LOCATION
GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114
ADMISSION
$5.00 - $10.00 | Free for members
RSVP and purchase tickets here
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s-1990s) preserves the memory of the city’s bohemian past and its essential role in the development of American adult entertainment. It highlights the contributions of queer women, trans women, and women of color who were instrumental in the city's labor history, as well as its LGBTQ and sex workers' rights movements. In the 1960s, topless entertainment became legal in the city for the first time in US history, though cross-dressing continued to be criminalized. In the 1990s, stripper-artist-activists led the first successful class action lawsuits and efforts to unionize. The exhibit sheds light on intersectional communities in the making and the women who played a critical role in this history, which has often been hidden from view.
On view are artworks, performance documents, and other ephemera pertaining to women that were interviewed for this research project or whose archives are still in the process of being co-constructed by individuals and collecting institutions alike.
This exhibit is titled after Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa’s dissertation, now published as Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (University of California Press, 2024). During her research, she encountered objects in the GLBT Historical Society’s archives that are featured in this exhibition and that tell the story of the cross-pollination of LGBTQ venues, strip clubs, and burlesque theaters by sex worker and LGBTQ communities alike, during the latter part of the twentieth century.
Tickets are $5-10 or free for GLBT Historical Society Members. Members can also access a special curator tour at 5 PM, immediately preceding the opening reception.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s–1990s) opens Friday, June 7. Click here for more information about the exhibition.
Admission
Admission is free for members and $5-$10 sliding scale for non-members. This event will likely sell out, so guests are encouraged to reserve their tickets early. Members can also access a special curator tour at 5 PM, immediately preceding the opening reception.
Join the GLBT Historical Society
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks throughout the year.
Photo Credits: Isis Rodríguez, Zapatista Stripper, developed during Guillermo Gomez-Peña's The Mexterminator Project (1998). Photograph by Eugenio Castro.