Description
The Kensington Ladies’ Erotica Society Collection documents the variety of activities, organizations, publications, photographs,
and news articles about the society.
Background
In 1977, Sabina Sedgewick founded The Kensington Ladies’ Erotica Society by initiating the society’s first meeting at a potluck
dinner at her house. With inspiration from Sedgewick, the ladies’ first assignment was to expand on their love for food,
in which they each created an individual recipe for their ideal lover. Sedgewick asked the society whether or not women and
men agree on what is erotic. To explore this question, the society continued to meet every month at one of the member’s homes.
The Erotica meetings commenced with chilled wine, hors-d'œuvres, and finally the moment of Erotica would begin. Together,
the ladies recollected about their sexual awakenings, by slowly and randomly assembling information; from pulp magazines,
the dictionary, comparing their anatomies, and eavesdropping on conversations not meant for their ears. The result of these
meetings lead to the society’s first publication, Ladies Home Erotica: Tales, Recipes, and Other Mischiefs by Older Women
(1984), later published as Ladies’ Own Erotica (February 1986). Then, The Erotic Companion: An Illustrated Write-Your-Own
Erotic Journal was published in 1985 by Pat Adler of The Kensington Ladies’ Erotica Society. Afterwards Look Homeward Erotica
was published 1986, followed by the society’s final publication, Sex, Death, and Other Distractions (2002).
Restrictions
Copyright has been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections and Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the SJSU Special Collections and Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to
include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also
apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.