Vibeke Vasbo (born 1944) is a Danish writer and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, ...

activist. In the early 1970s, she participated in the Redstocking movement and in the Danish Lesbian Movement. She embarked on a literary career in 1976 with ''Al den løgn om kvinders svaghed'' (All those Lies about Women's Weakness) expanding on the work of a woman crane driver, based on her experiences in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in 1974-75.

Biography

Born on 9 July 1944 on the Danish island of Als, she was the daughter of medical doctors Harald Eyvind Roesdahl (1912–94) and Anna Helene Refslund Thomsen (born 1912). The second youngest of four children (three girls and one boy), she grew up in an old farmhouse in Tandslet where her parents had their practices. As a child, she was strongly influenced by her maternal grandmother, the author and politician Ingeborg Refslund Thomsen (1891–1972), spending much of her time at Brundlund Manor, her grandparents' home in Åbenrå. She dreamt of becoming a journalist, writing short stories and poems. After matriculating from highschool in

Sønderborg (; german: Sonderburg ) is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 27,766 (1 January 2022),au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a mon ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, England, improving her command of English. On her return to Denmark, she studied German and English at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. Participating in political student life, she met Karen Syberg with whom she set up ''Rødstrumperne'', a small group based on American feminist movement

Redstockings Redstockings, also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, is a radical feminist nonprofit that was founded in January 1969 in New York City, whose goal is "To Defend and Advance the Women's Liberation Agenda". The group's name ...

, which turned into the Danish Redstocking Movement. A demonstration in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1970 ended with the women discarding their bras with a banner declaring ''Hold Danmark ren'' (Keep Denmark Clean). Further activities in support of women followed, including the creation of a "Women's Camp" on the island of

Femø Femø is a Danish island north of Lolland. The island covers an area of 11.38 km2. Femø has 154 inhabitants (1 January 2005). 117 inhabitants 2021. Women's camp Every year since 1971 women have met and spent their holiday together in the n ...

and calls for abortion rights in 1970. Vasbo abandoned her university studies in 1973, becoming a medical assistant in Bispebjerg Hospital. Many of the members of the Redstocking Movement were either already lesbians or decided to adopt lesbian ways. Vasbo, who had undergone a short marriage, was among them. In the face of opposition to lesbianism by many of the Redstocking members, the Lesbian Movement (''Lesbisk Bevægelse'') was established in 1974, with a membership of 200 activists. Together with Norwegian activist,

Gerd Brantenberg Gerd Mjøen Brantenberg (born October 27, 1941) is a Norwegian author, teacher, and feminist writer. Biography Brantenberg was born in Oslo, but grew up in Fredrikstad. She studied English, History, and Sociology in London, Edinburgh, and Oslo. ...

, who had become her partner, Vasbo moved to

, working as a crane driver. On the basis of diary notes, she wrote ''Al den løgn on kvinders svaghed'', published in Danish and Norwegian in 1976 and later in German, describing how a woman could take up a job traditionally reserved for men. It was the first Danish book which openly described a woman's experiences from a lesbian viewpoint. Vasbo broke off her contacts with the Lesbian Movement in 1981 when she met Danish priest Leo Thomsen in Italy. She developed a difficult relationship with him, ending in a separation a month before his death in 1998. Their romance was described in ''Miraklet i Amalfi'' (The Miracle in Amalfi), bringing Vasbo attention. She went on to write a historic novel set in 7th-century England, ''Hildas sang'' (Hilda's Song, 1991), combining family life and sex. It was warmly welcome by the critics.

Selected works

* 1976: ''Al den løgn om kvinders svaghed'' * 1980: ''Efterårsferie ved fjorden'', short stories * 1980: ''Måske har jeg haft en anelse'', poetry * 1981: ''Sygehjælper i æbletræernes blomstringstid'', short stories * 1982: ''Den enøjede killing'', short stories * 1984: ''Miraklet i Amalfi'', novel * 1985: ''Anna-Amanda'', short stories * 1990: ''Det er det, jeg siger: Man vil begå mord!'', short stories * 1991: ''Hildas sang, historisk roman fra 600´årenes England'', novel * 1993: ''Glæden ved at kigge ud ad vinduet'', essay * 2004: ''Artemis, beretningen om en kat'' * 2008: ''Der mangler en sang om solsorten'', novel * 2018: ''The Song of Hild'', English translation of ''Hildas sang'' (translated by Gaye Kynoch)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasbo, Vibeke 1944 births Living people People from Sønderborg Municipality 20th-century Danish novelists Danish LGBT novelists Danish LGBT rights activists Danish lesbian writers Lesbian feminists Lesbian novelists Danish expatriates in Norway 20th-century Danish women writers