Episode 58: Why Are Lesbian Venues so Difficult to Maintain?

RedFem

We talk about how the infantilisation of LGBTQ+ politics has helped kill off lesbian nightlife and its effects. Including, the awkwardness of asexual discos, gay bars becoming popular with straight people and then inevitably changing, and the difficulty of maintaining a policy that only allows women through the door in the era of gender identity. We cover the wider context of historical neglect of lesbian venues due to an optimism that they would always exist, how a women's disco is not the same as a lesbian event, and monogamy's impact on lesbian footfall through nightclubs.
Also discussed is the reality that it's a challenge to maintain venues for any minority that is less than 1% of the general population, how poor provisions in those that do exist reflect lesbians low social status, and the apparent fact that hiking and cruises are much more attractive to lesbians than going out late night. The episode also includes the door policy at Heaven of checking women's fingernail length, the 'lesbian manicure' that brings new meaning to the phrase 'bowling alone', the now unimaginable time of weekly student gay nights pre-2008 economic crash, and Hannah regales a very award gay disco at Labour Party conference.