The uncut version: The Mattachine Society’s pornographic epilogue

Abstract

Countering dominant historical narratives of the Hal Call-led Mattachine Society (a homophile organization dating from the 1950s) as ‘conservative’ or ‘respectable,’ this article examines the organization’s 1970s evolution into a porn theatre and sex club known as the Cinemattachine (later the Circle J Cinema). Arguing for continuities between the 1970s Cinemattachine and prior Mattachine tactics, Call’s own publishing business ventures, and discourses of sexual education, this article suggests that the organization continued to negotiate evolving sexual politics through the exhibition of pornography.