Biography
Rubin first rose to prominence through her 1975 essay "The Traffic in Women: Notes on the 'Political Economy' of Sex", in which she attempts to discover historical social mechanisms by which gender and compulsory heterosexuality are produced, and women are consigned to a secondary position in human relations. In 1978 Rubin moved to San Francisco to begin studies of the gay male leather subculture. On June 13 of that year, Rubin, together with Patrick Califia and 16 others founded the first known lesbian SM group, Samois. The group disbanded in May 1983, and Rubin was involved in founding a new organisation, "the Outcasts", the following year.
Rubin became a prominent "pro-sex activist" in the Feminist Sex Wars of the 1980s, giving a now-classic paper at the volatile 1982 conference at Barnard College in New York City.
She served on the Board of Directors of the Leather Archives and Museum from 1992 to 2000.
In 1994, Rubin completed her PhD in anthropology at the University of Michigan, with a dissertation titled The Valley of the Kings: Leathermen in San Francisco, 1960 - 1990. She is currently an associate professor of anthropology at the university.
Read more about this topic: Gayle Rubin
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