Let’s funk the patriarchy! 🌈
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGES BY @SUNCATX
If you live in the South West like me, chances are great queer nights out don’t come by very often. You’ve probably seen your London friends living their best lives with exclusively gay friendships groups and sighed. Well, I’ve got good news. The team behind Glastonbury’s Shangri-La will be hosting Misscoteque this Sunday at Lost Horizon in Bristol.
The event will be an exclusive womxn and non-binary only safe space with and the night will be soundtracked “by all queer and fxmale or non-binary identifying selectors”. In the need of a feel-good, old school campy vibe? The DJs have got you covered! The music will take inspiration from what would have been played at Bristol’s original lesbian discos. Oh, and half of the profits generated by ticket sales will be donated to the local charity, Pride Without Borders, if that’s not enough to tempt you, read on …
Amaia and Georgia, founders of the Womxns Disco Collective and the team behind Misscoteque, know how hard it can be to find safe spaces to explore and express yourself. Georgia moved to Bristol from a rural village in Somerset hoping to find more queer spaces. She was inspired to look into the herstory of lesbian nightlife and social spaces from the 70s to 90s. Hearing about the nightlife and hidden back rooms of straight pubs and hotels and pop up discos where the marginalised lesbian community thrived, she was inspired. “Many of the women had their first encounters with other lesbians in these places and were able to explore their sexuality,” said Georgia. “There was such a sense of community that the older lesbians would take them under their wing and bring them into the community.”
Georgia saw how transformative it can be to have community, connection and the ability to see yourself reflected back at you. We were mid-lockdown when Georgia was undertaking this research and started to reflect on their experiences living in Bristol without such spaces. “It just felt so painful to me that these places had to go away when they were literally everything for these women, and they could have been everything for me and my friends.”
And this is how the Womxn’s Disco Collective and Misscoteque were born. From the need to own space. The club night has found its new “spiritual home” with the venue Lost Horizon, a space formed by the team which masterminded the Sistxrhood project, a womxn-only space within Shangri-La at Glastonbury Festival which shares an ethos nearly identical to Misscoteque’s own. The event draws inspiration from old school lesbian discos but is inclusive of those who are non-binary or gender nonconforming. All are welcome onto the dancefloor. Connection, love and dance are at the center of the night.
Amaia commented: “We have lived our lives in predominantly heteronormative space and that can be really painful. But we are also marginalised in gay clubs, which are dominated by gay men. This is why there is still a desperate need for these spaces – where queer womxn can feel safe, explore their identity and ultimately be themselves.”
I love living in the South West. It’s a slower pace of life than London which suits my introverted needs well. But even a shy enby like me needs to surround themself in their community, especially after the years that we’ve all had. This is something which I have sadly rarely experienced in this part of the UK hence my joy to discover such a needed local event. Bristol and the UK has a rich queer history which is often erased, it’s time to take up space.
You can book your tickets for Misscoteque: Funk The Patriarchy! here.
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