Susie Bright@U of M

Susie Bright: Big Sex Little Death
The Origins of the Sex-Positive Feminist Movement

Sponsored by the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender
March 21, 2011 (Monday)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
LOCATION: Angell Hall - Auditorium B

How did a Hollywood high school revolutionary on the FBI's list—who came to Detroit at 17, got arrested as a "menace to society," and spearheaded a front-page, radical trade-union movement— end up founding the legendary lesbian sex magazine, On Our Backs, and transform into the nation's first "Sexpert"?

Susie Bright was raised in California, where she joined a notorious high school underground newspaper, The Red Tide— the last days of the New Left and the first days of women’s/sexual liberation. After leading student-walkouts and mass disruption all over LA’s school district, there was only one thing left to do: Move to Detroit.

Bright’s bleeding-edge experiences in the late 70s, from Highland Park to Clark Park, are a climax of her story— and she looks forward to revisiting the scene of the crime!

Returning to the West Coast in the 80s, Bright uncovered the erotic forensics of the then-unspoken-of sex trade, old-school porn, founded On Our Backs (the first and last all-women’s sex magazine) and the genesis of the feminist sex-positive movement.

If you’re still standing here to talk about any of it— or you’re focused on what the international sexual revolution and activism looks like today, come meet Susie and talk about what the next radical-sex game-changer is going to look like.

This event is part of the LGQRI series and is co-sponsored by the Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop “Doing Queer Studies Now.” Common Language will be on hand to sell books.