NOTCHES Blog

Bolts was a force in London gay 80s nightlife, a bastion of Hi-NRG dance culture combining cutting edge sound and ethos. It hosted performers like Divine and Sylvester while cultivating a strong sense of community and collective care during the early AIDS crisis.

#QueerHistory #LGBTQHistory#LGBTQIA

A Love Letter to Bolts Nightclub Bolts was one of the most vibrant LGBTQ nightclubs in 1980s London, renowned for its Hi-NRG music and its weekly shows that were at the vanguard of gay culture.

New Photo Essay on NOTCHES: A Love Letter to Bolts Nightclub by Stephen Brogan

Drawing on rare photographs, Brogan’s essay reconsiders Bolts as more than just a nightclub but a cultural institution that reshaped queer music, media visibility, and club culture across Britain.

Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4RJ

Released in 2025, the 5-part narrative audio documentary series for BBC Sounds was dubbed “mind-bending” and “a staggering tale” by The Guardian and a “sad, startling story skilfully unravelled” by The Sunday Times.

#GayHistory #Notchesblog

Through discussion of the BBC Sounds audio documentary Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7, Sheehan reflects on queer criminalisation, archival recovery, ethical storytelling, and the lingering afterlives of sexual regulation in late twentieth-century Britain.

New on NOTCHES: Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7, an interview with Hugh Sheehan. Sheehan revisits the 1998 prosecution of seven gay and bisexual men charged with gross indecency and buggery for consensual group sex.

🔗Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4T9

#QueerHistory #LGBTQHistory #Bolton7 #BritishHistory

Sexuality in Modern German History A deep look at shifting views about ‘normal’ and nonconforming sexuality across two centuries, and how these shaped people’s behaviours, politics, and lives.

New on NOTCHES: Sexuality in Modern German History by Katie Sutton. Sutton examines how sexual 'norms' have shaped key forces in modern German history, including nationhood, citizenship, fascism, and memory culture.

🔗Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4ST

#QueerHistory #GermanStudies #Gender #Germany

The Massage Establishments Scandal: Coding and De-coding Sex Work at the Turn of the Twentieth Century The late-Victorian massage parlour and its promotions became a site of moralistic concern, but could its ambiguous intentions be de-coded?

From massage to manicure, chiropody, and beyond– Gregory shows how sex workers adapted to increasing scrutiny by shifting the language of their advertisements, forcing legislators and police into a continual process of interpretation and pursuit.

Read it here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4SG

The article explores how massage parlours became sites of moral panic in the 1890s, as authorities attempted to interpret and police coded advertisements suspected of concealing sex work.

New on NOTCHES: The Massage Establishments Scandal: Coding and De-coding Sex Work at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Jessica Gregory.

Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4SG

#SexWorkStudies #VictorianHistory #Herstory #Censorship #NotchesBlog

Through the figure of Michael Moore, Earls reflects on how socio-legal categories shaped both historical policing and contemporary historical practice.

This work interrogates the ethical and methodological limits of archival research into Ireland’s gross indecency laws, examining cases that historians often exclude in order to grapple with consent, coercion, and survivorship.

Left Out: Boys, Sex, and the Challenge of “Gross Indecency” Records in Irish History Child sex work is unspeakable, but what do we lose by avoiding those conversations?

New on NOTCHES: Left Out: Boys, Sex, and the Challenge of “Gross Indecency” Records in Irish History by Averill Earls

Read it now using the link below:

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#QueerHistory #IrishHistory #Consent #LGBTQIA #NOTCHESBlog

How did a Victorian heart medicine become a cornerstone of queer pleasure and politics? Author Adam Zmith joins NOTCHES to discuss his novel Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures.

Read the author interview here 👉 wp.me/p6JJ6S-4Qi

#QueerHistory #LGBTQHistory #NOTCHESBlog #GayCulture

“Ultimately, this is an exciting place to be, pondering all the histories we’re yet to uncover, all the complications to unearth. I look forwards to continuing watching this research elucidate the past, from the sidelines.”

12/12

"Smith’s work demonstrates the importance of regional histories and shows the limitations of generalised narratives of change. It reminds us that the history of sexuality is an incredibly complicated area, full of nuance and exceptions.

11/12

‘Every time I see a cock I go funny’: what regional studies bring to histories of sexuality When sexual desire was not attached to notions of sexual identity.

“To round this all off, I’d like to share the work of Helen Smith, whose work on northern working-class communities highlights a distinction between sexual activity/desire and identity.

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10/12

The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic Love magic posed a real danger to medieval people, especially the clergy.

“I’ve also enjoyed Katherine Harvey’s various contributions to the blog. From stockings to perfect penises, the medieval explorations of Harvey’s work will continue to be some of my favourite articles of all time.

Read The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic: wp.me/p6JJ6S-zB

9/12

Dardanella and Peter: What does Microhistory offer to the History of Sexuality? How is modern microhistory useful for understanding early twentieth-century sexual modernism in Britain?

“Another article, Dardanella and Peter, explored sexual letters between two lovers (Harry and Gwyneth). This will stay with me, particularly in Nancy Christie’s exploration of microhistories.

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8/12

The People’s Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America The People’s Porn provides the first large-scale history of American handmade and homemade pornography.

"Whalers’ pornography, for instance, was not something I had ever contemplated before The People’s Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America by Lisa Z. Sigel.

wp.me/p6JJ6S-4jY

7/12

“Beyond these specific interests, I’ve always found the histories NOTCHES shares brilliant at catching you off-guard in the best of ways.

6/12

Raúl Luis Suarez’s Smile and The Ruthless Archive As historians know, the archive is ruthless in preserving categories over time.

“Trans histories are also huge passions of mine, and seeing the range of these histories on NOTCHES has been enlightening. In particular, Raúl Luis Suarez’s Smile and The Ruthless Archive by Patricio Simonetto made me rethink agency and power in these histories.

wp.me/p6JJ6S-4e0

5/12

Contextualising Taboo: Leigh Bowery and the Media Leigh Bowery’s nightclub Taboo is mythologised as London’s most decadent nightclub of the 1980s.

“Stephen Brogan’s work on nightclub Taboo, Leigh Bowery, and Marc Vaultier has been incredibly insightful and all three of these linked articles are fascinating.

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4/12

Drag: A British History A fresh history of British drag performance in all its ubiquity, glamour, fun, and tawdriness.

"I have a particular interest in drag and cross-dressing histories, so the recent Jacob Bloomfield article on his monograph Drag: A British History, was a particular pleasure to read and promote.

wp.me/p6JJ6S-4PW

3/12

“I’ve been with NOTCHES for around 4 years now, and it has been a privilege to help share the incredible body of academic work submitted to NOTCHES.

2/12

Our Social Media Manager, Georgia, is moving on from NOTCHES. So, in her final #ThrowbackThursday post, she shares with us some of her favourite NOTCHES articles of all time:

#histsex #historyofsexuality #queerhistory

1/12

“Cesarean birth […] still carries the weight of its sacrificial origins. And therapeutic abortion remains an unresolved embarrassment […] for a state that has never fully guaranteed the reproductive rights of women or other birthing people”

3/3

Dornelas highlights that the nineteenth century shift in difficult childbirths from therapeutic abortion to caesarean sections arose not from medical, but from religious, legal, and moral reasons, and that these reasonings still shape the present day.

2/3

Two More Weeks: The Brutality Behind Brazil’s Reproductive Politics Cesarean or sin: the politics of saving the fetus in Brazil.

Out today, we have Two More Weeks: The Brutality Behind Brazil’s Reproductive Politics by Isabela de Oliveira Dornelas.

Read the full article here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4Oy

CW: abortion, death in childbirth, sexual violence

#histsex #historyofsexuality #historyofmedicine #historyofscience

1/3

Two More Weeks: The Brutality Behind Brazil’s Reproductive Politics Cesarean or sin: the politics of saving the fetus in Brazil.

New post out now!

Two More Weeks: The Brutality Behind Brazil’s Reproductive Politics by Isabela de Oliveira Dornelas.

Read the full article here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4Oy

#histsex #historyofsexuality