DIVA sat down with Tabs Benjamin to find out more about a decade of celebrating butchness
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY CHERRY AU (@cherryauhoni)
Sweaty mullets and baggy jean shorts move majestically to the sound of the thumping bass. Carabiners swing in the air. Leather. Denim. Flannel. Bodies dripping in sex appeal and spilt beer all dance to the same sapphic tunes. This is, of course, a Butch, Please! night.
Dubbed “the coolest lesbian night in London”, Butch, Please! has been carving out space for butchness to be celebrated for the last 10 years. The trans-inclusive club night isn’t just about bringing good tunes to the DJ decks. It’s become a radical space to explore and amplify queerness in an increasingly hostile world.
To celebrate 10 years of Butch, Please!, they’re putting on a very exciting “Butches In White Tees” party on 18 April to commemorate just how far they’ve come. DIVA sat down with the creator behind Butch, Please!, Tabs Benjamin, to find out more about bringing butch visibility to the dancefloor for the last decade.
You can get your ticket to Butches In White tees here: outsavvy.com/event/25243/butches-in-white-tees-10th-birthday
10 years is a long time for any club night to be going let alone a queer one. What have been some of the big things that you’ve noticed change over the last decade?
I started the club because I didn’t feel like there was anywhere that I really wanted to go out. There weren’t very many lesbian-specific spaces. The 80s and 90s had been amazing, but a lot of the bars were shutting down in the 2000s when I was coming out.
One of the big things that I’ve seen change is obviously there’s just more on offer. For so many of the last 10 years, we were the only people running a no cis male policy and one of the only places celebrating butchness.
I’ve definitely seen an opening out of the scene again. I always wanted to make butch cool again and I feel like in some way I’ve definitely contributed to that. It’s become okay for us to have these spaces again and for us to take up space on the scene.
The word “butch” has been reclaimed by so many people in the community. What have you noticed change in the way butch is being used by the community over the last decade?
Butch is still a pretty niche underground working class identity rooted a lot in people of colour communities. I think in some ways it will always be outside of the mainstream scene. At one time it felt like I was the only person on my soapbox banging on about butchness. Then all of a sudden it was like everybody got on board and it became this word people actually used. Running Butch, Please! has helped me connect with so many butches around the world. Over the years I’ve met a lot of young people who’ve come to me and have found themselves in Butch, Please!. People who’ve gone on to be in famous bands or nominated for the Turner Prize but also just lots of people who’ve come and have found themselves on the dance floor.
What have been some of the moments that stand out over the last 10 years?
There are so many! When I rode a Harley Davidson motorbike into the RVT. Or when a friend of mine donated loads of free lube sachets which we threw into the crowd. Meeting k.d lang. Winning a DIVA Award. Moving to Clapham Grand and doing much bigger events that no one had done anything like since Venus Rising.
On a personal level, a girl came up to me one night and said that she’d gone to school near where we used to host events. She said that seeing me made her think that everything would be alright.
Looking to the future, where do you hope to see Butch, Please! in 10 years?
Butch, Please! has always been very nostalgic. One of my greatest pleasures has been to see a lot of the older dykes come back to going out. I think we do build on what people have done before. Just because something’s not on Instagram doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! I’ve always felt like all the people who came before me stand with me in my head when I do Butch, Please!
When we’re looking forward, I think we also want bigger parties where we can take up more space. I think we do have to remember this is against perhaps an unfavourable political backdrop. I think we need to be mindful of the fact that the politics [of Butch, Please!] are very important. It’s not just a party, it’s a radical getting together of people who are creating space for ourselves in a world that doesn’t give us any space. It’s important we keep fighting for trans rights and trans inclusion.
What is your dream venue for Butch, Please!?
It was always my dream to do a festival, and this year we’re hosting a pre-Pride party in Hackney Wick called Summer Dykes 25, inspired by the Summer Rites Festival. Summer Dykes is sort of my dream event, bringing Pride back to its community roots.
You can get your ticket for Summer Dykes here: outsavvy.com/event/25517/summer-dykes-25
What do you hope people take away from a Butch, Please! night?
There’s a Maya Angelou quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I want people to feel like they can really be themselves. I want people to feel beautiful, sexy and cool. I want them to feel like they have a place in the world. I want them to feel seen and I want them to see. For the people who have worked for me, I hope that they feel like being involved with Butch Please has invested in them as queer creatives and that it has helped them along their way in terms of experience.
Find out more about Butch Please here: butchplease.co.uk/what-s-on
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