Lesbian heroines from history #4: Angela Bowie
June 21st, 2010
This week’s heroine is: Angela Bowie (1949-)
Also known as: Mary Angela Bennett (the name she was born with) and Jipp Jones (an alias she used for modelling)
Our heroine’s social scene: London in the swinging 60s and 70s
Famous for: Being married to David Bowie from 1969 to 1980 (an open relationship they both later described as ‘a marriage of convenience’); being the inspiration behind his hits The Prettiest Star and Golden Years; naming their child Zowie Bowie; finding Bowie and Mick Jagger in bed together; being fictionalised by Toni Colette as a character called Mandy Slade in glam rock film Velvet Goldmine
Infamous for: Being expelled from Connecticut College for Women before coming to London at the age of 18. Auditioning for the part of Wonder Woman but being beaten by Lynda Carter. Penning a tell-all autobiography titled Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie.
Reason she’s a heroine: A fierce champion of bisexuality since her first romance with a woman whilst at college, Angie was often quizzed by the media about her own and David Bowie’s sexuality during her time as his wife. She swotted up on the subject, lectured at Eton about it, and wrote an essay beginning with these sentences:
“I like kissing and the perfumed flavour of nipples, their fullness and pampered erection when touched. I am a hedonist, a pleasure lover, at home in the courts of cool, jousting or playing croquet or regaling the company with tales of adventure and conquest. I thrive in the barrios of the baroque, bizarre and burlesque - I am Bisexual.”
She has since written a book on bisexuality, an another on sex and pop culture, and narrated a feature-length documentary about BDSM.
Any famous friends/lovers: A who’s who of rock’n'roll from touring with Bowie, including the Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull, John Lennon and Michael Jackson.
If she were alive today, she’d be: She’s still alive and kicking, and the inimitable Angie Bowie has no-one out there quite like her… yet.
Hey - just realised - 4 ‘Lesbian Heroes’ and they’re all bi.
I don’t know whether to be pleased that bi women are being treated as heroes by lesbians or worried that they’re being whitewashed by us.
Kate ∼ June 24th, 2010 11:58 pmHi Kate, thanks for the comment! One reason for this is that I wanted to use women from varying points in history, and several of the women who might have identified as lesbian today were then obligated by society to marry and explore their lesbian sexuality via extramarital affairs. If you have any suggestions of iconic women who completely identified as lesbian rather than bisexual then please let me know and I’d be more than happy to consider them for future features!
Jane ∼ June 28th, 2010 11:09 am