“Exploring the intersections of history, photography, and queer culture—my research highlights transformative stories from the past.”

— ELSPETH H. BROWN

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

the pussy palace oral history project

**231 Mutual Street, Toronto, Ontario.** Current site of Oasis Aqualounge, former site of Club Toronto and the Pussy Palace Bathhouse events. Photograph by Ayo Tsalithaba, 2022.

Organized by the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee, the Pussy Palace was a series of radical public sex events for queer women and trans people in Toronto, Canada (c. 1998-2014). On September 15, 2000, five male police officers from Toronto’s 52 division interrupted over 350 patrons in what became the last major police raid of a queer bathhouse in Canadian history.

From February to August of 2021, my research initiative, the LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory, collected 36 interviews with bathhouse patrons, event organizers, and community activists. Our interviews address not only the raid, but also queer joy and radical sex/gender cultures in turn-of-the-21st-century Toronto. We have since transferred the digitized collection to our collaborative partner, The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives for long-term preservation and community access.

Visit our project website to screen the oral history interviews, explore our robust collection digital research creation, and engage with this radical moment of Toronto’s sexual culture for yourself.

visit project website