Although best known as a 1980s tabloid slur, the term ‘gender bender’ refers to a thriving androgynous youth tribe devoted to alternative music, clothes and nightlife.
United Kingdom
A Love Letter to Bolts Nightclub
Bolts was one of the most vibrant LGBTQ nightclubs in 1980s London, renowned for its Hi-NRG music and its weekly shows that were at the vanguard of gay culture.
Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7
Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7 looks back at one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice in recent British LGBTQ+ history
Drag: A British History
A fresh history of British drag performance in all its ubiquity, glamour, fun, and tawdriness.
“Would You Let Yourself In?” Reflections on Marc Vaultier’s Mirror
The often-repeated, shady story of how Marc Vaultier turned away people from Taboo’s door turns out to be apocryphal.
The Two Faces of Taboo
Marc Vaultier was the gender-bender doorman who played a central role in the success of Leigh Bowery’s infamous nightclub Taboo
Contextualising Taboo: Leigh Bowery and the Media
Leigh Bowery’s nightclub Taboo is mythologised as London’s most decadent nightclub of the 1980s.
