Shewolf, Dr. Jean Boudreaux (1932-2020)

• Lesbian Land Audio Interviews Online – Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project
• Remembrance Gathering sponsored by Sinister Wisdom, May 2020
• Interview in 2003 by Arden Eversmeyer for the Old Lesbians Oral Herstory Project, archived at Smith College, https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/381176. Transcript available on request.

Shewolf, born Jean Boudreaux in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1932, pursued an education that enabled her to teach hearing and speech at the university level. She organized to achieve equal pay for equal work at the University of Louisiana, at the Lafayette campus in southwest Louisiana. She started holding feminist potlucks that she continued for 15 years. She wore a pants suit to her interview for her job at the University of Louisiana, which was quite revolutionary at the time.

When she had the opportunity, Shewolf bought her family’s farm from her father, who needed the money in order for him to retire. There were cattle on the land, but she and her girlfriend could not bear to eat meat from killing their own animals. She had learned carpentry, running workshops for many years, teaching women her skills. It was rewarding and productive.

When asked why lesbian intentional community is so difficult to create and to succeed, Shewolf said that each one of us has a vision of the community we want to create. We are completely dedicated to it. The ones with the biggest dreams and visions have no money for bringing it into being. The ones with money go ahead and build a place with the philosophy, “build it and they will come,” which doesn’t happen in reality. We each believe so strongly in our own goals that it’s often too hard to show up for someone else’s view of community.

See also:

Cronewrite, B. Leaf, “Shewolf’s Womonworld, South Louisiana,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 115-20.

Ellison, Kate, “She Put Landykes on the Map: Shewolf’s Directory, Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 113-14.