amorous, antiquated, audacious deals with the lifestyles and networks of lesbians in Vienna in the 50s and 60s.
Unlike the periods before and afterwards, the postwar period has not been studied. That means that more than 20 years of lesbian history is totally undocumented. There is no information about the communities and spaces and how public or accessible they were, how women organized and presented themselves, and what it meant to identify as a lesbian at that time.
Other periods – especially in Austria – have also only received minimal attention, and there is a general tendency toward the invisibility of lesbian history. However, other periods in lesbian history have been the subject of some research in Austria. A study of female homosexuality was developed in the second half of the 19th century, when women were defined and categorized as "lesbians" for the first time partially because of the research being done on sexuality by scientists like Sigmund Freud, Magnus Hirschfeld, and Richard von Krafft-Ebing. During the "red twenties" numerous women's clubs and social circles began to emerge in Austria, creating an international counter cultural network. It was not as extensive as in Berlin, where there were 160 bars for lesbians and gay men at the time, but for the first time Vienna had spaces designated specifically for lesbians.
During this period of great freedom of activity and movement and the international networking of lesbians between 1927 and 1933 (Nazi takeover), the two German magazines "Freundin" (published until 1933 by Bund für Menschenrechte) and "Frauenliebe," a weekly magazine for friendship, love, and sexuality (published until 1930), which both contained clearly lesbian material, could also be purchased in Austria. Both magazines also published articles by Austrian contributers writing under pseudonyms about the legal situation and changes in Austria. Austrian writers submitted serial novels and poetry as well. There were a number of "coded" personal ads from Austria, using terms like "Fräulein", "Dame", and "Freundin" as identifiers. "Frauenliebe" had a circulation of 10,000 copies.
The Nazi takeover – as well as the Austro-fascist corporate state – put a violent end to this early visibility and acceptance of lesbian life. The historical documentation of lesbian life in Vienna during the Third Reich that we have today does not generally come from eyewitness reports, but rather from law enforcement authorities, who documented it meticulously. When lesbians appeared in court, most of them were convicted for several years because of their sexuality. At that time, particularly after the Anschluss, a conviction meant that the women were sent to prison or a concentration camp.
During National Socialism, lesbianism was outlawed pursuant to article 129, passed in 1852, which forbid "unnatural indecency with a) animals and b) people of the same sex". At the end of the war, homosexuals returning from the camps were not considered victims of the Nazis; the remaining prison sentences had to be served and sentences issued by Nazi judges were confirmed as previous convictions. This was because article 129 was not abolished until 1971. The study of female sexuality did not begin again until what was considered the start of the lesbian movement in the 70s. This began with the 1971 reform mentioned above, which led to the introduction of a series of other articles in its place (§209: unnatural indecency with minors – concerned men only – repealed in 2002, §210: homosexual prostitution, repealed in 1989, §220: advertising ban, repealed in 1996, §221: association ban, repealed in 1996). The sentence for violating §209 had been six months to five years since 1852 (§129). In the early 70s the women's movement began to become active in Austria as well.
A clear lesbian movement did not start until 1976, when the first lesbian group formed as part of the independent women's group, AUF (Aktion unabhängiger Frauen). Further events followed, such as the founding of a lesbian shared flat in 1976 (Amazonenmarkt), the first lesbian flyer on May 1, 1976, the first "Club 2" (discussion program on Austrian public TV station) on homosexuality (1979), the first Austrian lesbian conference, the first lesbian banner at a demonstration on International Women's Day, or the first lesbian party in the U4 club against the advertising and association ban (all in 1980), to name a few. The Rosa Lila Villa was squatted in 1980 and in 1983 the Austrian Society of Homosexual and Lesbian Research was founded.
Like the slogan that appeared all over, "Lesben sind immer und überall" (literally: lesbians are always and everywhere), a diverse lesbian movement began to establish social spaces for action and discourse.
The age group of the lesbians in amorous, antiquated, audacious is barely visible today, neither in the queer scene nor in the public consciousness. amorous, antiquated, audacious counters this loss of collective history and thereby identity with a complex portrait.
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