Q4Q: Queer Personals Podcast

*Ring ring* Hello? Did you know that you could call a phone number to leave a voicemail personal ad? “Talking” personal ads became popular around the 1980s and ‘90s as a quick way to hook up or meet someone cute! This week, mystery fiction author and host of Queer We Are podcast, Brad Shreve, joins Haley to recount his own encounters via the voicemail ads. 

Check out Brad Shreve’s work at his website, Queer We Are or follow him on Instagram and/or Twitter @thebradshreve

Sources: 

Long before online dating, there was the era of alt-weekly personal ads | Metro Detroit News

A Small Convenience That Changed Everything: The History of Voicemail

The History of Voicemail

Voicemail - Wikipedia

Here's What Happened to the Boston Phoenix

Outweek (NYC) December 16, 1990 

Q-Notes (Charlotte, NC) October 2, 1999

This Week in Texas Magazine (Houston-Dallas, TX) - September 3, 1993

The Body Politic (Toronto, Canada), July-August 1984

In this episode, Haley sits down with Robbi Sommers Bryant–author, editor, watercolor artist, and the Queen of Lesbian Erotica. A well-earned title, as Sommers Bryant published nine erotica books–one of which, Personal Ads, follows several stories after lesbians place newspaper ads looking for something sexy. Find out the inspiration behind the stories and other fun tidbits! 

Check out Robbi’s other works on her website (https://robbibryant.com) or follow her on Instagram @robbisommersbryant. 

Sources:

Robbi Sommers Bryant, Personal Ads, Naiad Press, 1994.

Among friends (Madison, WI) April 1988

Southern voice (Atlanta, GA)17 January 1991

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening…to this new episode? Santa is single and looking for someone to jingle his bells. This week, Haley ropes their friends EJ, Tabitha, and Bekah into a Christmas-New Year’s Eve special, where folks set up their New Year's Eve dates, snuggle bunnies, and winter survival coaches. Happy 2023! 

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

 Cover art by Bekah Rich. Music by Kaz Zabala. 

Sources: 

Gay Community News (Boston, MA)  1982 December 11

Focus Point (Minneapolis, MN), 1997 December 17 

Gay Community News (Boston) 1991 December 15-21 

Outweek No. 28 (NYC)- 1990 January 7

The San Francisco Bay times., December  1989

Outweek No. 28 (NYC)-  1990 January 7

Drummer Magazine, Issue 159, c.1992

Are you sick of mind-numbing, capitalist, consumer dating life? You’re not alone! Queers have been plotting their escape from society for decades–and they’re posting personal ads looking for just the right person to share it with. So,

throw on your prairie dress, get back to the land, and throw open those cottage windows (stained glass, of course) –because Haley of Q4Q meets Abbey of Sweet Baby Gay for a quaint, cottagecore themed episode!

Do you want to hear more from Abbey? Follow their podcast on Instagram @sweetbabygaypod and listen to more of their episodes here.

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources: 

Kate Reggev, “What Exactly is Cottagecore?”,  Architectural Digest, October 2020.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, c.1990s

Just out, 1 December 1985 (Eugene, Oregon)

Just out, 1 February 1985 (Eugene, Oregon)

Outweek, 22 August 1990 (NYC)

The Blade, June 1978 (Washington, D.C.)

The San Francisco Bay times,, Sep 1989 (California) 

Welcome back to Q4Q! This week, queer historian Tyler Albertario & Haley wade through the history of the correspondence club, Contact. The penpal club served as a clandestine way for homosexual correspondents to connect during the 1920s & ‘30s. Learn about notable members like Henry Gerber, Manuel boyFrank, and Frank McCourt–who’s letters form the foundation of the present knowledge of the club’s history. 

Do you want to hear more from Tyler? Follow him on Twitter @TylerAlbertario.

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources:

Jeremy Sorese, “Henry Gerber is the Founder of the Society for Human Rights, the First Known Homosexual Organization in the United States,” Shandaken Projects, October 2020. http://www.shandakenprojects.org/otherassets/HenryGerber_Online.pdf

Letter to Merlin Wand, May 26, 1928 ("CONTACTS..."), Internet: Speculative Fiction database.

Rob Roehm, “Contact without Friction”, Howard History: The Life & Times of Robert E. Howard, March 8, 2021. https://howardhistory.com/category/letters/

Jim Elledge, An Angel in Sodom: Henry Gerber and  the Birth of the Gay Rights Movement, Chicago Review Press, 2022. 

Subject Files Series 3.1916-1984 Bulk: Contacts, Date: 1935, Manuscript Number: Box 8, Folder 9, Source Library: ONE National Gay & Lesbian, Archives, Archive: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II Collection: Manuel boyFrank Papers 

Subject Files Series 3.1916-1984 Bulk: Contact, Date: 1945, Manuscript Number: Box 5, Folder 28Source Library: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Archive: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part II Collection: Manuel boyFrank Papers

 boyFrank (Manuel) papers Finding Aid, Online Archive of California, https://oac.cdlib.org/view?style=oac4;view=dsc;docId=c8ff3t5b;query=Contacts#hitNum5

Jump on into the Wayback Machine, we’re talking to Steve about Asynchronous Communication. Not to be confused with simultaneous communication, or face to face conversation. So what is it like to date asynchronously? Many of us know! How frustrating is it to send a chat to someone in an app and they leave you on read? But sometimes, just sometimes, you hit up someone who has the same communication style as you and everything falls into place.

Do you want to hear more from Steve? Follow them on Twitter @SKleinedler And listen to their 2019 podcast Fiat Lex: A Dictionary Podcast.

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources:

• Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet, 2019. 
• Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985
• On Our Backs (California)
• Camp Ink (Australia), Australia Gay and Lesbian Archives
• San Antonio Community News (Texas), April 30, 1999.
• G Street (Eau Claire, Wisconsin),  March 2001

Lace up your boots or slip on your platform heels, because it’s Q4Q’s 25th episode! To mark the occasion, Haley invited their good friend and femme fatale, Caillean, to gasp their way through personal ads written by butch and femme lesbians. Whether you’re into lace or leather, chapstick or lip gloss, pants or skirts–some other nonsensical binary, you’ll enjoy these ads. 

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources:

Nestle, Joan (1992). The Persistent Desire: A Femme–Butch Reader. Alyson Publications.

Caramagno, Thomas C. (2002). Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate. ABC-CLIO. pp. 137–8. ISBN 978-0275977214.

Walker, Ja'nina (March 2012). "Butch Bottom–Femme Top? An Exploration of Lesbian Stereotypes". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 16 (1): 90–107. doi:10.1080/10894160.2011.557646. PMID 22239455. S2CID 205753452

Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony, https://alotarchives.org/collection/bridging-gap

Butch Fashion Club FB page

Stone Butch Blues

The Persistant Desire

@onourbax__stax Instagram

Ads:

Outweek (NYC) Sept 19, 1990.

FaT GiRL 1 — October, 1994. Fat Lib Archive. 

FaT GiRL 7 — May, 1997. Fat Lib Archive.

Focus Point (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1997-10-08.  Minnesota Digital Library.

On Our Backs, Summer 1987 via onourbax__stax

Philadelphia Gay News, April 30, 1982. JStor, Reveal Digital.

Southern voice, December 7, 1989. Digital Library of Georgia.

Southern voice, January 17, 1991. Digital Library of Georgia.

The San Francisco Bay times., Sep 1989. Berkeley Library, UCLA

We the people, Jun 1989.

We the people, Nov 1989.

Lesbian Tide, July/August 1979. JStor, Reveal Digital.

This episode, Haley teamed up with Kai of @Rotten_Treasure for one of the kinkiest episodes of the entire show. Sometimes it’s difficult to find a partner into the same things, in the same general geographic area--before Grindr, Craigslist, or  KinkD, there were personal ads in the local LGBTQ magazine. Listen as we match with voyeurs, foot worshippers,  Gumdrop Danglers, and more!

(Personal ads begin around 1 hour and 2 minutes.)

We mentioned: 

Amanda Hess, “The Foot Fetish Brain Map,” Washington City Paper, 13 April 2010. 

Justin Lehmiller, “Rats With Jacket Fetishes? What Animal Sex Studies Reveal About The Origin Of Unusual Sexual Interests,” Sex and Psychology, 16 January 2015. 

Gayle Rubin, “South of Market Gay Leather History: A Short History and Walking Tour,” San Francisco Frontiers, 20 September 2001. 

Kelsey Borresen, “The Difference Between A Fetish And Kink, According To Sex Experts,” Huffington Post, 25 July 2018. 

“English Rockers in Leather” Gay Leather Fetish History, 

"Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice" by Caroll Truscott.

JP Larocque, “A brief history of BDSM: From Sparta to Weimar Germany, kink has always been part of our sexuality” 13 November 2014. 

Cameron Glover, “It’s Time to Recenter Kink and BDSM as Part of Radical Queer History” Slate, 7 November 2018.

J Raúl Cornier, Hanky Panky: An Abridged History of the Hanky Code, 23 April 2019.

Palmer Haasch and Canela López, “The debate over 'kink at Pride' divides the internet, but the kink community has been part of queer protest and celebration since Stonewall” Insider, 7 June 2021.

We read: 

Drummer extras,  “Tough Customers 4” published  c. 1990s. 

The Washington Blade (Washington, DC) , 27 November 1998. 

OUT FRONT (Denver, CO) 15 February 1991

Outweek (NYC) 11 July 1990

Outweek (NYC) 8 Sep 1990

Southern voice (Atlanta, GA) February 17 and 23, 1994 

The Body politic (Toronto, Canada), March 1984 

The San Francisco Bay times. (California), Sep 1989

We're talking about casual sex,  baby! Haley and their housemate Ari hand-selected several personal ads looking for something sexy, passionate, and hedonistic--hold the emotion. The queers who wrote these ads are looking for a good time, not a long time. 

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes!

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources

Oxford English Dictionary, Accessed online July 2022.

"Casual Sex" Urban Dictionary, created 2014. Accessed July 2022. 

Philadelphia Gay News, 30 April 1982. JStor, Reveal Digital

On Our Backs, Summer and Fall 1986, stored at Brown University Special Collections, Accessed 2021. 

Gay Community News (Boston, MA) 1 June 1974. JStor, Reveal Digital

LongLostPersonals Instagram, Dan Low, from 1976, posted on 18 June 2022. 

 Nuntius (Houston, TX), August 1976. Houston LGBT History Website

Outweek (NYC) 28 August 1989.

Outweek (NYC) 31 July 1989.

The Blade, (Washington, DC) September 1977. DC Public Library, Special Collections, Periodicals, Washington Blade, DigDC (Accessed April 2021).

This week, Haley geeks out with fellow personal ad aficionado and collector, Dan of @LongLostPersonals. His Instagram account contains hundreds of unique, sexy, and sometimes bizarre personal ads across the decades. Learn about the coded language men used to meet other men in the 1940s, and experience the dirtiest ad Dan has ever seen (so far). 

Listen to us on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your tunes! Don’t forget to follow Dan @Longlostpersonals

Interested in being on the show? Contact us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @Queerpersonals and Instagram @Queerpersonalspodcast.

Music strummed by Omar Nassar. Cover art by Bekah Rich. 

Sources:

• The Link, 1920.
• Hobby Directory, 1948.
• Hobby Directory, 1948.
• The Girlfriend and the Boyfriend, 1951. 
• Southern Voice, April 21 and 27, 1994. Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Providence Phoenix,  1994.
• Outweek, 31 July 1989.
• Philadelphia Gay News, December 1976. JStor, Reveal Digital
• Philadelphia Gay News, 30 April 1982. JStor, Reveal Digital
• Skins, c. 1990s.