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Phyllis Christopher, Dancer, Club Ecstasy, San Francisco, CA, 1991

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IF THINGS WERE A LITTLE DIFFERENT YOU WOULD DIGEST YOURSELF THROUGH A CUT IN YOUR MOUTH. IT'S A RELIEF TO KNOW THERE ARE PROVISIONS AGAINST THIS.

Jenny Holzer, The Living Series, 1989

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I love the latex catsuit you’ve worn and was wondering where is a good place for someone to buy their first?

thank you!

Latex is an investment, so i’d do a lot of research on how to wear it and maintain it before purchasing. Most latex brands only sell custom catsuits, so they can be pretty pricey. Mine is from bright & shiny, and the gloves and toe socks are from bunker gear.

fantastic rubber is really reputable though I don’t own anything from them. Limit latex is good if you want something really specific.

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Phyllis Christopher. Michou & Cooper, Alley South of Market, San Francisco, CA, 1997. Silver gelatin print

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a good dog deserves to wear her owner’s tag on her collar @girlknots

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how did you get into kink? I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe or comfortable enough/attracted to anyone to have this conversation and it hurts

ever since I was a little girl I liked playing make-believe games in which I held unilateral power over someone and could force them to do whatever I wanted. it only escalated from there

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my advice is to figure out what you’re interested in and then find other people who seem interested in the same kinks/topics/dynamics. Tumblr is arguably a great place to start. i’m a big proponent of “let love find you in your living” and all that

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how did you get into kink? I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe or comfortable enough/attracted to anyone to have this conversation and it hurts

ever since I was a little girl I liked playing make-believe games in which I held unilateral power over someone and could force them to do whatever I wanted. it only escalated from there

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On Our Backs, Winter 1988

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Phyllis Christopher. Party, Los Angeles, CA, 1999. Giclee print.

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people love assigning sexual roles based on presentation, or worse, anatomy. especially in lesbian spaces. the amount of butches and trans women pushed into ‘you have to top’ scripts could fill an archive. it’s wild to pretend body parts or aesthetics dictate desire.

butch/femme is historically rich. it gave queer women a language for desire when the world denied us one. but it also left us with these rigid ideas about who leads and who yields.

give me a butch who opens doors for me in public and grovels in private. butch masculinity is most subversive when on one’s knees.

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FATTER THAN BARBIE BUTCHER THAN KEN

Phyllis Christopher, Dark Room: San Francisco Sex and Protest, 1988-2003

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On Our Backs, Winter 1988

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