Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, café, and activist center located in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. It started as a volunteer-supported and collectively owned bookstore; and is currently a worker-owned bookstore with mutual aid offerings/free store. The store started in 1999 as a

feminist bookstore Feminist bookstores sell material relating to women's issues, gender, and sexuality. These stores served as some of the earliest open spaces for feminist community building and organizing. Prior to the spread of feminist bookstores, bookselling ...

and was named for a group of Enlightenment intellectual women, the

Bluestocking ''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eliz ...

s. Its founding location was 172 Allen Street, and is currently located a few blocks east on 116 Suffolk Street.

Influences

Bluestockings actively supports "movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression" and is one of 13 identified feminist bookstores in the United States and Canada. Ideologically, Bluestockings has been influenced by

intersectional feminism Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adv ...

anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as s ...

, and the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalis ...

of the early 2000s, and conceptually, by other collectively run spaces and

infoshop Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer ...

s like

Time's Up! Time's Up! Environmental Organization was founded in 1987 to help educate New Yorkers about environmental awareness. One of its main focuses is to promote non-polluting transportation, by advocating bicycling. Time's Up! helped found New York C ...

Its collective members see Bluestockings as an experiment in self-managed

autonomous space Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarch ...

that challenges the neoliberalist economic organization of New York City, creating a community for

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

femme ''Femme'' (; , literally meaning "woman") is a term traditionally used to describe a lesbian who exhibits a feminine identity or gender presentation. Alternate meanings of the word also exist with some non-lesbian individuals using the word, ...

activists. Inspired by feminist

consciousness-raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

reading groups, Bluestockings provides information on social oppression through its books,

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

s, and events.

Structure

Bluestockings is a collectively owned

independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...

that contains a small

fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...

café serving coffee from

Zapatista coffee cooperatives Zapatista Coffee Cooperatives primarily operate in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico following Zapatismo ideology. The economic importance of coffee Mexico is a significant coffee producer (7th place worldwide). Specifically, the clim ...

. The Bluestockings collective is a small group of worker-owners. They make decisions based on consensus, with the input and support of volunteers and community members. As of 2017, the store is registered as an

S corporation An S corporation, for United States federal income tax, is a closely held corporation (or, in some cases, a limited liability company (LLC) or a partnership) that makes a valid election to be taxed under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal ...

in which no one person can own a majority of shares. Volunteers contribute through self-directed projects and working groups. At its peak, Bluestockings had over 70 active volunteers. Bluestockings serves as a community meeting space for literary, activist, feminist, and intellectual gatherings. In this

public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...

, guests can relax and socialize as long as they want without purchasing anything. Most nights, Bluestockings hosts author readings, discussions, screenings, workshops,

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...

s, and panels, all of which are free to attend. Some notable speakers include members of the band

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in August 2011, it has had a membership of appr ...

, poet

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. No ...

, Transgender Vanguard, and the

Icarus Project The Icarus Project (2002-2020) was a network of peer-support groups and media projects with the stated aim of changing the language and culture of what gets called mental health and mental illness. The name is derived from Icarus, a hero in Greek ...

History

Bluestockings opened in 1999 as a

. Founder Kathryn Welsh cited a lack of women's bookstores in New York among her reasons for founding Bluestockings. She started the store with the help of an anonymous investment of $50,000, and at the start, only women could be members of the collective. At the end of 2002, Bluestockings' revenue was negatively affected by the desertion of New York City's downtown following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. This caused the store to incur debt, and its informal collective broke up. Welsh put the bookstore up for sale in February 2003, which she described as a personal, not business, decision. Brooke Lehman, a former member of Direct Action Network, and Hitomi Matarese, an artist, bought the store from Welsh, and formed a new collective. Bluestockings reopened in May 2003 with a new model as a worker-owned bookstore and activist center. Its

intersectional Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adv ...

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

mission included male and transgender collective members. The founding collective members expanded Bluestockings' titles and event programming to include more

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

topics, including more books on race, class, queer politics, and the environment, in addition to fiction and poetry. Bluestockings expanded into an adjacent storefront in 2005 and began running more social programs like its "Foodstockings" cropsharing initiative. The store was particularly successful following a 2015 Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, held to make repairs and replace the store's awning, all of which had been delayed due to high rent in the store's

gentrifying Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

neighborhood. They also received increased support after the 2016 United States elections. The collective hoped to remain in the

to oppose the effects of gentrification and keep the store open as a queer safer space. In 2020, due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Bluestockings was forced to move from its original location at 172 Allen Street. After extensive fundraising, the bookstore announced that it would remain in the

and moved to 116 Suffolk Street. As of April 2021, the bookstore is now run as a worker coop.

References

External links

* {{coord, 40, 43, 17.1, N, 73, 59, 20.28, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Coffeehouses and cafés in the United States Feminism in New York City Infoshops Organizations established in 1999 Feminist bookstores Bookstores in Manhattan Independent bookstores of the United States History of women in New York City Feminist organizations in the United States 1999 establishments in New York City

Influences

Structure

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links