SexSpace : creating architectural rituals for getting laid : a women's sex club in Provincetown, Massachusetts

Much recent debate has centered around architecture, the gendering of space, and space and sexuality. Many fine books are now delving deep into feminist psychoanalysis, post-structuralist theory, and postmodern debate to explain how these issues intersect, discussing past projects from a new historical perspective, and theorizing our pleasure and our oppression. Questions are asked which pertain not only to how space has been used to define the person, or the group, but to challenge the very ideas of self-representation, identity, and desire. This project is one attempt to imagine what a sex club for women might be like: it must consider the lack of public urban space for women, define a single sex space, ponder questions of the theory of lesbian desire, and use its architecture as a powerful means to define the body and a community. It draws heavily on the precedents of gay men's sex spaces, in particular bath houses, with their own highly codified behaviors, and a multicultural history rich in symbolism and ritual. This building will be successful, if you can see it and imagine only women using it.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Hirschkop, Lisa Maria, 1959-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mark Jarzombek.

• Architecture

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67157

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/67157