Friday Fives: Five Places You Can See Lashings In The Not-Too-Distant Future

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer Time

Happy Friday, dear readers, and welcome to the first of our new series of Friday Fives! (Fans of our longer Friday entries, fear not: we’re not dropping those, we’d just like to add more short-and-sweet posts into the mix.) So without further ado, enjoy our first very practical and informative Friday Five:

Five Places You Can See Lashings In The Not-Too-Distant Future

1. Colour Your World: Curtain Call (February 28th, Egham)
Royal Holloway’s Feminism Society and LGBT are running this event to conclude their LGBT History Month and kick off Women’s History Month, and invited us to come along! We’re looking forward to playing a fun and energetic set and then settling down to watch the rest of the acts and open mic performers. If you’re especially lucky, we might even break out some of our newest songs during the open mic sessions...

2. NUS Women’s Conference (March 5th, York)
We’re so excited to play NUS Women’s Conference! Many of us got our start in feminism through student activism, and we’re looking forward to attending the talks and workshops - and getting to play to a massive audience of engaged student feminists! (If you’re not already registered to attend then registration is now closed - but fear not, and scroll down...)

3. OxFem Festival (March 7th, Oxford)
As part of their celebration of International Women’s Day, Linacre College are hosting a fairytale-themed event, where the Oxford-based lifeforms among you can get your Lashings fix, at the same time as seeing a whole bunch of other feminist-type performers.

4. Queer, Feminist and Social Media Praxis (May 17th, Brighton)
As part of a day-long workshop that looks at the interactions between queer/feminist activism and digital media, Lashings will be not only performing but talking about some of the theory and process behind what we do. The workshop aims to be and open to people from a wide variety of backgrounds rather than just academics, and the whole day promises to be really interesting, so do come along if you’re able to!

5. Nine Worlds Geekfest (9-11th August, London)
Lashings will be performing a set as part of a queer cabaret during one of the evenings - and many of us will be doing other things at the convention too, like organising it or speaking at it... (Assuming it gets funded, that is - any further donations to the kickstarter would be super welcome!)

London Lashings + CN Lester, 27th July

Posted by Annalytica

We are very excited about our new show, Alternative Sex Education! Having already performed this show at Oxfringe, and selected acts at The Cutlery Drawer in Brighton and Cambridge, we're now gearing up to take Alt.Sex.Ed to London!


We're returning to The Pirate Castle, the lovely venue where we performed the panto in February. We are delighted to be joined by the stunningly talented CN Lester, who will be performing songs from their album Ashes.

Alt.Sex.Ed is a journey through what we learned and what we wish we'd learned about sex and sexuality while we were growing up. Drawing on threads from previous shows and weaving in new acts, it has been described as "a veritable jumper of awesomeness". It is also the show that has swept new Lashers kabarett, Orlando and Valentina into the fold!

So, here are the details:

The address for the venue is: Pirate Castle, Oval Road, London NW1 7EA
Doors open at 7:30 and the show will begin at 8.
Tickets cost £7/£5 concessions
Food and drink are not available on site but you are welcome to bring your own.

The venue is fully wheelchair accessible, with accessible and gender-liberated toilets. There are four steps, or a purpose-built lift, to access the performance space. There will be plenty of seating.

Trigger warnings for this show are listed here. One section of this show is particularly distressing, and there will be an onstage warning before that section. There will be someone on hand to answer questions about triggers on the night, and there will be seats reserved for those who may need to leave the room.

If you have any questions about accessibility, triggers or anything else, please get in touch at feministburlesque@gmail.com

We hope to see you there!

RadFem 2012: uniting feminists against transphobia

Posted by Orlando.

[Trigger warning: transphobia. Neither this blog nor the linked posts are transphobic, but they do engage with and discuss transphobic ideas, and it is possible that linked blogs which don't share our safe space policy will have transphobia expressed in their comments section.]

We told you on Monday that our weekly post was going up early because of the urgency of the topic - but now, with another pressing topic begging to be written about it, this week you get a double-dose of Lashings bloggery! Aren't you the luckiest things? So, I'm Orlando - named after the gender-fluid Woolf character, rather than any popular actors - and I'm a newly-ascended fan of Lashings who is still somewhat breathless about joining the team here. Hello!

In mid-May, a London-based 'radical feminist' conference called RadFem2012 was announced, and parts of the internet began to rumble. A few days later, that rumble on Twitter became a roar on the blogosphere. Why all the attention? The website stated that entry was restricted to 'biological women living as women' - later edited to 'women born women living as women' - and renowned transphobe Sheila Jeffreys was billed as a speaker. A week later, and I'm - actually, kind of elated.

Oxford: Events in March

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer



March is a great month for queer-feminist events in Oxford!

Oxford International Women's Festival kicks off today with a performance of The Vagina Monologues at the OFS. It's also on tomorrow (Saturday 3 March), and it stars all sorts of Lash-people, including erstwhile techie Shev. Not only will this event be great fun, they're also raising money for Oxford Sexual Abuse & Rape Crisis Centre.

Sunday 4 March - Laugh Out Proud, featuring our very own Sally Outen, will be raising laughs and money for all sorts of great local charities.

Sunday 11 March - Gender Rebels: A Queer and Feminist Cabaret - strictly speaking, this is part of the Oxford International Women's Festival, but I draw particular attention to it because everyone's favourite Queer Feminist Burlesque Collections LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER TIME are doing a couple of short sets there. As are Lash-favourites Lucy Ayrton & Liztopia. We think it will be a great event, and would love to see you there.

Sunday 25 March - the deeply homophobic organisation "Christian Concern" will be arriving in Oxford for their "controversial" conference. There will be some exciting actions taking place to show them - and the world at large - that Oxford does NOT welcome homophobes.

Book your tickets for the Lashings Panto!

Posted by Annalytica

If you want to be sure of getting a seat at the momentous event that will be the first ever Lashings Pantomime, you can now book online. Payment will still be at the door.


To book for the London show on 3rd February, visit this link: http://alturl.com/2dc4y
Doors open at 8, panto starts at 8:30.

To book for the Oxford show on 11th February, visit this link: http://alturl.com/7ixjb
Doors open at 7, and there will be all manner of exciting support acts until 9, when the panto itself will begin!

Please note that if you have not arrived by the time the panto is due to start, we may offer your seat to someone else.

Please invite all your friends!

Oxford events round-up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Here are some shiny events happening in Oxford over the next few weeks.


Oxford Lesbian History Group

Tuesday 24 January, 8pm - Downstairs at the Castle

Discussion of women's diaries and letters, the practical and interpretative difficulties of working with them.

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Oxford International Women's Festival Fundraiser

Monday 30 January, 7pm - Port Mahon

Performers:
Lucy Aryton - Poet
Stuart Bryant - Poet
Hannah Bruce - Acoustic singer / songwriter
Tamara Parsons Baker - Singer/ songwriter
Rachel Hughes - Pianist / singer / songwriter

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Oxford University lecture for LGBT History Month (all welcome):
Alan Turing: the One who became a Zero
A lecture by Dr Andrew Hodges, author of Alan Turing: The Enigma


Tuesday 7 February, 5.30pm

Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW

"Alan Turing was the chief scientific figure in the Anglo-American codebreaking effort in World War II, centred on Bletchley Park. His life as a gay man illustrates the harsh oppression but also the growing consciousness of that era."

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Oh, and did we mention we're having a party on Saturday 11 February, including your LAST CHANCE TO SEE the Lashings of Ginger Beer Time Pantomime? It's at the East Oxford Community Centre from 7pm. Read about it on Facebook or on the blog.

Academic round-up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Information on events and opportunities for students and academics in the fields of gender, sexuality, and intersectionality.

Academic round up

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Some conferences which may be of interest to academics and students in the fields of gender and sexuality.

Events in London this weekend

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer


Another weekend full of exciting events:





Friday 25th November

Ah! Forget My Fate - A Complete History of Women in Opera (Abridged!)
Queer feminist opera by Better Strangers
10pm King's Head Theatre, Islington, London
Tickets here

Ah! Forget My Fate will take you on a musical journey. If that sounds cliché, bear with us: we begin in the late 17th century, with a bold two-woman adaptation of Dido and Aeneas; then soprani Claudia Guastella and Jessie Holder guide their audience through the dramatic and often disastrous fate of the operatic heroine; the sultry and salacious stylings of villainesses; the dubious dealings of witches and wenches; and the curious custom of dressing women as men.

Saturday 26th November

Feminist Library book sale
2.30pm at the FEMINIST LIBRARY, 5 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7XW (map)

On top of selling duplicates from the Feminist Library collection (so very valuable out of print feminist texts!) there will be a selection of non feminist books and knick knacks - and the good thing is that you are free to bring your own books and donate them to the library to sell on the day! All this plus the chance to visit the library and browse the collection, meet other amazing feminists and sample some of our delicious food.
The library is wheelchair accessible and the event is open to all.
After the event, we will take the library vintage red banner and join the Reclaim the Night march - why not join us?
You can RSVP on Facebook event; and use this to invite your friends! You can contact the library on admin@feministlibrary.co.uk or on Facebook; or by following @feministlibrary on Twitter.com

CN Lester at the Camden Enterprise
7:30 until 10:30

Singer, song-writer, pianist, trans activist, and all-round awesome person CN Lester is performing at the Camden Enterprise, "Channelling some more Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith - and some favourites from Ashes."

Events this weekend

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

There are many things going on this weekend! How will you ever decide which to go to?



Friday

7:30pm: The Mechanisms
Port Mahon, Oxford
Once a year, the inhabitants of the lonely outpost of Spaceport Mahon, floating near-derelict in the Clement Asteroid Belt, tremble in anticipation: that notorious vessel AURORA and her band of troublesome MECHANISMS are approaching once again. Is this the time when they will finally destroy Spaceport Mahon in a blaze of anarchic fury? Or have they managed to calm Gunpowder Tim’s tendencies to arson? Only the brave, foolish, or those interested in dieselpunk cabaret spacefolk musical storytelling should dare to find out.

8pm: Film screening as part of Wadham Queerweek
Old Seminar Room, Wadham College, Oxford
XXY is a 2007 Argentine film written and directed by Lucía Puenzo. The film stars Ricardo Darín, Valeria Bertuccelli, Inés Efron and Martín Piroyansky. It tells the story of a 15-year-old intersex person, the way her family copes with her condition and the ultimate decision that she must eventually make as she finds her sexuality.


Saturday

12 noon: Fawcett Day of Action
On average, women earn less, own less, and are more likely to work and retire in poverty than men. The government’s approach to cutting the deficit will widen the gap between women and men. On November 19th, join us on the ‘DON’T turn back time’ March in London or host your own ‘DON’T turn back time’ tea party to help us tell David Cameron:“DON’T TURN BACK TIME ON WOMEN’S EQUALITY!”

London:
12 noon – march congregates at Temple tube, Victoria Embankment.
12.30 – march sets off down Embankment, across Horse Guards Avenue, down Whitehall past Downing Street.
13.30 – march finishes with a rally on King Charles Street.

Oxford:
12pm at Cornmarket, opposite St Michael.

6pm: Wadham Queerfest
Wadham College Gardens, Oxford
To mark the end of Wadham's annual QUEER WEEK, come and join us in the beautiful College Gardens for a night of live entertainment, cocktails, delicious food, fantabulous costumes and lots and lots of dancing.



Sunday


7:15pm: Transgender Remembrance 
St Columba's United Reformed Church, Oxford (off Alfred St , near All Bar One)
A special meeting to remember members of the transgender community who have lost their lives as victims of abuse and hatred.

7:30pm: Discussion: Feminism and Pornography
Tanner Room, Linacre College, Oxford
Can there be such a thing as non-exploitative pornography? Does anti-porn mean anti-sex? How can campaigning around issues related to the "porn industry" be respuctful to those who work in it? Lashings' own Goblin in discussion with Matt McCormack-Evans of the Anti-Porn Men Project.

Academic roundup

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Information for students and academics in the fields of gender and sexuality.




Lecture: Hard, Bold, and Wicked: Masculinity and Liminality in Lewis and Tolkien.
7 November, 5:15
Seminar Room A of the English Faculty Building, Oxford University (directions)
Dr Anna Caughey, College Lecturer in Old and Middle English, Keble College

"In Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the boundaries between adult and child identities are at once blurred and reinforced. Childhood, and boyhood in particular, is presented as a state that can be both transcended and retreated to when necessary, while full physical/social adulthood is generally marginalised. Using Peter Hollindale’s theory of ‘childness’ as a base, this paper examines the ways in which both texts use their fantasy settings to provide younger readers with access to material that emphasises the capability and autonomy of child/child-substitute protagonists while privileging the state of childhood." 

Conference and call for papers: Lesbian Lives
Friday 17 – Saturday 18 February 2012
University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland

"The Lesbian Lives Conference is not just the world’s only annual academic conference in Lesbian Studies, it is now a large international event that draws speakers and participants from all continents and hosts the best-known as well as emerging scholars in the field. The conference gathers together academics, activists, performers and writers who do not otherwise have the opportunity to address such large audiences or to network across international and professional boundaries. It is also a forum for political organisation on the levels of both community activism and established international NGOs."

Symposium and call for papers: Going Underground? Gender and Subcultures
7th September 2012
University of Northumbria

"Research of girls and women’s subcultural productions and engagements from queer, feminist and transgender scholars (e.g. Jack Halberstam, Doreen Piano, Susan Driver, Elizabeth K Keenan, Mary Celeste Kearney and Kath Browne) carve out a new territory for understanding the ‘subcultural’. Given this reevaluation, it is timely to re-engage with how ‘subcultural’ genders (both femininities and masculinities) are represented in alternative society and discuss how far this can be politically subversive. For instance, the revival, nostalgia and popularity of rockabilly style, burlesque, roller derby, Slutwalks, Ladyfests, fanzine/blogging networks, Suicide Girls, Guerrilla Girls, riot grrrl and the participation of girls in underground music cultures all point to the need for an academic engagement with strategies of cultural resistance to dominant identities and norms."

Academic roundup

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Information that may be of interest to students and academics in the fields of gender and sexuality.

Don't be "That Guy"

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

If you're in Dublin and you're either a trans* ally wanting to learn how to support trans* people, or a trans* person wanting to share your experiences with allies, come to this event:



Don't be "That Guy": How to be a good trans ally

When:  Sunday, October 23 · 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Where:  Exchange Dublin, Exchange St. Upper,
Facebook event

Lashings show: 22nd October, EOCC, 7-11pm

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Just a reminder......if you're anywhere near Oxford next Saturday 22nd October, come to the East Oxford Community Centre at 7pm and see our show!



If you're not able to get to Oxford but know people who are, please tell them about it. It's going to be AWESOME.

That is all.

Queer Studies Circle - This Saturday 15th

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Queer Studies Circle is a discussion group that meets once a fortnight during Oxford University term time. They have a facebook page here. This Saturday they are starting the term with the topic "What is Queer?" Here's what they have to say:


TOPIC: What is QUEER?
TIME: 8pm, Sat 15th October
PLACE: Lecture Room A, Magdalen College
DIRECTIONS: Enter Magdalen through the Porters' Lodge, then go through the archway on the left, and it's the first door on the left

Lesbian History meetings

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

The Oxford Lesbian History group meets in the Castle Tavern at 8pm on the last Tuesday of each month. They have a Facebook group at Oxford Lesbian History Group. Their upcoming talks are as follows:

Tuesday 25 October - Talk on Mary Benson (the wife of a 19th century Archbishop of Canterbury who left diaries full of her love for other women).

 Tuesday 22 November - Talk on Jane Addams (Nobel Peace Prize winner)

 Tuesday 13 December - Christmas Quiz

 Tuesday 24 January - Talk on women's diaries and letters - the practical and interpretative challenges of working with them

Public meeting: Women carrying Cameron’s cuts

Posted by Annalytica

Oxford Labour Party Women's Group have organised a public meeting on women and cuts.



Speakers:  
Fiona Mactaggart MP,   Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Sarah Hutchinson, Oxfordshire County Councillor and researcher
Caroline Raine, Unison organiser and local anti-cuts activist

Venue:
Oxford Town Hall, With wheelchair access.


Date:
Thursday 10 th November, 2011 7.30pm.

Themes:
income, employment and promotion, job losses, balancing work and family, pensions, care of yourself, your elderly relatives, your disabled children, part time study, children’s development, your retirement

Lashings show coming up!

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer

Lashings of Ginger Beer are very proud to be performing as part of the Oxford International Women's Festival Fringe. The Fringe Festival takes place over the weekend Fri 21st - Sun 23rd October.


We've got an epic setlist lined up for you, and some very exciting new support acts.

You can find out more about all the other awesome events taking place over the weekend here

Looking forward to seeing you lovely people there!


When: Saturday 22nd October, 7pm - 11pm

Where: East Oxford Community Centre, 44b Princes Street, Oxford OX4 1HU

Cost: £5

Accessibility: The venue has a gentle ramp up to the entrance. There are accessible toilets.
There will be plenty of seating. Please let us know if you have any particular accessibility needs - email feministburlesque@gmail.com

CN Lester

Posted by Annalytica

One of the great things about performing with Lashings is getting to see all the other acts at the events we perform at. I'll admit, I'm not very proactive about seeking out gigs I might enjoy as an audience member, but when I get invited to an event as a performer, I get the bonus of having someone with similar tastes to mine having set up the event and chosen the acts.

Lashings have been fortunate enough to twice perform at the same event as the spectacularly talented CN Lester. CN is a singer, songwriter and pianist whose performances span an impressive range of musical genres, including opera, covers of artists such as Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, and their own alternative music. They co-founded  En Travesti, a classical ensemble which explores gender representation, identity and ambiguity in opera, song and oratorio. They also write the blog "A Gentleman and a Scholar", which contains some really insightful writing on trans issues, amongst other things. Lashings loves CN Lester quite a lot.

I'm telling you about CN now because they have both a live performance and an album coming up very soon. En Travesti are presenting a mixed program of music from Monteverdi and Schütz on 29th September. All the details you need are here.

CN Lester's album Ashes is due to be released at the end of October. Based on their live performances, it promises to be heart-wrenchingly beautiful. By coincidence, it will also be my birthday in mid-November. Just saying.

Edited to add: Video! This is a montage of songs from CN's previous EP, available at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/cn-lester/id340929388

Lashings performances, TONIGHT in London and next Thursday in Oxford

Posted by Annalytica

We're gearing up for Edinburgh with two preview shows, where we'll be performing some of our new material as well as lots of old favourites.



First, TONIGHT, we're performing at the Dogstar Ballroom in Brixton, London as part of Moulin Rage.
Doors open at 7, performances start at 7:30, and we'll be on at around 10, but do get there before then because the other acts will be awesome! Tickets are £6 or £4 unwaged, and all proceeds go to Rape Crisis South London.

Please note that The Dogstar Ballroom is on the second floor, and does not have step-free access. For more access info, please see http://thecutlerydrawer.wordpress.com/


Then, next week on Thursday 4th August, we are performing at the Bullingdon Arms, 162 Cowley Road, Oxford. From 7:30 - 10:30 we'll be entertaining you with a double bill preview of both of our Edinburgh shows, including a full hour of stand-up comedy from the sensational Sally Outen, and the usual eclectic mix of song, dance and sketches from the rest of us. Tickets are £7, or £5 for concessions. Facebook event here

The Bullingdon performance space is on the ground floor and there is an accessible toilet.

We hope to see you at one or both of these events!