FUCK YEAH FAT DYKES

Fuck Yeah Fat Dykes is a space showcasing anything and everything that affirms, celebrates and inspires my queerness, fatness, and dykery. Dyke is not a gendered term nor is this a gendered site. The affirmation of my body is always in tandem to the affirmation of my Puertorriqueñidad.
The famous bulldagger of the Harlem Renaissance, Gladys Bentley was a lively, piano-playing blues and jazz singer. Hailing from Trinidad, Bentley performed at speakeasies (including Clam House, the most notorious gay speakeasy) across the country, clad in her famous tuxedo and top hat, boasting her sexuality, raunchy lyrics, and play on gender identity. Bentley penned a memoir, If This Be Sin, joining the ranks of other queer black intellectuals and performers in Harlem, including Langston Hughes andEthel Waters. Bentley married a white woman, garnering an uproar of gossip and media attention over miscegenation. However, after recording music for more than 20 years and performing with drag queens, she felt the heat of McCarthyism, being harassed by the police and publicly scorned for her gender presentation and sexuality. Trying to save her career, Bentley published an article in Ebony, claiming that she had been “cured” of lesbianism and was a “woman again.” The singer tragically passed in 1960, but her legacy lives on.

The famous bulldagger of the Harlem Renaissance, Gladys Bentley was a lively, piano-playing blues and jazz singer. Hailing from Trinidad, Bentley performed at speakeasies (including Clam House, the most notorious gay speakeasy) across the country, clad in her famous tuxedo and top hat, boasting her sexuality, raunchy lyrics, and play on gender identity. Bentley penned a memoir, If This Be Sin, joining the ranks of other queer black intellectuals and performers in Harlem, including Langston Hughes andEthel Waters.

Bentley married a white woman, garnering an uproar of gossip and media attention over miscegenation. However, after recording music for more than 20 years and performing with drag queens, she felt the heat of McCarthyism, being harassed by the police and publicly scorned for her gender presentation and sexuality. Trying to save her career, Bentley published an article in Ebony, claiming that she had been “cured” of lesbianism and was a “woman again.” The singer tragically passed in 1960, but her legacy lives on.

(via bookishboi)

  1. browncoat08 reblogged this from gray37
  2. deadsince1929 reblogged this from coquelicots-et-jonquilles
  3. jcsmhs reblogged this from calebxblackwell
  4. chulito reblogged this from calebxblackwell
  5. calebxblackwell reblogged this from hotelfoxtrot
  6. embraceweirdness reblogged this from laurenzuni
  7. weiledudrink reblogged this from notyourbirthdayanymore
  8. sepalafregada reblogged this from paratodastodo
  9. mrhaynesworth reblogged this from thenandyshow
  10. thenandyshow reblogged this from shay0netta and added:
    The famous “bulldagger” of the Harlem Renaissance, Gladys Bentley was a lively, piano-playing blues and jazz singer....
  11. lizzieborednow reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  12. uglytshirt reblogged this from verticalvest
  13. icecoldnukacola reblogged this from fuckyeahhardfemme
  14. lol-maybenexttime reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  15. numarg reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  16. trainwreckinthestars reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  17. confiscate-your-lace reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  18. fobwatchedtimelady reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  19. thelittleconsultingmermaid reblogged this from the-banana-paradox
  20. the-banana-paradox reblogged this from simplydalektable
  21. nueone reblogged this from montparsnips
  22. allcapsdoom reblogged this from knitmeapony
  23. r3d-matter reblogged this from simplydalektable