ILIS Herstory
Claim This Podcastby Virginie Jortay
Podcast Overview
<p>Discover our lesbian and feminist herstory - to shape the future !</p><br><p>Lesbians have always been involved in the activism for women's rights, LGBTQI rights, social justice, access to healthcare and medicines, sexual and reproductive rights, environmentalism, peace, decolonial struggles and anti-racist vigilance. Strangely enough they are way too often erased, forgotten, and overlooked. This is what is known as the “lesbian invisibility”. And this is precisely why Evien Tjabbes, a long-standing member of ILIS and now actively involved in the current international lesbian network, called EL*C, which we will discuss shortly, convinced Virginie Jortay and Malin Björk to gather the traces and write our ILIS HERSTORY.</p><br><p>ILIS was an incredible lesbian network founded in 1980 that organised international conferences and disseminated information worldwide. ILIS undeniably contributed to lesbian visibility and laid the foundations for struggles that are still relevant today. </p><br><p>In this five-episode podcast, we invite you to discover the remarkable herstory of ILIS, the first international lesbian network, which too few of us know about - and which continues to echo in today´s lesbian movements and organisations. </p><br><p><a href="https://ihlia.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Learning-from-the-past-Retrieving-the-herstory-of-international-of-international-lesbian-organising-The-International-Lesbian-Information-Service-1980-1998.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Timeline and documentation</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
5/11/2026
1 verified contact email on file for ILIS Herstory
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Recent Episodes
May 26, 2026
The End and what comes next
<p>After the Geneva events, the ILIS secretariat returns to Amsterdam. The work to empower black, migrant and refugee lesbians continued, and ILIS contributes to developing lesbian networks in both <a href="https://conferenciamujer.cepal.org/16/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Latin America</a> and <a href="https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/asian-lesbian-network-holds-its-first-conference" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Asia</a>. The newsletter reached its peak circulation, and on the political front, the demands put forward by the associations began to receive a positive response. But the energy starts to wane and the secretariat does not rotate anymore. In 1998 the incredible ILIS network ceases its activities, taking care to deposit their precious archives at the <a href="https://ihlia.nl/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">IHLIA</a>.</p><br><p>ILIS undeniably played a fundamental role in lesbian visibility. So the question remains: why do lesbians disappear from history? To write our Herstory, we return to the starting point and ask today’s activists and researchers what we can learn.</p><br><p>Featuring, in order of appearance : <strong>Shelley Anderson ; Anne Krul ; Evien Tjabbes ; Sylvia Borren ; Silvia Yuri Casalino ; Dragana Todorovic ; Joëlle sambi ; Adriana Churampi ; Paola Bacchetta ; </strong><strong>Rina Nissim</strong> ; <strong>Elena Biagini ; Lepa Mlađenović ; Haidy Möller ; Suzana Tratnik</strong></p><p>Extracts and borrows : <a href="Beverly Ditsie" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Berverly Ditsie</a> ; <a href="https://flax-foundation.net/awardees/elena-biagini/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elena Biagini</a></p><p>To go further : <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bi_ilga_history_collection/albums/72177720316991718/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">some pictures of the Bejing conference 1995</a></p><p>The narrative voice : <strong>Roberta Miss </strong>with <strong>Peggy Pierrot</strong> for additional voice</p><p>Written, made and edited : <strong>Virginie Jortay </strong>with the complicity of <strong>Malin Björk</strong> and <strong>Evien Tjabbes</strong></p><p>Music and audio post production : <strong>Teresa Ferraro</strong></p><p>Illustration : © <strong>Marieke van Ballegooijen </strong>and the eye of <strong>An/Ash Smolar</strong></p><p>Produced by <strong>Groupe Kuru</strong> and <strong>Stichting Vesta</strong>, with the support of <strong>Mamacash</strong> and <strong>EL*C</strong>. Big up to Carine Demange from <strong>Radio Campus. </strong>Thanx a lot to la<strong> Scam - Belgique</strong></p><p>diffusion.ilis@groupe-kuru.art</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
May 26, 2026
Going further, always better !
<p>Whether at the UN Conference in Nairobi or the ILIS work in Amsterdam, the issue of racism is paramount. Too often white and middle-class, lesbians tend to view the world through their own lens, which obviously does not suit everyone. Issues of class and race come up at every meeting, and, recognizing that these issues are essential, the <a href="https://www.rts.ch/archives/grands-formats/10534402-notre-histoire-compte.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vanille-Fraise Collective</a> organized the great Geneva conference in 1986. There were 800 of them—800 lesbians marching through the streets of Geneva…</p><br><p>Featuring, in order of appearance : <strong>Lepa Mlađenović ; Anne Krul ; Rina Nissim ; Sylvia Borren ; Evien Tjabbes ; Shelley Anderson ; Adriana Churampi </strong> </p><p>Extracts and borrows : Pauline Oliveros ; Gloria Anzaldua by Nancy Rodrigez - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSXh8-a8H4M" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Borderlands</a> ; Loses ends</p><p>To go further : <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bi_ilga_history_collection/albums/72177720323230329/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">some picture of the Nairobi Conference 1985</a></p><p>The narrative voice : <strong>Roberta Miss </strong>with <strong>Peggy Pierrot</strong> for additional voice</p><p>Written, made and edited : <strong>Virginie Jortay </strong>with the complicity of <strong>Malin Björk</strong> and <strong>Evien Tjabbes</strong></p><p>Music and audio post production : <strong>Teresa Ferraro</strong></p><p>Illustration : © <strong>Marieke van Ballegooijen </strong>and the eye of <strong>An/Ash Smolar</strong></p><p>Produced by <strong>Groupe Kuru</strong> and <strong>Stichting Vesta</strong>, with the support of <strong>Mamacash</strong> and <strong>EL*C</strong>. Big up to Carine Demange from <strong>Radio Campus. </strong>Thanx a lot to la<strong> Scam - Belgique</strong></p><p>diffusion.ilis@groupe-kuru.art</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
May 19, 2026
Power and Scope
<p><br></p><p>ILIS is expanding rapidly. The organization’s secretariat is rotating. It moves to Stockholm, Helsinki, Paris… The newsletter is reaching more and more people, and activists are travelling to expand their activities across every continent. The autonomous collective <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clit_007" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vanille-Fraise</a> is preparing to hold a major ILIS conference in Geneva. Meanwhile, ILIS members are traveling to Nairobi to attend the third UN World Conference on Women. They intend to openly identify as lesbians at the UN and defend their cause.</p><br><p>Featuring, in order of appearance : <strong>Sylvia Borren ; Paola Bacchetta ; Evien Tjabbes ; Anne Krul ; Rina Nissim ; Suzana Tratnik ; Lepa Mlađenović </strong></p><p>Extracts and borrows : Berkeley Library<strong> </strong><a href="https://avplayer.lib.berkeley.edu/Pacifica/b23306773" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dialogue in Nairobi</a> ; Laurie Anderson ; Nicol Miquel - <a href="Chez Nicole. Une histoire de bars lesbiens, à paraître aux éditions Hystériques et associéEs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chez Nicole</a> ; Cindy Lauper</p><p>The narrative voice : <strong>Roberta Miss </strong>with <strong>Peggy Pierrot</strong> for additional voice</p><p>Written, made and edited : <strong>Virginie Jortay </strong>with the complicity of <strong>Malin Björk</strong> and <strong>Evien Tjabbes</strong></p><p>Music and audio post production : <strong>Teresa Ferraro</strong></p><p>Illustration : © <strong>Marieke van Ballegooijen </strong>and the eye of <strong>An/Ash Smolar</strong></p><p>Produced by <strong>Groupe Kuru</strong> and <strong>Stichting Vesta</strong>, with the support of <strong>Mamacash</strong> and <strong>EL*C</strong>. Big up to Carine Demange from <strong>Radio Campus. </strong>Thanx a lot to la<strong> Scam - Belgique</strong></p><p>diffusion.ilis@groupe-kuru.art</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
5 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is ILIS Herstory?
<p>Discover our lesbian and feminist herstory - to shape the future !</p><br><p>Lesbians have always been involved in the activism for women's rights, LGBTQI rights, social justice, access to healthcare and medicines, sexual and reproductive rights, environmentalism, peace, decolonial struggles and anti-racist vigilance. Strangely enough they are way too often erased, forgotten, and overlooked. This is what is known as the “lesbian invisibility”. And this is precisely why Evien Tjabbes, a long-standing member of ILIS and now actively involved in the current international lesbian network, called EL*C, which we will discuss shortly, convinced Virginie Jortay and Malin Björk to gather the traces and write our ILIS HERSTORY.</p><br><p>ILIS was an incredible lesbian network founded in 1980 that organised international conferences and disseminated information worldwide. ILIS undeniably contributed to lesbian visibility and laid the foundations for struggles that are still relevant today. </p><br><p>In this five-episode podcast, we invite you to discover the remarkable herstory of ILIS, the first international lesbian network, which too few of us know about - and which continues to echo in today´s lesbian movements and organisations. </p><br><p><a href="https://ihlia.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Learning-from-the-past-Retrieving-the-herstory-of-international-of-international-lesbian-organising-The-International-Lesbian-Information-Service-1980-1998.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Timeline and documentation</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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