In the canine archives of sex: Radclyffe Hall, Una Troubridge and their dogs

Bauer, Heike (2022) In the canine archives of sex: Radclyffe Hall, Una Troubridge and their dogs. Gender and History , ISSN 0953-5233.

Abstract

How does attention to dogs open up understanding of the queer, and more specifically, the Sapphic past? And what can modern Sapphic dog culture in turn tell us about the racialized formation of the ‘special bond’ between humans and their dogs? This article examines the forgotten enmeshments of Sapphic and pedigree dog cultures in early twentieth-century England. It takes as its case study one of the best-known couples of Sapphic modernity, Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge, and their dachshunds, Wotan and Thorgils. Bringing into dialogue scholarship on the history of sexuality and animal history it traces the historical footprint of these dogs and the people around them. I argue that what I call the ‘canine archive of sex’ – a broad range of documents including show catalogues, newspaper reports, fiction and scientific writings – offers new insights into Hall’s and Troubridge’s own lives and the wider circle of unmarried women involved in dog shows, alone and as couples. If centring historical dogs thus aids the recovery of historically marginalized lives, it furthermore reveals that modern pedigree culture, and the related championing of canine breeds, were circumscribed by class and racial thinking in a way that shaped understanding of the human-canine relationship.

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