Sewing circles

A group of people, especially women, who meet regularly for the purpose of sewing, often for charitable causes.

Sewing circles is a phrase used (by Marlene Dietrich, for instance ) to describe the underground, closeted lesbian and bisexual film actresses and their relationships in Hollywood, United States, particularly during Hollywood's golden age from the 1910s to the 1950s.

Numerous actresses of that age lived double lives, often becoming involved in lavender marriages to hide their true sexuality. Many actresses, despite their attraction to and love for women, eventually succumbed to societal pressures and married men. Others, who are legends today, remained in sexual and romantic relationships with women all their lives, including Jean Acker, Judith Anderson, Katharine Cornell, Lynn Fontanne, Eva Le Gallienne, Patsy Kelly, Pepi Lederer, and Alla Nazimova^{[citation needed]}. Many others, who were equally famous, were simply bisexual, such as Louise Brooks, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Rio, Marlene Dietrich, Peggy Fears, Greta Garbo, Janet Gaynor, Katharine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Beatrice Lillie, Hattie McDaniel, Barbara Stanwyck, and Laurette Taylor^{[citation needed]}.

The phrase has since been used to describe actresses of that period. The underground lesbian and bisexual women's culture surge during those decades prompted a social backlash, including what would become known as The Hays Code, which called for "no immorality or impropriety on screen, only chaste kisses and heterosexual actors". The Code's ideology made it clear: bisexual and lesbian women were considered immoral, and thus the Code continued the shunning of bisexual and lesbian women.

External links

• The Girls: Sappho goes to Hollywood by Diana McLellen
• Lesbian HERstories