The unexpected history of the Pink Pound

The unexpected history of the Pink Pound
Taught by: Dr Justin Bengry, Department of History

Wednesday 1 December 2021 – 4.15–5.15pm

As part of Goldsmiths’ incisive Autumn History Series, Dr Justin Bengry discusses ‘The unexpected history of the Pink Pound’.

In the 1970s and 1980s an increasing variety of openly gay-oriented newspapers, magazines, clubs, and bars appeared, but it was not until the 1990s that terms like the ‘pink pound’, ‘pink dollar’, or ‘pink economy’ gained a foothold in marketing texts and everyday language. And yet, a longer history remains untold.

In this talk based on a decade of research into the history of the Pink Pound, Dr Justin Bengry uncovers more than a century of evidence that shows how business has been fascinated with LGBTQ people. Whether appealing to or condemning inverts and sapphists, ‘Evil Men’ or those with ‘Bulgarian Tendencies’,?history shows us that long before Pride sponsorships and glossy magazines capitalism and homosexuality have been intertwined.