Society of Janus

History

The Society of Janus was founded in August 1974 by Cynthia Slater and Larry Olsen.

A group called Cardea, a women's discussion group within the Society of Janus, existed from 1977 to 1978 before discontinuing. A core of lesbian members of Cardea, including Pat Califia, who identified as a lesbian at the time, Gayle Rubin, and sixteen others, were inspired to start Samois on June 13, 1978, as an exclusively lesbian BDSM group. Samois was a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983, and was the first lesbian BDSM group in the United States.

The Society of Janus was one of the founding coalition partners of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which was founded in 1997.

In 2004, the Society of Janus Hall of Fame was established. Some of its inductees are: Guy Baldwin, Patrick Califia, Dossie Easton, Janet Hardy, Viola Johnson, Midori, Fakir Musafar, Charles Moser, Gayle Rubin, Cynthia Slater, Jim Ward, Mollena Williams-Haas, and Jay Wiseman.

In 2014, the Society of Janus held their 40th Anniversary Dinner, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Play Party, which was awarded "Best Organization Anniversary Event" at The SF Leather Community Awards for that year.

In 2017, an art installation known as the San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley was installed; in it, Society of Janus co-founder Cynthia Slater is honored with a metal boot-print displaying her name and a short statement about her.

In 2018, the Society of Janus was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.

The records of the Society of Janus are housed at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago.

References

References

1. Margot Weiss. (20 December 2011). "Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality". Duke University Press.
2. "About – Society of Janus". Soj.org.
3. "2014 Leather Hall of Fame Inductee: Cynthia Slater (1945-1989)".
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080716153701/http://www.soj.org/Janhis.pdf Society of Janus: 25 Years] (Archived at [[Archive.org]].)
5. Cameron, Drake. (December 2002). "Drake's Event Guide for Leather Women".
6. Jeffreys, Sheila. (1993). "The Lesbian Heresy". Spinifex.
7. (6 August 2019). "History of NCSF".
8. (2010-12-02). "The SINS Center Weekend with Guy Baldwin". Sinscenter.com.
9. (2012-02-12). "Making the Connection: Guy Baldwin | San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance". Leatheralliance.org.
10. (2019-07-20). "Society of Janus". Erobay.
11. "Awards & Archives".
12. Cindy. (17 July 2017). "Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir".
13. Paull, Laura. (21 June 2018). "Honoring gay leather culture with art installation in SoMa alleyway – J". Jweekly.com.
14. "> Inductees". Leatherhalloffame.com.
15. "Society of Janus Collection".