Photograph
Ludus
The Hacienda
5th November 1982

Photo: Ikon

In 1982 feminist provocateur & artist Linder Sterling played a legendary gig with Ludus at the Hacienda in protest at the venue’s frequent showing of porn films.

Here’s a quotation from Linder Sterling about that night taken from a recent paper by feminist academic and writer Sarah Feinstein.

"My seamstress and I worked very quickly in the hour before I was due to sing, embellishing my bodice with raw meat…Liz and Cath (City Fun) - who were known as the Crones - handed out small packages of leftover meat wrapped in pornography to the audience. Then they tied bloodied Tampax to the bannisters of the Hacienda, and at this point the management really panicked…We carried on regardless, and for the last song I triumphantly removed my skirt…to reveal not myself, but the black dildo which I was wearing beneath it.

This was my retort to the Hacienda’s casual and interminable showing of porn films. I finished singing the last song to absolute silence from the audience. It was bonfire night. ‘Gunpowder, treason and plot…"