Browse Items (2 total)

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  Discussion on Waitressing

  Recording starts with an introduction from the Feminist Radio Network, with female vocalizing, singing, and performing. The recording then begins to talk about women in the food service industry, and the statistics of how many women are waitresses. Upon interviewing a waitress, the conversation moves towards the low wages, and need for unionization in waitressing, since there is such a reliance on tips. Segueing through empowering music, the discussion shifts to women’s speeches, performances and testimonies on women’s liberation. The recording then moves on to a panel with Maxine Kumin, Grace Paley, and Alice Walker, discussing their thoughts on women’s writing.

  Tags Alice Walker, Class, Grace Paley, Maxine Kumin, Unions, Working-class Lesbians
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  Judith Schwarz Interview, 1992

  Judith Schwarz discusses how grateful she is the DOB exists, the way that societal attitudes towards lesbianism has changed since the founding of DOB, how many women were afraid to have mail mailed to them or used pseudonyms or “bar names” to hide their identity.
  
  She discusses her first lesbian relationship, which happened shortly after she moved to San Franciso, and how this introduced her to lesbian culture, specifically survival literature. She talks about how she was at first intimidated by certain aspects of lesbian culture, like powerful butch lesbians, frequent drinking in the community, and lesbian literature.
  
  She talks about the impact of DOB, and how there was harassment from police as well as other lesbians or women. She also talks about sharing The Ladder around her workplace in secret, and shares the story about how The Ladder was “stolen” from the DOB San Franciso offices. She says that diversity was always lacking in the DOB, and talks about some reasons why.
  
  DOB meetings sometimes consisted of potluck dinners and Gab and Javas, sometimes taking place at Schwarz’s house. She talks about how lesbians dressed at the time.
  
  Finally she discusses the differences between the DOB and the Lesbian Herstory Archives and how they met different needs for lesbians, and finally some of the special collections in the archive. Joan Nestle jumps in at the end to discuss radical politics and the FBI surveillance of the DOB.

  Tags Bars, Butch and Femme, California, Communities, Daughters of Bilitis, Fashion, Interviews, Joan Nestle, Judith Schwarz, Mailing Lists, Non-Monogamy, Pseudonyms, Southern Lesbians, Working Class, Working-class Lesbians