Colloquium - Book Talk - "Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco"
About the book: Erotic Resistance celebrates the erotic performance cultures that have shaped San Francisco. It preserves the memory of the city's bohemian past and its essential role in the development of American adult entertainment by highlighting the contributions of women of color, queer women, and trans women who were instrumental in the city's labor history, as well as its LGBT and sex workers' rights movements. In the 1960s, topless entertainment became legal in the city for the first time in the US, though cross-dressing continued to be criminalized. In the 1990s, stripper-artist-activists led the first successful class action lawsuits and efforts to unionize.
Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa uses visual and performance analysis, historiography, and ethnographic research, including participant observation as both performer and spectator and interviews with legendary burlesquers and strippers, to share this remarkable story.
Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, PhD, is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and psychogeographer based in Northern California. A Miami native, she earned her Ph.D. in Theater & Performance Studies with a minor in Art History from Stanford University, an M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts, and a B.A. from Brown University in “Hybridity and Performance.”
Her creative and scholarly work explores intersections of performance, embodiment, memory, and activism. Her book Erotic Resistance: The Struggle for the Soul of San Francisco (UC Press, 2024) builds on her award-winning dissertation examining erotic performance and activism in San Francisco strip clubs. Her M.A. thesis explored cultural memory and human rights in post-dictatorship Argentina. Gigi’s performances and videos have been presented nationally and internationally.
She currently serves as Associate Director of Stanford Living Education, where she leads the LifeWorks Program for Integrative Learning—offering courses and workshops that connect scholarship, creative expression, and embodied practice. Her teaching and research draw from Latina/x and women of color feminisms, queer of color critique, and mindfulness-based art. She is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader and Yoqi® Qigong Flow Certified Instructor, and creates hybrid movement classes that integrate qigong, laughter, dance, and theater. More information: gigiotalvaro.org.
This even will take place in Seigle Hall, Room 206. Download a campus map here.