Out on the Floor: Exploring the London Lesbian Club Scene of the 1980s and 1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article sets out to counter dominant depictions of DJs and clubbing that privilege white male DJs and their scenes, and that erase nightclubbing’s Black queer origins. Using queer oral history interviews and engaging with material fragments from the time (playlist notes, flyers, records), I focus on London in the late 20th century, where Black and white lesbian DJs, promoters, and clubbers created their own club scene. The scene’s events and nights were a combination of queer women’s creative cultural activism and the love of music that DJs and dancers shared, away from the surveillance and gaze of the straight world.