Evidence of lesbian ‘bosom sex’ practices

[breathedout]

Evidence of lesbian ‘bosom sex’ practices in the early nineteenth century have been preserved in the rare correspondence of two African-American female lovers, schoolteacher Rebecca Primus and domestic servant Addie Brown. Separated by work, Brown wrote to Primus informing her that at the boarding school where Brown worked in service, several women sought to share her bed at night and fondle her breasts. Brown placated Primus that 'I shall try to keep your f[avored] one always for you,’ but added 'should in my excitement forget you will pardon me I know.’ When Primus apparently did not forgive her this excitement, but expressed jealousy over the thought of other women touching Brown’s breasts, Brown backtracked. In her next letter Brown promised that when she slept with another woman 'I can’t say that I injoyed it very much,’ and she denied recollecting what she had meant by the word 'excitement’ in her previous letter. The exchange paints a vivid picture of a self-consciously sexual culture of breast play among women educators and school workers in the antebellum era.

—Rachel Hope Cleves, Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Still laughing over "and she denied recollecting what she had meant by the word 'excitement’ in her previous letter."