Esme Timbery, Harbour bridge, Holocaust, Jew, Jewish, King's Cross, Newtown, queer, Sleaze ball, sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras, The last goldfish, theatre, tomboy, Trinidad, University of New south wales, UNSW Creative Practice Lab, writer

Sal

October 24, 2016 by 55Upitty

Now I’m 58, proud to be a feminist and still feel the personal is political. When I was a child I’d had a floppy doll. I cut her hair off really short. And I took her dress off, so that she was wearing a singlet and pants. She was very tomboyish. I had her with me for years. I was 18 when I came out. I’d had a boyfriend, and I said to him – I think we should have […]

Categories: Activists, Artists, Feminist, Lesbians, Photographers, Teachers • Tags: 1978, 55upitty, 78er, 78ers, adelaide, age, ageing, ageism, aging, amazon acres, art, australia, australian politics, bravado, Buddhism, cat, Community, confidence, creativity, discrimination, dyke, elsie women's refuge, feminist, first mardi gras, gay and lesbian history, Gay Liberation, gay riot, gay solidarity group, health, homophobia, homophobic violence, international womens day, it was a riot, lesbian, lesbian sex, lesbian sexuality, lez, LGBTI, lgbti history, meditation, meg christen, nsw police, ode to a gym teacher, photographer, photography, police brutality, politics, portraits, pride history, pride history group, queer history, queer sexuality, rape crisis, relationships, religion, remembering stonewall, riot, sexuality, sing if you're glad to be gay, spirituality, stonewall, students, sydney, sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras, teacher, tom robinson band, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, wauchope, woman, women, womens sexuality, womens shelter, workplace discrimination

C. Moore Hardy

October 6, 2015 by 55Upitty

As a feminist who’s just turned sixty I’ve got wisdom, I’ve got knowledge and I think I’m pretty fabulous for my age. I’m a professional perve. I’m a shutter slut. I’m a photographer. I’m a subversive and a pervert. I like those labels. As a feminist who’s just turned sixty I’ve got wisdom, I’ve got knowledge and I think I’m pretty fabulous for my age. I consider myself a Sydney sider. I was born in Darlinghurst, Sydney – couldn’t be […]

Categories: Activists, Artists, Feminist, Lesbians, Photographers • Tags: age, ageing, ageism, animal rights, anti-nuclear, archives, art, australia, australian centre for photography, australian politics, bad feminist, botox, brigidine college, c moore hardy, Catholic, Catholicism, church, City of Sydney, coming out, Community, conservationism, creative, darlinghurst, discrimination, documentary, documentary photography, dyke, exhibition, family, fashion, father, feminism, feminist, garden, gardening, gay, gay games, gay lesbian rights, girlfriend, grrl, health, history, homosexual, instagram, irish, jodhpurs, leather, lebanese, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTI, LGBTIQ community, LGBTIQ families, liposuction, lipstick lesbian, love, mardi gras, married, matriarch, mother, natural heritage, older people, parents, pervert, pets, pharmacist, photography, politics, portraits, pride, protest, queer, ratbag, relationships, self-defence, sex, sexuality, social media, subversive, sydney, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, woman, women, women's right, youth, youth culture

Dorothy

July 2, 2014 by 55Upitty

I have always been open about my age, but I am particularly comfortable, and proud, to say that I am eighty. When I was about three, I can remember having a sense of another presence around me, a comforting presence. I always felt there was something beyond me. I was brought up a Methodist, and then the Methodist church became part of the Uniting Church. I am so glad I had a father who was a radical thinker. I never […]

Categories: Christian, Lesbians, Mothers, Uncategorized • Tags: African National Congress, age, ageing, ageism, anti-apartheid movement, australia, australian politics, books, Catholicism, clergy, clerical collar, Death, fascist, feminism, feminist, gay, God, graffiti, grandchildren, grandmother, human rights, Human Rights Medal, journalism, lesbian, LGBTI, love, Macquarie University, Methodism, Methodist, minister, mission, mother, neo-Nazi, neo-Nazism, ordain, ordination, Pitt Street Uniting Church, politics, protest, racism, racist, Redfern, relationships, sex, sexuality, South Sydney Herald, Synod, Tasmania, Uniting Church, vietnam, Waterloo, White Australia policy, woman, women, women's movement, Woprld Council of Churches

Mary Jane

April 30, 2014 by 55Upitty

I’d urge everyone to enjoy each period of life. Try not to get too consumed with what’s ahead and what’s behind. I don’t mind being this age, but I’d like the fitness and energy I had when I was 25. I’m 62 years of age, but I have to think about it to be sure. I am a family therapist and counsellor, and I also work with people who have drug and alcohol dependence. Both privately and in a psychiatric […]

Categories: Fashion, Feminist, Lesbians, Mothers, Professionals, Uncategorized • Tags: aboriginal, accident, addiction, addicts, brain damage, Catholic, Catholicism, children, Christian, Christianity, club foot, convent, counselling, counsellor, Death, discrimination, drug addiction, drug addicts, equal marriage, euthanasia, family therapy, feminism, feminist, Foster Care Association, fostering, head injury, Indigenous, lesbian, lesbian uniform, marriage, mother, motorbike, Northmead High, novitiate, nun, nurse, Palm Island, perpetrators, Point Piper, psychology, retirement, retiring, school, secrecy, sex, sexual abuse, sexuality, shame, talipes, therapist, travel, women's health

Katherine

February 24, 2014 by 55Upitty

I am 78, approaching 79 years old. Ageing is inevitable so there’s no point worrying about it. I’d prefer to be 39, but there it is. From my earliest memory I wanted to be female. That feeling never left me, no matter the social circumstances around me. I realised I could do something about it when I was seventeen, but I was 52 when I began my transition. I could not hurt people who loved me and depended on me up […]

Categories: Academics, Activists, Lesbians, Librarians, Uncategorized • Tags: age, ageing, ageism, Anti Discrimination Act, australia, Australian Human Rights Award, Bentham, Bigotry, Community, Death, discrimination, Electrolysis, Gender Centre, Genitalia, Kerry Fluhr, lesbian, Lord Chesterfield, marriage, Naturalisation, Nick Stathopoulos, older people, portraits, Sea, sex, sexuality, Tax, trans, transgender, transition, writing

Beatriz

January 14, 2014 by 55Upitty

I’m old. Not inside. Inside I’m still very young. But I’m proud to say that I am seventy one. I grew up in Rosario, in Argentina. When I was eighteen I saw a documentary about Bondi Beach, and I really wanted to come and see it. When my father died, I asked my sister if she’d come here with me. My mother was against it. She asked; “Why do you want to go there? There’s no women there.” But it […]

Categories: Academics, Artists, Feminist, Grandparents, Lesbians, Mothers, Professionals • Tags: abortion, acting, Argentina, art, australia, Bondi, books, Buddhism, Catholicism, children, counselling, creative writing, discrimination, Doctorate, drag queen, education, feminism, feminist, gay, gym, Kerry Fluhr, lesbian, mother, psychologist, psychology, relationships, sex, shoes, Spanish, sydney, TAFE, theatre, yoga

Shauna

July 9, 2013 by 55Upitty

The most special thing about me is that I can sing. Singing has been a part of me since I was a very little girl. I’m fifty-nine. I’ll be sixty this year. When I was seven years old, there was a talent school run by Miss Roderick, who by the way lived with her companion and wore very sensible shoes, tartan skirts and twin-sets. The talent school was in the local Presbyterian Hall, and we’d go and do dance and […]

Categories: Artists, Lesbians, Musicians • Tags: age, ageing, ageism, australia, gay, homosexual, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTI, mardi gras, mother, sex, sexuality, sydney, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, woman, women

Lyn

December 11, 2012 by 55Upitty

…people saw me as cute, oh, like a Chinese doll. Except I had a horrible temper. They soon found out I wasn’t such a sweet little thing. I’ve had to grow my personality to cope with being different, and I could either choose to be a victim or I could choose to think of myself as special… My sexuality is the central theme of my experience. Again, I am part of a minority, and I am very proud of […]

Categories: Activists, Disability, Fashion, Feminist, Lesbians, Professionals, Race, Sport • Tags: aboriginal health service, abortion, abortion clinic, abortion history, abortion protest, age, ageing, ageism, asian, asian australian, australia, australian politics, ballroom, books, brisbane, child, childhood, chinese, consciousness raising, dance, disability, discrimination, doctor, exercise, fashion, feminism, feminist, feminist medicine, foucault, gay, golf, gym, health, history, homophobia, hong kong, immigrant, immigration, juliet mitchell, latin, latin dance, law, lawyer, legal, legal system, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTI, LGBTIQ, mardi gras, medicine, migrant, migration, older people, our bodies ourselves, pauline hanson, people with a disability, photography, politics, portraits, protest, queensland, queer, race, racism, refugee, refugee review tribunal, relationships, retirement, right to protest, safety, salsa, same sex ballroom dance, same sex dance, separatism, sex, sexism, sexual identity, sexuality, social security tribunal, style, swimming, swing, sydney, sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras, sydney gay and lesbian mardi gras 2014, tennis, vietnam, vietnam war, visibility, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, woman, women