I am a New Zealand lesbian currently living in Scotland. I am writing a novel about a teacher in NZ in 1957 who falls in love with another woman. She also has a boy pupil aged 10 (in Standard 4) who is bullied by the other boys because he's pretty and plays with the girls. (It emerges that he probably does have sexual feelings about other boys.)
I am relying on my memory of growing up in the 1950s loving other girls - and then being a lesbian teacher (though this was in the 70s, I don't think things had changed much since the 50s, although by then I knew for definite what I was and had had a clandestine relationship). I have realised that I don't know much about what other children (or even adults) would have known about homosexuality in 1957, what words would have been used, what boys got up to, how schools might have dealt with it, etc. My own experience at that age was that I was different and had a shameful secret - I assumed of course that I would grow out of it and get married and have children and live happily ever after. I have no memory of anyone ever even alluding to homosexuality, let alone having any vocabulary.
I would welcome anyone who was at primary or intermediate school in the 50s getting in touch to share their experiences. Maybe there is a book about lesbians and gay men in the 50s in NZ (though I doubt it would be available over here). It's not just the gay bit I'm interested in - also, what did we do in Std 4?? My memory is a bit thin - we had a truly horrible teacher and I only remmeber long division!
Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you. j.dickey22@btinternet.com
