PASSION, POLITICS, AND POLITICALLY INCORRECT SEX: TOWARDS A HISTORY OF LESBIAN SADOMASOCHISM IN THE USA 1975-1993 by Anna Robinson Submitted to the Department of Gender Studies, Central European University In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies CEU eTD Collection Main supervisor: Francisca de Haan (Central European University) Second reader: Anne-Marie Korte (Utrecht University) Budapest, Hungary 2015 PASSION, POLITICS, AND POLITICALLY INCORRECT SEX: TOWARDS A HISTORY OF LESBIAN SADOMASOCHISM IN THE USA 1975-1993 by Anna Robinson Submitted to the Department of Gender Studies, Central European University In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies Main supervisor: Francisca de Haan (Central European University) Second reader: Anne-Marie Korte (Utrecht University) CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2015 Approved by: ________________________ Abstract This thesis is an exploration of the largely underexamined history of lesbian sadomasochism (SM) in the United States between the mid-1970s, when the first organised lesbian feminist SM groups were founded, and 1993, by which time public debates about lesbian SM were becoming less visible. I engage with feminist discourses around lesbian SM within the so- called feminist sex wars of the 1980s, tracing the sometimes dramatic rise to prominence of lesbian SM as a feminist issue. Entwined in this web of controversy, I assert, is the story of a perceived fundamental split in the feminist movement between those who believed SM was patriarchal, abusive and violent, and those who saw it as a consensual expression of sexual freedom and liberation. This thesis draws upon extensive original archival research, and contains close readings of letters to the editor from lesbian publications and sex magazines of the time, as well as and the personal papers of key figures and organisations, such as Dorothy Allison (founder of the lesbian SM support group LSM) and Shelix (a woman-to-woman SM group in Northampton, MA). My study charts the trials and tribulations of lesbian feminists, anti- pornography feminists, and lesbian sadomasochists of different stripes in 1980s America as they grappled with notions of identity, desire, consent and how exactly to best embody the classic feminist statement that the personal is political. I show that new, related identities of “lesbian sadomasochist” and “pro-sex feminist” emerged during the “sex wars” through conflicts over what makes a “good” feminist and a “good” lesbian, in and out of the bedroom. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements It is such a pleasure to be reflecting on all the intellectual and emotional support I have received in the preparation of this thesis. Firstly, I would like to thank my main supervisor, Professor Francisca de Haan. Her commitment to my thesis, generous guidance and attention to detail have motivated me to succeed and encouraged me to become a better scholar. Professor Anne-Marie Korte’s advice has been exceptionally helpful too, asking thought- provoking and challenging questions that pushed me intellectually. Thank you both. I also wish to show my appreciation to the incredibly helpful archivists whom I met in person (Colette at the LHA, Angela at the Mazer Archives, Kelly Wooten at Duke, Keith at ONE, plus countless others with whom I corresponded by email). An extra special thanks to Ciara Healy in Durham for her being the funniest librarian in all of North America, and to all the friends whose couches I slept on during my research trip. To the people whom I interviewed formally (Amy Hoffman, Cindy Patton, and Ben Power Alwin) and chatted to informally (Siobahn, Carmelle Creane, and Kayla Ginsburg): thanks for generously sharing your time and your insights. Those who looked at drafts of the thesis, I truly cannot thank you enough. Julian Gill- Peterson, Mark Taylor, and Jonathan Burgess’ readings gave me invaluable food for thought. The endless intercontinental text messages and then beers in New York pondering passions and politics with Julian Gill-Peterson and Tara Tabassi have enriched this thesis too. Thank you also to Whitney Stark for her keen copyediting skills, Jess Miley for her help with the images, Elisabeth Laird for formatting assistance and Steph Doole and my family for the CEU eTD Collection constant moral support. I could not have had such a fun and intellectually enriching two years without my Utrecht family and Budapest friends, especially Vasso Belia, Annemijn van Marlen, and Marianna Takou, and the DRAB collective. ii The image on my cover is a photograph of Fisch by E.J. Doubell in a deserted underground garage in Brixton in 1992. I appreciate her kind permission to let me use it here. I also wish to acknowledge the financial support that made this thesis possible from the Erasmus Mundus Category A Scholarship, the CEU MA Travel Grant, and the Duke Feminist Theory International Travel Grant, as well as the Visiting Scholar Award from the LMA which will permit me to continue research on this topic in 2015-16. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to Darell and Margit, with love. CEU eTD Collection iii Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iv List of figures .......................................................................................................................... vii List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................ x Introducing Lesbian Sadomasochism .................................................................................... 1 Methods and materials ........................................................................................................ 9 Aims ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Structure ............................................................................................................................. 15 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 1 Literature Review ............................................................................................... 25 1.1 Sadomasochism and lesbianism .................................................................................. 26 1.2 SM in feminist and lesbian histories........................................................................... 28 1.3 Key secondary texts ..................................................................................................... 30 1.4 Theoretical Framework and Approach ..................................................................... 32 1.4.1 Queering gay and lesbian history ............................................................................ 32 1.4.2 Foucault and the history of sexuality ...................................................................... 34 1.4.3 Sex panics ............................................................................................................... 36 CEU eTD Collection 1.4.4 How to write queer feminist history?...................................................................... 37 Chapter 2 Historical Context and the Emergence of Lesbian SM ................................... 39 2.1 Sadomasochism’s history ............................................................................................ 40 2.2 The US feminist movement 1970s-1980s .................................................................... 45 iv 2.3 Lesbian feminism in the US 1970s-1980s ................................................................... 46 2.4 Hierarchising sex from a feminist perspective .......................................................... 52 2.5 The beginnings of anti-pornography feminism ......................................................... 55 Chapter 3 Lesbian Sadomasochism in Public .................................................................... 62 3.1 The emergence of lesbian SM as a contested notion ................................................. 64 3.1.1 SM and the origins of the sex wars ......................................................................... 64 3.1.2 Lesbian SM on the East coast ................................................................................. 66 3.2 The “Barnard Conference”, 1982 ............................................................................... 68 3.3 The Lesbian Sex Mafia and the “Speakout on Politically Incorrect Sex” .............. 84 3.4 Feminist media coverage and post-Barnard conference sex panic ......................... 91 Chapter 4 Feminist Discourses Critiquing SM in 1980s America ..................................... 95 4.1 Struggles over defining SM, defining consent ......................................................... 100 4.2 Sock it to me: patronising as anti-SM strategy ....................................................... 104 4.3 Feminist bookstores and SM ....................................................................................