The Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) is an information and support group for bisexual women and lesbians interested in sexual activities involving BDSM, fetishes, costumes, etc.[1][2] Founded in 1981 by Jo Arnone and Dorothy Allison, it is located in New York City.[2]
The LSM works "to organize for [women's] sexual desire as strongly as we have tried to organize for our sexual defense".[3] The name was deliberately chosen "in the same spirit of humor as the Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorism Society."[4][5]
History
The LSM organized a "Speakout on Politically Incorrect Sex" rally at the 1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality.[6][7] The group was also a subject of a documentary by the German filmmaker Monika Treut, Bondage, the first of four films in the Female Misbehaviour series.[8][9][10]
In 1996 LSM cofounder Jo Arnone received the National Leather Association International’s Jan Lyon Award for Regional or Local Work,[12][2] in 2005 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards, and in 2010 she received the Mr. Marcus Hernandez Lifetime Achievement Award (Woman) as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.[13]
Membership
Membership in LSM is open to women 18 years and older, including intersex or transgender women, and transgender men who were assigned female. To become a member, one must fill out the application and then becomes an LSM Pledge. Next, the pledge must attend an LSM Orientation/Safety Procedure Meeting.[14]
^Dawson, Leanne; Treut, Monika (2014-09-02). "Same, same but different: filmmakers are hikers on the globe and create globalisation from below". Studies in European Cinema. 11 (3): 155–169. doi:10.1080/17411548.2014.972710. ISSN1741-1548. S2CID191498162.
^Gerd Gemünden, "How American Is It? The United States as Queer Utopia in the Cinema of Monika Treut", in Scott D. Denham, Irene Kacandes, Jonathan Petropoulos, eds., A User's Guide to German Cultural Studies (University of Michigan Press, 1997), ISBN978-0472066568, pp.342ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
