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Olivia Records
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Olivia Records
By:Stephanie Kauff
COMPANY
LOGO
What is Olivia Records?
Introduction
A national record company that was founded in Washington D.C in 1973. They were the first large record company dedicated to women's music. They were heavily influenced by the lesbian separatist movement and the women's music movement. The founding members were Judy Dlugacz, Ginny Berson, Meg Christian, Kate Winter, and Jennifer Woodul (Morris 294).
Judy Dlugacz
Judy
Dlugacz
Judy Dlugacz was originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan and she and her partner moved to Washington D.C to further their lesbian activism. When she got to D.C she joined the Furies in their learning community. She is credited with being the founder of Olivia records and she was the longest standing member.
Fig 1. Judy Dlugacz, doing business, https://www.autostraddle.com/how-olivia-became-the-most-successful-lesbian-business-of-all-time-355248/
The Furies
The Furies
The Furies were a group of lesbian separatists that started a community in the early 1970's in Washington D.C. They published a magazine called The Furies: lesbian/feminist monthly where they declared that they are angry because they are oppressed by male supremacy. They claimed that in our culture men were good and women were only as good as the man who loved them. They claimed that the current system practiced rigid control over sexuality where heterosexuality is enforced and lesbianism is suppressed (Enzer 182).
The Women's Music Movement
Women's Music
The women’s music movement also started in the early 1970’s along with the lesbian separatist movement. The movement had three main purposes. The first was to give women a place in the music industry as producers, instrumentalists and independent artists. The second was to produce music that did not degrade women in the way many popular songs did at the time. The third was to spread the ideas of feminism and lesbianism to woman across the country.
The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock band
The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock band
The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock band that formed around 1971 (Morris 291). Many of their songs were about women overcoming oppression and finding freedom and liberation in feminism and the women’s movement. Bands like the The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock band had their music produced by companies that solely focused on women’s music such as Olivia Records. The women’s music movement also branched out into concerts and music festivals exclusively by women, for women. The women’s music movement succeeded in spreading ideas of feminism and lesbianism to a broader range of women and it also succeeded in giving women a place in the mainstream music industry with the successes of companies like Olivia Records.
Papa Don't Lay That Sh*t on Me
https://youtu.be/-Tbm7C1sEXk
Papa don't lay that sh*t on me
Co. D
Lesbian Separatist Movement
Lesbian Separatists
The lesbian separatist movement has been written in history as being a movement of man-hating feminists with irrational, utopian ideals but in reality, it was much more and it has its place in the greater history of activism and the fight for women’s rights. The movement had two main characteristcs, lesbianism and separatism. Lesbianism in this case is defined by the politcal act of loving women by putting dedicating their lives to helping other women succeed. Separatism is women form communities of their own where they live and work with other women on politcal issues, it can be compared to the idea of religious separatism.
Woman Loving
The Furies and other lesbian separatist groups at the time, had a very different view on the definition of “lesbian” than what we see today in 2018. They believed that becoming a lesbian was a choice and there was little to no biological influence on sexuality. Many of the women identified as bisexual or asexual (Rudy 193). They also believed that being a lesbian was a political statement and that women loving women was one of the strongest forces against sexism.
Olivia Records Early Years
Olivia Records 70's-90's
- They produced Cris Williamson’s first full length album titled The Changer and the Changed. That album sold more than a quarter of a million copies over the next twelve years.
- 1974 Olivia’s startup 45 single Lady netted $2,096.10
-sales of Meg Christian’s album I Know You Know brought in $2,463.70.
-They relocated to LA in 1975
- They organized one of the largest women's music concerts at Carnegie hall
Why Olivia?
The name came from a 1949 memoir written by Dorothy Bussy about an adolescent lesbian woman and her sexual awakening. They agreed that the feelings and emotions expressed in the book related to what many other lesbian women were experiencing in the early 1970s (Morris 294).
Why Olivia?
Transparancy
Transparency
Olivia Records prided itself on transparency. They would release documentation of their earnings and their expenses to the public with the intention of showing women that they were free of corporate corruption and they were not looking to exploit women like other large record companies at the time. They believed that women’s corporations are responsible for being open to the women who support them. They would also offer training and job placements for women who wanted to get into the music production and recording industry. Nearly half of their profits went to donations for programs that support women and women's music.
What About Us?
What about us?
The lesbian separatist movement came under fire when it came to issues of intersectionality. There was much debate on whether transgender women were “real women” and able to participate in the movement and there was also debate on how to handle issues on race and class. The women who participated in the movement were mostly middle-class, white and cisgender. With the movement becoming more and more exclusive it began to fizzle out and lose its momentum. By the mid to late 1980s, the feminist movement left lesbian separatism behind and begun to move towards a more intersectional approach to feminism.
Gender
Gender
After Olivia Records relocated to LA many of the founding members stayed behind. Judy Dlugacz decided to hire a transgender woman named Sandy Stone to be their new sound engineer in 1976. This upset many of Olivia's supporters who believed that transgender women were just "men in wigs" trying to invade women's spaces. Dlugacz defended Stone saying that she may still be transitioning but stigmatizing her just stifles her growth towards becoming a woman. Stone ended up leaving Olivia records a few years later.
Race
Issues regarding race and class were often pushed under the rug. The reason for this is the lesbian separatist movement being built upon the belief of women first and that a woman’s love for her sisters is pure. Racism and oppression challenges that belief because woman of color cannot separate their identities and they are being oppressed by white women. Women of color have to fight for racial equality as well and that does not mix with the lesbian separatist beliefs because they have to fight for racial equality for black women and men. Their racial identity is just as important as their sexual identity and they cannot separate the two. White women in the movement also failed to acknowledge the face they were oppressing black women so their love for women was not as pure as they believed.
"Real" Lebians
"Real Lesbians"
Kathy Rudy (a woman who lived in a lesbian community in Durham N.C) also explains that she left her community due to the movement beginning to narrow its thoughts on what a “real lesbian” was. She noticed that all of the women in her community dressed the same and acted the same and if someone wanted to deviate from those expectations, they would be questioned. She felt like she was unable to do things that were feminine including wearing heels or dresses. She was also unable to eat meat or question any of the ideas that were popular among the other lesbian separatists (Rudy 220) .
Olivia Records
90's-Now
Olivia Records 90's-Now
In the early 1990s, Olivia Records decided to take its music around the globe by purchasing a couple cruise ships. Julie Dlugacz was one of the last founding members of Olivia records and with the political climate shifting, she decided to take a different approach to the company. Today Oliva records is now a cruise and vaction company for women! They have expanded in creating resorts that provide unique adventures and they will be celebrating their 45th Anniversary this year. They continue to promote women’s music through the entertainment provided on their cruises and they are also suspected of influencing the places where their resorts are located throughout the world.
Works Cited
Works Cited
Enszer, Julie R. “‘How to Stop Choking to Death’:
Rethinking Lesbian Separatism as a Vibrant Political Theory and Feminist Practice.” JOURNAL OF LESBIAN STUDIES, vol. 20, no. 2, 2016, pp. 180–196.
Lettelier, Patrick. “Judy Dlugacz: Olivia President and
Founder Talks About Women's Music, Lesbian Travel, Retirement Resorts and the Job of a Lifetime.” CoverStory, Jan. 2006.
Morris, Bonnie. “Olivia Records: The Production of a
Movement.” Journal of Lesbian Studies, vol. 19, 2015, pp. 290–304., doi:10.1080/10894160.2015.1026699
Riese. “How Olivia Became The Most Successful
Lesbian Business Of All Time.” Autostraddle, 27 Oct. 2016, www.autostraddle.com/how-olivia-became-the-most-successful-lesbian-business-of-all-time-355248/.
Rudy, Kathy. “Radical Feminism, Lesbian Separatism
and Queer Theory.” Feminist Studies, 2001.