Do it for your sistas: Black same-sex-desiring women's erotic performance parties in Washington D.C

This dissertation traces the cultural geographies, origins and histories of Black same-sex desiring women's erotic performance parties in Washington D.C. In particular, I focus on the use of public space, appropriations of dominant space in the city, the reasons why such spaces were used for Black same-sex desiring women's erotic performance parties in the District. I tie these modern secret events to histories of Black appropriations of space, intended to protect Black peoples (especially Black women) from violence, judgment, harassment. I argue that the creation of Black same-sex desiring women's erotic performance events in Washington D.C. constitute a claim to privacy while contesting the heterosexual and patriarchal nature of public space. Black women in Washington D.C. are able to carve out spaces focused on Black women's same-sex desire, openly and freely expressed, out of an otherwise oppressive landscape. Despite a variety of forces which seek to limit, contain or remove Black same-sex desiring women's erotic performance parties from the city, their events persist through flexible uses of public space, using their visibility strategically to protect themselves from racist, sexist, homophobic readings of their bodies and desires while simultaneously asserting their rights to the use of public space in the city.