Erotic resistance

Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs (1960s-1990s)

Opening June 7, 2024

About the Exhibition

This exhibition preserves the memory of San Francisco’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.

To purchase a copy of Erotic Resistance, visit the publisher’s webpage and use code “UCPSAVE30” for 30% off.

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About the curator

Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, PhD, is an artist-scholar who teaches and writes about art and activism, queer of color critique, erotic performance, and the intersections of mindfulness and creative practice. She holds a doctorate in Theater and Performance Studies with a minor in Art History from Stanford University, where she currently leads the LifeWorks Program for Integrative Learning.

About the GLBT Historical Society

Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Our operations are centered around two sites: our GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood; and our Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in the Mid-Market district.

EXHIBITION SPONSOR

This exhibition is made possible with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Photo Credits

Isis Rodríguez, Zapatista Stripper, developed during Guillermo Gomez-Peña's The Mexterminator Project (1998). Photograph by Eugenio Castro.