What does the Sex-Toy Shop BABELAND and the Café Tabac Film Have in Common? IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Claire Cavanah
We are so proud to announce BABELAND as a Participating Sponsor for our upcoming #Back2Tabac #NYCPride2015 Fundraiser Event Sponsored by MAC Cosmetics and Absolut Vodka. The event’s VIP’s will find a very special treat in their gift bags thanks to Babeland! We are so proud of this alliance because of the historical significance the company has that is in line with our film’s story, as do our event’s title sponsors MAC Cosmetics and Absolut Vodka (click sponsor names to read more about them).
Babeland’s co-owner Claire Cavanah who will attend our upcoming Pride event and will be interviewed for our film, was one of many women who came through Café Tabac in the early ’90s who made significant contributions towards female empowerment in our cultural landscape. In 1993, the same year that Café Tabac started its weekly salon for women, Claire and Rachel Venning created Toys in Babeland, which has since been changed to Babeland and garnered numerous awards. What started as a mail order business of sex-toys, grew into several locations of very visible storefronts, a publication of their Sex Toys 101 ultimate guide book, and an online shop. But this was not just a business. It was a mission: “To promote and celebrate sexual vitality by providing an honest, open and fun environment; encouraging personal empowerment, community education, and support for a more passionate world.” And they had created Babeland as a destination, a lifestyle, a state of mind to celebrate “the simple truth that sexually healthy people make the world a happier place.”
The formation of their company in the context of the early ’90s ties in with many of our film’s themes. We explore the early ’90s as an accelerated era in the feminist movement especially for lesbians, towards women’s sexual self-empowerment. It was the result of various significant events that led to the heightened education, exploration, and ultimately the celebration of female sexuality. It lives in the continuum of women’s ownership of our own bodies politically and personally, but was also an evolved response to AIDS. Coming out of the ’80s Reagan/Bush years and their “family values” campaign, the vocal stance the Catholic Church took against the important safe sex and sex education efforts in the LGBT community and Pro-Choice women’s movement, the Anita Hill case and other media circuses shaming and diminishing women through our sexuality, aggresive wars were being waged against the LGBT community and women’s bodies. In addition to women’s organizational and political efforts, it triggered a tidal wave of response culturally. From pop icon Madonna’s defiance, through expansive expressions of female sexuality and her proud and vocal alliances with LGBT peoples and causes, to grassroots organizations forming collectives and conferences like L.U.S.T. (Lesbians Undoing Sexual Taboos) across the nation, to the nightlife explosion of places like NY’s very own Clit Club by Julie Tolentino and Jocelyn Taylor, Juicy by Lysa Cooper and Belinda Becker, and Wanda Acosta’s Bar d’O, which featured women strip-teased performances for women. Culturally and on the ground, women were taking control and defining our own expansive, self-defined and celebrated views and practice of sexuality. It is through this framework that we view the historical importance of Babeland’s creation, mission and contribution to the cultural landscape in the early ’90s to today. They created not only a safe space, but offered an unapologetic and practical approach to sexuality and brought it above-ground, taking it out of the confines of the sleazy sex shops of the past, which were solely catered to men. And as their business evolved, they quickly discovered through their growing male clientele, men also sought sleaze-free, sex-positive, caring environments, which Babeland was able to provide.
We salute Claire Cavanah and Rachel Venning for their vision and their services through Babeland, to help women better learn and take control of our own bodies, providing a safe space and forum through which to do so, centered around celebration and pure practical fun. And as with all the sponsors associated with our Café Tabac project, we invite you to support these awesome businesses so that they can continue to support our endeavors and contribute to the well-being of the world at large. Thank you Claire and Rachel and thank you Babeland! We look forward to celebrating Pride with you this year!
Come join us, Claire and Babeland at our upcoming #Back2Tabac fundraiser event to celebrate our film and #NYCPride2015!
THE EVENT IS ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th
INFORMATION & TICKETS>>> cafetabacfilm.com/pride2015
#WomenUnite #WomenMakeMovies #WomenInFilm #WomenOwnedBusinesses #IndependentVoices #SupportIndependentFilm