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

Abstract

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.