BY LYNSEY G.

Skirt Club is an underground community for girls who play with girls. It was set up in 2014 by Geneviève LeJeune, who had attended "play parties" with a male ex. She soon realized she was doing things for his pleasure, not her own. So she decided to make Skirt Club for ladies only. It hosts a private members network for the curious kind; both in mind and sexuality. Skirt Club promotes glamour; free-flowing champagne, burlesque performers and…much more. Luna Luna spoke with founder Geneviève LeJeune in anticipation of Skirt Club’s upcoming launch party on February 4 in New York City.

Thank you so much for taking some time to talk to Luna Luna about Skirt Club! How did the idea for Skirt Club first come to you?

Hi, Luna Luna! Excited to meet you. I started Skirt Club because there was a lack of luxury-end events for women who wished to explore their sexuality. In particular, I wanted to provide a safe space where they could explore privately under no pressure.

Skirt Club is for ladies only. It hosts a private members network for the curious kind; both in mind and sexuality. We exist to propel women’s sexual empowerment at a time when sexual fluidity is embraced.

Society is turning a page in modern-girl thinking of what "sexual attraction" can mean. Skirt Club encourages that freedom of expression, and therefore our parties are for women only, meaning members can explore safely within their own boundaries and true to their own desires.

What does a Skirt Club party entail? Are we talking serious sex play, or a more meet-and-greet setting?

We are talking about both. Women need to engage on a cerebral level before any kind of sex play is in the cards. We prefer the finer things: soft furnishings, mood lighting, champagne, and stimulating, informative conversation. The gracefulness of burlesque ignites the first sensations of desire.

We have two types of event:

Mini Skirt a cocktail soirée to meet other members
Skirt Club the play experience.

Both feature a short talk and a sensual performance. We enjoy the educational element as much as the flirt and tease.

Our desire is to build an exclusive all-female community for empowerment and sexual discovery. A network of career-minded women with a common interest. Confident, more informed women are more successful.

How do you go about setting up a "safe" feeling for empowered exploration?

Safety is a matter of high priority, which is one of the reasons we don’t invite men. The parties are held in a bar with security and all-female staff, or a private house for which the address is only shared twenty-four hours beforehand. Members often use pseudonyms for names and the website to communicate with one another. There are zero links to your true identity, unless you wish to reveal them.

Have you seen a strong response in terms of numbers and interest so far?

In a nutshell, yes. I moved to Miami last year, and from the start I’ve been asked repeatedly to open in Manhattan. We have over five hundred members here and we’ve yet to launch. Of course, now that our founding members are selected, only referrals can join the club.

Where has Skirt Club already launched, and how did the launch parties go?

We have launched in London, Miami, Sydney, and next week Manchester, England next week. In Miami there was much excitement; every woman wanted to be associated with a brand centered on female empowerment. Finally they feel they are given a voice through sexual empowerment.

Most play parties advertise themselves as female-driven, but in practice, most parties I have been to outside of queer-identified spaces (and even a lot of those) have felt much more male-led. The women there are usually willing enough, but they seem to be performing for the men who want to watch them interact. Have you found that women are less inhibited without the eyes of men on their activity?

This was the exact premise I built Skirt Club upon. I experienced this myself and was frustrated we still lived in a male-dominated world, inside and outside the bedroom. Asking for equality is a fair request. But since men continue to have their own spaces gentlemen’s clubs and men-only circles, then I feel justified in building one for the ladies.

More fundamentally, women are by nature far too pleasing of men’s needs and often put men’s satisfaction first. This needn’t be the case, ladies! We like to have sex, too. We almost have to retrain our belief systems and awaken what excites us, perhaps even discover it for the first time. Without a man to make demands on us, we will open and up and enjoy our true and uniquely own desires.

Do you help coach women through the oft-cited "awkwardness around other women" phase?

Hahaha, well, it’s always awkward at first because we as women are so very used to men making the first move. How often are you required to chat up and flirt with a girl? And how often do they feel they can respond openly? It’s tricky and it seldom happens in a regular public space. The beauty of Skirt Club is we all know that we are all there for the same reason, so any questions around "Will she, won’t she?" are removed. Now it’s down to you to make your interest known.

On hand is speaker and love coach Hayley Quinn; she teaches a workshop on how to secretly flirt using incognito eye movement and delicate skin brushing: two subtle yet very effective methods she will teach at our launch party for the curious few.

How does Skirt Club differentiate itself from established women-only, lesbian sex parties?

Firstly, we are not a lesbian sex party. In fact I could count the number of lesbians in our community on one hand. Skirt Club is very much about straight girls experimenting, and bi girls finding a home where they can meet other bi girls. I also refrain from the term "sex party" unless we can envelope the senses and the journey leading up to sexual interaction as part of sex. Men often overlook the nuances that lead to making that connection.

You specifically advertise as a safe place for bisexual and bi-curious women. What about more queer-leaning women who identify differently?

Queer women are welcome to apply. We often find that they are not looking for what we offer.

What is your screening process like? Are you accepting of diverse bodies and ethnicities?

Yes, of course. We are specific, however about self-confident, career-minded, strong women who are intelligent and open-minded. As part of our curious nature, we like to learn, we like to be informed. Content engages the mind and the mind engages the body. We promise to deliver sexual empowerment, and confidence in the bedroom and the boardroom.

We would like to be considered a network of elegant women, organised and poised to be powerful.

Where would Skirt Club like to go from here? Do you have plans to normalize parties of this kind?

I hope never to be considered normal, but we do plan to host soirées in cities of note such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, and San Francisco.

What's coming up in the short term? How can people get on the list for the NYC launch party?

We invite you to register as a member on our website.

We have a small window where we invite founding members to create the basis of our NYC community. They will then be able to refer other members going forward. Please state where you heard about us on the application form. Once approved and logged in, the ticket purchase button will appear on our event page.

Or follow updates via Facebook event page, or here.

And they can follow us at our website, at Hayley Quinn, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

More photographs by Victoria Dawe, courtesy of Skirt Club:

Lynsey G. is a writerly type with an interest in sex, feminism, pornography, and paisley print. Her work across multiple genres has appeared in Bitch Magazine, Refinery 29, Nerve.com, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, xoJane, the Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review, Menacing Hedge, and elsewhere . The winner of a 2013 Feminist Porn Award for her documentary film "Consent: Society" and an avid defender of the Oxford comma, she's currently blogging at LynseyG.com and working on a graphic novel, a poetry chapbook, and a memoir of her time as a reporter for the adult entertainment industry (forthcoming from Overlook Press).