The 1980s: Sex, Space, and Survival, with Sarah Schulman, Valarie Walker, & Katherine V. Forrest

Welcome to the 1980s! In the first of two episodes on the decade, Jack Gieseking is joined by novelist and essayist **Sarah Schulman**, mystery writer **Katherine V. Forrest**, and activist **Valerie Walker** to talk **dyke bars**, queer parties, sex, race and racism, AIDS, activism, and the worlds we made from them. From **The Duchess** in **Greenwich Village** and a secret lesbian bar in 1960 **Detroit** to the 1990s **Clit Club** in the Meatpacking District, **Black and tan bars**, **sex parties**, and the enormous landscape of 1980s organizing, the conversation asks what bars made possible—and who they kept out. We hear about rigid **butch-femme** roles and the 1980s rethinking, rejecting, and accepting them in different ways, Black and brown exclusion, **carding**, women-only spaces, **trans people** finding and making community, and the political transformation brought by **HIV/AIDS**. The episode moves from New York to **Los Angeles**, **San Francisco**, Detroit, **London**, and **Hartford**, following the networks of people, publications, organizations, bookstores, bars, and parties that held queer communities together. Come for the history, stay for the revolution, gossip, and desire that built us. Lez keep doing it, y’all. \** ***Join Our Community*** Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on! - **Newsletter** to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time - **Instagram** for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistories - **Read** and follow our co-producer and collaborator, *Sinister Wisdom* - **Email** us questions and comments at [**ourdykehistories@gmail.com**](mailto:ourdykehistories@gmail.com) \** ***Credits*** Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo Assistant Editor: Becca Moses & Sophie McClain Social Media Manager: Audrey Wilkinson Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/ CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at [ourdykehistories@gmail.com](mailto:ourdykehistories@gmail.com) for permission to use any of our content.