Category Archives: Fashion

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

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

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

Jude

July 3, 2012 by 55Upitty

…the older I get the more serenity I find. When I was a young feminist we called respected older women crones – that would suit me. As time passes I grow more comfortable with myself – age empowers me… I saw the film of Calamity Jane when I was ten, and it just stuck with me. I always wanted a cowgirl suit, not one with a skirt, the boy’s one with pants. When I see that film now the lesbian sub-text is such […]

Categories: Academics, Fashion, Feminist, Grandparents, Lesbians, Mothers • Tags: academia, academic, adventure, age, ageism, annapurna, australia, australian centre for lesbian and gay research, calamity jane, campervan, children, corporatism, cowgirl, creative writing, crone, difference, discrimination, doris day, dress, dyke, east timor, equality, exercise, family, feminism, feminist, french, friendship, gay, gender, gender equality, girlfriend, grandma, grandmother, grandparent, gym, health, himalayas, homeless, homelessness, homosexual, horses, hunter valley, inca trail, inequality, injustice, jodhpurs, language, lesbian, lesbian feminist, LGBT, mardi gras, motorbike, older people, partner, phd, photography, politics, portraits, professor, purple, queer, relationships, retirement, riding, sexuality, social justice, social work, social worker, soul mate, style, sydney, transgender, travel, university, violence against children, violence against women, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, walking, west, woman, women, youth, youth homelessness

Gabrielle (Gail)

June 2, 2012 by 55Upitty

… I don’t think much about age. Mind you, it’s very strange to feel more or less the same as you have always felt but catch sight of yourself in a mirror every now and then and wonder, who is that? To have been beautiful, and to accept wrinkles and still feel beautiful. I like queer as a label – to me, it’s inclusive. I don’t like phobia of any kind – and early on I had to stand up […]

Categories: Fashion, Feminist, Lesbians • Tags: 1978, 78er, 78ers, age, ageing, ageism, androgyny, anzac day, art, beauty, bessie smythe clinic, bicycle, bike riding, books, bookshop, cats, conference, discrimination, dyke, exercise, F collective, feet, feminism, feminist, feminist bookshop, first mardi gras, gay, germaine greer, green, gym, health, international womens day, international womens year, LGBT, lilyfield, love, mardi gras, medal of the order of australia, older people, older people and technology, painting, pets, photography, pilates, politics, portraits, protest, purple, queer, relationships, retirement, revolution, riding, sexuality, simone de beauvoir, strong seniors, suffragette, sydney, technology, transphobia, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, watercolour, woman, women

Teresa

April 18, 2012 by 55Upitty

Being seen as an older woman is another new challenge. I notice a general disdain for older people, and I’m becoming very attuned to ageism – it’s everywhere. Older women are invisible, it seems. Or “cute”. Either way, we’re not perceived as having any power or status. So, we’ll have to take it, grab it with both hands and shake it. It was a traumatic time for me – I didn’t know a single other lesbian, I didn’t know that […]

Categories: Fashion, Lesbians, Librarians, Mothers, Vegetarians • Tags: ageing, ageism, art, australia, australian politics, books, children, cufflinks, discrimination, dyke, england, fashion, feminism, feminist, gay, gay parenting, hair, history, homosexual, homosexuality, invisibility, jewellery, lesbian, lesbian mother, lesbian parent, librarian, library, literature, mother, motherhood, older people, patricia chingwile, pearl, pearls, photography, politics, portraits, queer, quiff, relationships, retirement, rockabilly, sexuality, shoes, suits, sydney, vegetarian, viv mcgregor, viv mcgregor photography, woman, women