Samois was a lesbian- feminist

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

organization based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

that existed from 1978 to 1983. It was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States. It took its name from

Samois-sur-Seine Samois-sur-Seine (, ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located near Fontainebleau. Culture It is famous for being the town to which Django Reinhardt retired, and hosts a ...

, the location of the fictional estate of Anne-Marie, a lesbian

dominatrix A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for infli ...

character in '' Story of O'', who pierces and brands O. The co-founders were writer Pat Califia, who identified as a lesbian at the time,

Gayle Rubin Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitu ...

, and sixteen others. The roots of Samois were in a group called Cardea, a women's discussion group within the mixed-gender BDSM group called the

Society of Janus The Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States (after The Eulenspiegel Society) and is a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group. The Society of Janus is nonprofit, volunteer run and is ...

. Cardea existed from 1977 to 1978 before discontinuing, but a core of lesbian members, including Califia and Rubin, were inspired to start Samois on June 13, 1978, as an exclusively lesbian BDSM group. Samois was strongly rebuked (and sometimes picketed) by

Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media (WAVPM) was a feminist anti-pornography activist group based in San Francisco and an influential force in the larger feminist anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and 1980s. History WAVPM was ...

(WAVPM), an early

anti-pornography feminist Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms Feminist pornography, as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns su ...

group. WAVPM, like later anti-pornography feminists, was very strongly opposed to sadomasochism, seeing it as ritualized

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often con ...

. Samois members felt strongly that their way of practicing SM was entirely compatible with feminism, and held that the kind of feminist sexuality advocated by WAVPM was conservative and puritanical. Samois openly confronted WAVPM with their position, and the exchanges between the two groups were among the earliest battles of what later became known as the

Feminist Sex Wars The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Diff ...

, with Samois being among the very earliest advocates of what came to be known as

sex-positive feminism Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom. Sex-positive feminism cen ...

. The book '' Coming to Power'', edited by members of the Samois group and published in 1981, was a founding work of the lesbian BDSM movement. In the 1982 work '' Against Sadomasochism'' Judith Butler, credited as "Judy Butler," criticizes Samois in her essay "Lesbian S&M: The Politics of Dis-Illusion." Several other essays in the work also criticize it. Samois split up in 1983 amid personal infighting; however, in 1984

went on to help form another organization called The Outcasts. The Outcasts lasted until 1997, until they too split due to infighting. A breakaway group, The Exiles, is still extant as of 2012 and carries on in the tradition of Samois and The Outcasts. In 2012, The Exiles in San Francisco received the Small Club of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. In 1996, Pat Califia and Robin Sweeney published an anthology titled ''The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader'' that also contained historical information on The Outcasts, as well as other lesbian BDSM groups such as the

Lesbian Sex Mafia The Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) is an information and support group for bisexual women and lesbians interested in sexual activities involving BDSM, fetishes, costumes, etc. Founded in 1981 by Jo Arnone and Dorothy Allison, it is located in New York Cit ...

and Briar Rose. In 2007 the

National Leather Association International National Leather Association International (NLA-I) is a BDSM organization, based in the United States with chapters in various cities in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1986 as the "National Leather Association" (NLA), as a nationa ...

inaugurated awards for excellence in SM/fetish/leather writing. The categories include the Samois award for anthology. In 2019 Samois was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.

References

External links

The Exiles
- official site
"Cardea ~ Samois ~ Outcasts ~ Exiles"
by Drake Cameron, ''TheExiles.org'', December 2002.

by Fran Moira, ''

off our backs ''Off Our Backs'' (stylized in all lowercase; ''oob'') was an American radical feminist periodical that ran from 1970 to 2008. It began publishing on February 27, 1970, with a twelve-page tabloid first issue. From 2002 the editors adapted it i ...

'' 12(6), June 30, 1982. (Archived at

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.) {{Authority control 1978 establishments in California 1983 disestablishments in California BDSM organizations LGBT culture in San Francisco Feminism and BDSM Feminism in California Feminist organizations in the United States Lesbian culture in California Lesbian organizations in the United States Lesbian BDSM Organizations based in San Francisco Organizations established in 1978 Sex-positive feminism Sexuality in San Francisco

References

Further reading

External links