Berlin, Germany
Other Fun Stuff
Beate Uhse Erotik-Museum
Not for the prudish or chaste at heart, the Erotik Museum was founded by sex pioneer Beate Uhse in 1996. Uhse is a household name in Germany, where she opened the world's first shop devoted to "marital hygiene" in the 1950s. With more than 5000 sex artifacts from around the world, for all persuasions, the museum attracts more than a quarter million visitors a year.
Joachimstaler Strasse 4
Berlin
Cha Cha Chicas
Social dancing for lesbians! These chicas focus more on the Latin styles: rhumba, samba and chachacha, along with a few more traditional styles like the waltz or foxtrot.
Das Verborgene Museum
Translated into English, this means “ the hidden museum”, which is an entirely fitting name. The museum truly is hidden in the back courtyard, ready to share its secret delights for all who make the effort to find it. Founded by two Berlin women, Das Verborgene was created to document the work by female artists, especially from the early 20th century.
Schlüterstrasse 70
Berlin
www.dasverborgenemuseum.de
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I am almost certain that the previous poster was actually refering to the "Schwules Museum". Indeed, the Schwules Museum ground floor exhibit did have a noted abscence of lesbian content. As for the Das Verborgene Museum. I didn't have the pleasure of visiting it. But, judging by the fact that it was run by two Berlin Women and features works by "female artists", I should think that the interest to lesbians should be higher there.
Grace on Apr 11, 2008
A gay museum, small but important. sadly it is 99.9 percent male focused, with no effort it seemed with any images of lesbians. I felt excluded when I saw the exhibit and offended. overall, I found Berlin to be extremely male gay focused, with almost nothing available for women.
worldgurl on Mar 22, 2008
DonnaDanza
Same-sex ballroom and social dancing classes for women. Not only do they offer courses in line-dancing, the rhumba, fox trot and more, they also have classes for women who are physically challenged.
Film Museum Berlin
Lesbian culture flourished in Weimar Germany, and nobody expressed this better in the public eye than Marlene Dietrich. In her androgynous top hat and tails, Marlene embodied a glorious and glamorous (somewhat) lesbian life. The world's biggest collection of her work/costumes/papers/films etc. is housed at the Film Museum Berlin as part of its permanent collection.
Potsdamer Strasse 2
Berlin
www.kinemathek.de
Hamam Turkish Baths
If you’re looking for some pampering while in Berlin, this might as well be it. This Middle-Eastern style spa is for women only, and is housed in the Schokofabrik Women's Center, a queer positive space offering all kinds of services for women.
Mariannenstrasse 6
Berlin
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I also cannot say that this place is "queer positive". The last time I went, about 1 year ago, I was yelled at by the woman working the entrance and chased out the door by another one because the employees thought I was a guy. I am a six foot tall, sporty looking Dyke, but definitely not a man nor masculine looking. When I tried to tell them that I thought their reaction was out of proportion, they did not excuse themselves but started telling me, with a grin, that "i was provoking it" by the way i looked. I was literally speechless in front of their unmasked homophobia, or massive ignorance, to say the least - which I did not expect in a place rated as "queer positive".
queertraveler on Aug 27, 2008
Queer positive?mmmmm....well it certainly is run by TURKISH women, and I would say yes, lesbians do go there, but only as "friends". It is not so queer positive as is stated. It is more tolerant than positive. Also noisy...the turkish girls yell and scream at the top of their voices in the suana, and one cannot relax nor hear the chillout music being played. Sadly people are smoking cigerettes and shisha when you come out naked of the sauna and you feel dirty and want to leave quickly.
worldgurl on Mar 22, 2008
MonGay Film Series
Every Monday night at 10:00 p.m., the Kino International cinema presents a gay or lesbian movie, often in English. Many people arrive about an hour early to enjoy a cocktail in the hip, 60s-style cinema bar before heading into the theatre. This used to be the premiere cinema of the former East Berlin.
Karl-Marx-Allee 33
Berlin
www.yorck.de
Nollendorfplatz and Gay Holocaust Memorial
This small, yet significant memorial plaque at the Nollendorfplatz Underground Station commemorates the thousands of homosexuals and “deviants” killed by the Nazis. The inscription on the plaque reads “The pink triangle was the sign by which homosexuals were defamatorily marked in concentration camps by the National Socialists. As of January 1933, almost all homosexual pubs around Nollendorfplatz were closed down by the Nazis or they were abused by razzias to compile "Rosa Listen." Rosa Listen meant pink lists, or indexes of homosexuals.
Nollendorfplatz Underground Station
Berlin
Pink Ballroom
Berlin’s gay and lesbian dance group. Not only do they hold regular practices and meet-ups, but they also hold their annual Berlin Open Championships every June for all-male and all-female couples in Standard and Latin-American ballroom-dancing. This is a huge event and in past years Berlin’s Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, has been their honorary patron.
Queer Tango Berlin
This LGBT tango association is super-busy, offering several classes a week, including one just for women (even though you'll still find women in all of the other mixed classes as well.) They also host tango parties and competitions throughout the year. To boot, their site is available in English.
Schwarzer Kanal
This is basically a highly organized, queer squat where all kinds of underground and DIY events take place.
Michaelkirchstrasse 20
Berlin
www.schwarzerkanal.squat.net
Schwules Museum
Calling itself the world’s only LGBT history museum, Schwules opened in 1985 in the AHA LGBT centre (see "Information and Resources"). In the three-floor museum you will find a permanent exhibit examining two hundred years of mostly gay and some lesbian history in Germany, with a particular focus on Berlin, and any temporary exhibits that may be showing. On the two upper floors are an LGBT archive and library.
Mehringdamm 61
Berlin
www.schwulesmuseum.de
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The ground floor had a more modern display of local gay history Th(almost no lesbian history was shown, which was disappointing). Also, all displays only had descriptions in French, so much of the depth was lost on me. But, upstairs there was the main exhibit of Gay & Lesbian history from Ancient times to the the present (with focus on German history). Featuring a moving selection of photographs on the effects of the holocaust on gay and lesbians in Germany. As with the ground floor, displays featured description only in English. However, I was offered a booklet at the door with English explanations of the exhibit. Worth the time to walk through and support the preservation of GLBT history in Germany.
Grace on Apr 11, 2008
Spinnboden Lesbian Archive & Library
An exceptional collection of lesbian culture. Thousands of books, magazines, posters, flyers, diaries and more examine lesbian history through the 20th century.
Anklamer Strasse 38
Berlin
Tel: 448 5848
spinnboden@spinnboden.de
www.spinnboden.de
wiRrwaRr
Wow, this new space could go in so many sections on Girlports: restaurants, bars, and here in "other fun stuff", because really, wiRrwaRr is all this and more. Opened in June, 2008, this new queer/feminist space is part performance hall, part art gallery, part cafe and part bar. It's still an evolving concept and it will be interesting to see what comes out of wiRrwaRr in coming years.
Dieffenbachstrasse 36 (2nd yard)
Berlin
www.myspace.com/wirrwarrspace
Xenon Kino Berlin Cinema
Wow, every day in Berlin it’s possible to watch the kind of gay and lesbian movies most of us only have the opportunity to see at LGBT film festivals! Here at the Xenon, they usually present one gay movie and one lesbian movie each week. The films play at least once daily and are often in English.
Kolonnenstrasse 5-6
Berlin
www.xenon-kino.de
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