#elula perrin

[yourdailyqueer]

Elula Perrin (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: Born 1929 

RIP: 22 May 2003

Ethnicity: Vietnamese, French

Occupation: Entrepreneur, writer

Note: Ran the first lesbian club in Paris where men were not allowed. First lesbian to openly talk about her homosexuality on television and on radio in the 1970s.

[matriarchy-au]

Elula Perrin, Vietnamese ex-pat who ran a lesbian women's club in France in the 1970s and 80s

[lgbfightback]

"If just one lesbian … finds out through me that one can be a lesbian and still be happy, that there is neither shame, nor anguish, nor despair in our condition, then I will have won my challenge."

Elula Perrin, Women Prefer Women

Happy LGB Day of Visibility! We hope all our lesbian, gay, and bisexual friends have had a wonderful day. Don’t forget to share your favorite LGB icons with us throughout the week, here and on Twitter, using the hashtags #LGBDayofVisibility #LGBIcon. We will NOT allow our history to be revised or erased.

[leblogdebrillante]

Covers of Elula Perrin’s Les femmes préfèrent les femmes, translated as Women Prefer Women in English and Nur Frauen können Frauen lieben in German, 1977.

[leblogdebrillante]

She lied down on me. That was strange, that frail, light body that didn't crush. We kissed breathlessly, like the day before. Her hands started caressing me. It was soft, light, two bird wings that brushed my breasts, my hips, my thighs, my belly. Our sexes close together, like cheek to cheek, without anything separating them. The feeling of this bush caressing mine. A hand slipping between us, looks for me, finds me immediately, and touches me, and becomes insistent. I'm melting, I'm liquefying. Her mouth leaves mine, slips along my neck, my shoulder, my breasts that she embraces, gently, with her hand still holding me tight, suspended. I know what's coming. I know that her lips will touch my belly, that her tongue will replace her hand, soft and nimble. And, that gesture that I had accepted with such difficulty from Guy, because I was ashamed of it, because it made me uneasy, because my sex became a slimy cesspool of saliva where a large, thick tongue moved without direction, because in too many directions. Suddenly, I desire that gesture with my whole being. Her tongue replaces her hand without the exchange interrupting the movement, the tension.

Elula Perrin, Women Prefer Women (1977)

[leblogdebrillante]

Elle s’allongea sur moi. C’était étrange, ce corps frêle, léger, qui n’écrasait pas. On s’embrassait à perdre haleine, comme la veille. Ses mains se mirent à me caresser. C’était doux, léger, deux ailes d’oiseau qui effleuraient ma poitrine, mes hanches, mes cuisses, mon ventre. Nos sexes l’un contre l’autre, comme joue contre joue, sans rien qui les sépare. La sensation de cette toison qui caressait la mienne. Une main qui glisse entre nous, qui me cherche, me trouve immédiatement, et me touche, et devient insistante. Je fonds, je me liquéfie. Sa bouche quitte la mienne, glisse le long de mon cou, mon épaule, mes seins qu’elle englobe, délicate, sans que sa main cesse de me tenir tendue, suspendue. Je sais ce qui va venir. Je sais que ses lèvres vont se poser sur mon ventre, que sa langue va remplacer cette main agile et douce. Et, ce geste que j’acceptais si difficilement de Guy, parce que j’en avais honte, qu’il me mettait mal à l’aise, que mon sexe devenait un cloaque baveux de salive où s’agitait sans direction, parce que dans trop de directions, une langue grosse et épaisse. Ce geste soudain, je le désire de tout mon être. Sa langue remplace sa main sans que l’échange interrompe le mouvement, la tension.

Elula Perrin, Les femmes préfèrent les femmes (1977)

[leblogdebrillante]

French Lesbians — Elula Perrin

Elula Perrin (1929 in Hanoï (Vietnam) - 2003 in Paris) was a writer and owner of several clubs in Paris.

In 1969, she opened the Katmandou, the first lesbian club in Paris where men were not allowed. It was one of the most famous lesbian club in France until 1988 when it closed.

In “A right to the city? Virtual networks and ephemeral centralities for lesbians in Paris”, Nadine Cattan and Anne Clerval write about the Katmandou :

The recent history of lesbian places in Paris can be dated back to the opening of a women-only night-club in the early 1970s, the Katmandou, which was managed by Elula Perrin and Aimee Mori, and dominated lesbian nightlife until the 1990s. The exclusion of men, though never strictly enforced, allowed for a degree of lesbian visibility. Located on the Left Bank, close to the famous night-clubs of the 1960s such as Chez Regine and Chez Castel, it was a sophisticated place, patronized by relatively well-heeled women and celebrities, whether lesbian or not: the place was therefore quite exclusive socially. Despite spotless management, as the police itself was forced to acknowledge, the club was harassed by neighbours who found the presence of a lesbian night-club at the foot of their building unacceptable. New occupants of the building in the 1990s became even more hostile, and managed to have the place shut down by complaining of the "noise" (according to Elula Perrin, these new neighbours were close to political spheres of power). "Parents can now let their little darlings walk past the 21 rue du Vieux-Colombier, it has become a luxury leather goods shop. Middle class, sleep soundly (Perrin, 2000, p. 193). 

Elula Perrin was also important representation for lesbians in the media, as she was the first lesbian to openly talk about her homosexuality on television and on radio in the 1970s.

She wrote many lesbian novels. Her most famous work is the autobiographical novel Women Prefer Women published in 1977, which was a scandal in France and sold very well. It was translated (at least) in English and German.

Resources (in French) :

55-minute interview of Elula Perrin about being a lesbian and her book Women Prefer Women (1977)

Radio show about Renée Vivien where Elula Perrin was invited (she starts talking at 1:02:16 — 1978)

Extracts of TV appearances : Part 1 — Part 2 (1981, 1996)

Talk-show where Elula Perrin was invited (2000)

Article about Elula Perrin in Le Monde (2003)

[leblogdebrillante]

Las mujeres prefieren a las mujeres Spanish translation of Elula Perrin’s Les femmes préfèrent les femmes (Women prefer Women), 1977.

French, English and German covers