Ladies’ Erotica Society

‘Nell Port’ and ‘Rose Solomon’ at a Friends of the Kensington Library event

Two members of the Kensington Ladies’ Erotica Society -- famous in the ‘80s for their best-selling books expressing feminine views of what’s erotic – revealed some of their secrets Saturday at a fundraiser for the Friends of the Kensington Library.

Pseudonyms and Sparkling Masks

The Ladies, known by their pseudonyms Nell Port and Rose Solomon, donned the sparkling masks they wore for years for public appearances promoting their books. They answered questions for an appreciative audience of about 40 people at a private home near the library. After the talk, audience members received two of the Ladies’ books and lined up to get them autographed.

What Ever Happened to the Ladies?

The library fundraiser took place because the Ladies and their books were rediscovered by Esther Hill, secretary of the Friends of the Kensington Library board. A friend happened to ask what ever happened to the Ladies, who were interviewed at the library back in 1980. Hill decided to find out and luckily talked about her quest at a salon in El Cerrito. It turned out that the salon owner was the daughter of Nell Port. Once that connection was made, both Ladies in the East Bay were found.

Port and Solomon first spoke to Hill’s book club and got enthusiastic reviews. Then Hill set up the larger fundraiser where the Ladies would be interviewed. The Ladies also read one of their better-known essays, “Address to a Penis Owner,” to the apparent delight of the audience.

“You are extraordinary,” one woman said.

Hill said, “There was such hope and excitement about what was coming for women back in the ‘70s,” Hill said. “I think this is an appropriate time to celebrate these women who were groundbreaking.”

Erotica by Women for Women

Asked what was distinctive about the Ladies’ erotica, Port said: “Ours was the first book of erotica by women for women.”

The women were around 40 when they started writing and are now in their 80s.

“There are four of us left,” Solomon said. “One is in New York and one on the Peninsula.”

Most of the ladies lived in Berkeley. Only one lived in Kensington, but members chose ‘Kensington’ because it sounded British and way more respectable than Berkeley.

How It Began

The erotica adventure began at a New Year’s party in the late ‘70s at a home in Kensington, Port recalled at Saturday’s event and in a previous interview.

“There was this short little woman saying, ‘I think we need to look at what’s going on with erotica writing,’” Port recalled. The woman, a librarian at the Bancroft Library known later by the pseudonym Sabina Sedgewick, had been asked to catalog a collection of erotica. That work prompted her to ask people at the party, “Do you think women are turned on by erotica that’s written for men?”

Recalling that moment, Nell Port laughed. “People either came closer or walked away,” she said. “I was one who came closer.”

Port gave her contact information to Sabina, and not long after was invited to attend the first meeting of a very small group of women who were attracted by the word ‘erotica.’ At that meeting, which also featured good food, Sabina provided some examples of erotica so the women could read and “see if it turns you on.” They concluded that everything they read – even Anais Nin -- seemed to be written for men. That’s when the group decided to experiment with writing their own.

Erotica was not easy to write. As one lady wrote, “To my chagrin I found that it was difficult, even in such congenial surroundings, to avoid the constant lament, ‘Well I don’t think that’s erotic!”

Potluck Feasts and Erotic Fantasies

The group met monthly at each other’s homes to share excellent meals, talk about erotica, and write stories. They wanted to explore women’s true feelings as opposed to men’s notions of how women felt. Husbands and partners were occasionally invited for meals and special events, the Ladies said.

A couple of years after the group started, Solomon moved to Berkeley with her family. She and Port became running buddies. One day Solomon noticed the word ‘erotica’ on Port’s calendar and asked, “Erotica? What is that about?” Solomon snagged an invitation to one meeting and became a dedicated member.

The Ladies did not plan to write a book. In fact, Solomon recalls that most of the members were more focused on the potluck feasts than their writing.

“They lovingly wrapped up their casseroles, but left their stories behind,” Solomon recalled. Solomon collected all the writings and put them in a box, and after about two years, she thought there was enough to publish a book. Not every member liked the idea at first, but all ten of them ended up contributing.

The Struggle to Publish

The husband of one of the Ladies offered to take the manuscript to Phil Wood at Ten Speed Press, a practical "how to" publisher, Solomon said. This husband had previously presented "What Color Is Your Parachute," which became Ten Speed's perennial best seller.

“For this reason, Phil agreed to consider “Ladies Home Erotica” even though it violated all of Ten Speed's guidelines: no fiction, no women, no sex,” Solomon said.

Solomon explained, “The manuscript sat on his desk for months until Phil decided to show it to Judd Boynton, a member of Ten Speed's board of directors, who was hospitalized with terminal cancer, in hopes that it would cheer him up. Judd claimed ‘Ladies Home Erotica’ sent him into remission and he left money in his will for Ten Speed to print its first edition!”

(In subsequent printings, the book’s title was changed to “Ladies Own Erotica” after the publisher received a “cease and desist” letter from publishers of the “Ladies Home Journal” magazine.)

The Ladies and Their Masks

A publicity photo of the ladies was needed.

Solomon said the Ladies assembled at her house to pose for a group shot.

 "We were all lined up in two rows looking like the PTA," Solomon said. "Why are we exposing ourselves like this when we are hiding behind pseudonyms?" Suddenly everyone noticed a collection of masks on the living room wall and grabbed one!”

So began the heyday of the masked ladies.

As time went on, there were requests for interviews from local and then national media. “They would say, “We want the ladies and we want them in their masks,” Port recalled.

Travel Snafus

Ten Speed Press never expected the excited response from readers, Solomon said.

Suddenly it was inundated with invitations for the Ladies to speak, first on local talk shows and soon from across the country and even Canada. There was no PR plan, just makeshift arrangements.

“Usually two or three Ladies willing to travel would fly to distant cities, but Ten Speed always made reservations under the ladies' pseudonyms,” Solomon said. “This created problems when the travelers presented their true identifications at airports and hotels.”

“Sometimes hotels charged us for twice the number of ladies sharing a room, and once, at the Canadian border, Sabina got interrogated by a customs official who laughed and said, ‘Oh yes, you're one of those California women who go around in masks. Come right in.’”

‘Profound Insight’ and ‘Really the Most Fun’

In his introduction to Ladies Own Erotica, Judd Boynton wrote that in the essay, “Address to a Penis Owner” there is a “profound insight that men will do well to read…and re-read…and profit from.”

Port and Solomon, who still live with their same husbands in the same houses in Berkeley, said they enjoyed being rediscovered and giving ‘a final talk’ to people interested in their work. They unmasked at Saturday’s event and were applauded.

They have fond memories of being Ladies.

“It was really the most fun I’ve had in my life,” Port said.

Solomon said. “How safe it was to laugh about erotica and turn it into fun! Never would I have expected this outcome where women can’t even get access to birth control, to health care.”

Ladies Own Erotica is out of print. The book is in the Contra Costa Library catalog and as of Saturday, copies were on the shelf at the Kensington Library, according to Library Manager Jenny Rockwell.