It wasn't the best start in life, and things only get worse for Joe - will her defiance and strength enable her to survive?

This extract from Joe's interview sees her recall how she felt different from others in her early years. In the playground she would beat up boys and well as an unfortunate girl who unknowingly foiled her plans to become the 'teacher's pet'.

With no discussion of sexual matters at school, Joe was sent to a boarding school when she was 15. Here she learned that homosexuality wasn't right, though one of her teachers, who was quite butch herself, told Joe that one day 'she'll find something that will explain who she really is'.

That teacher, and later a boyfriend, recognised Joe's gayness and from that time she accepted that she was indeed lesbian. Dressing as she pleased, Joe wore suits bought from gentlemen's outfitters but was often beaten up when she was discovered to be a girl. In one horrific attack, Joe and her girlfriend were gang-raped and the girlfriend died as a result. Joe recalls that she had little support from the police.

Finding herself pregnant after the attack, an understanding doctor referred her for a termination - despite abortion being illegal at the time. Later, after her own mother attacked her with a broken bottle, Joe moved to London to find work in a pen factory and later at the BBC, where she emptied the bins.

Joe found that she was attractive to feminine lesbians, and sometimes even gay men, and recalls that the 'butch/femme' dichotomy was quite prevalent in her social circle, though she feels that wasn't always the case in other lesbian relationships.

Joe was born in 1941 and was raised in a children's home in Fazakerley, Liverpool. She attended a boarding school, where an enlightened teacher recognised that she was a lesbian.

Around the age of 17, Joe started dressing in men's clothes and cutting her hair like a man's. This could, and did, lead to numerous violent attacks from homophobes. In one case, both she and her girlfriend were gang-raped and beaten. Her girlfriend died as a result of the attack.

Becoming a transient after that incident, and having had an abortion as a result of the rape, Joe moved to London for work and to find the lesbian scene. Joe worked in house services at the BBC and, disturbed by her butch appearance, the corporation organised appointments with a psychiatrist for her.

Joe became politically engaged and went on several marches and demonstrations connected with sexual identity issues. In later years, Joe's mental health would suffer, largely due to the homophobic violence she'd suffered throughout her life.