Society of Janus
Template:Short description Template:AboutTemplate:Infobox organization The Society of Janus is the second BDSM organization founded in the United States (after The Eulenspiegel Society)<ref name="Weiss2011">Template:Cite book</ref> and is a San Francisco, California-based BDSM education and support group.<ref name="soj">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Society of Janus is nonprofit, volunteer run and is devoted to the art of safe, consensual and non-exploitative adult power exchange. They publish a monthly digital newsletter called Yellow.
History
The Society of Janus was founded in August 1974 by Cynthia Slater and Larry Olsen.<ref name=soj/> According to the Leather Hall of Fame biography of Slater, she said of the Society of Janus:<ref name=LHF>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Society of Janus: 25 Years (Archived at Archive.org.)</ref><ref name="web.archive.org">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Society of Janus was one of the founding coalition partners of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which was founded in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2004, the Society of Janus Hall of Fame was established.<ref name=“sins”>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=“Guy”>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=SFLeather>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2018, the Society of Janus was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The records of the Society of Janus are housed at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
- Society of Janus: 25 Years, 1999, copyright T. Weymouth and Society of Janus
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