Firstly and most importantly, what is the Sapphic Society?

We’re a group of Sapphic students at the University of Sheffield, trying to build the community! There are so many sapphic students at the University, but there is no sense of support or connection between us. The Society is aiming to bridge this gap, creating a stronger Sapphic community!

Where is the Sapphic Society based? 

Generally, we are run from one very queer house in the city, where most of our founding committee live. However, in aid of not sharing our home address, we are based at the University of Sheffield. I’m from Yorkshire myself, so I’m very passionate about the society being able to highlight Sheffield’s queer history and culture. I love it here, and I want every Sapphic to feel safe and at home in Sheffield.

Why did you feel the need to set up a Sapphic Society? Was there no alternative avenue of representation for sapphic-identifying students within the University?

The LGBTQ+ committee was recently disbanded by the Students Union, with no warning. We think this part of a general trend of the University and Students’ Union doing away with the proper nuances of representation and liberation required to actually make any change. As a result, it doesn’t feel as though there is a proper sense of community within the Students Union. This is what we’re trying to address! 

For a while, the Activities Zone in the Students’ Union tried to convince me to merge with the LGBTQ+ Society. We didn’t want to do this, because we believe that the more groups there are supporting minority students, the better. The Students Union doesn’t want to understand this, so we felt that our society couldn’t have been established at a better time.

What was your experience of starting in a new society at the Students Union like? Would you endorse this process to any other students hoping to set up societies to grow representation within the University?

It was a pretty painless process, filling out the form to apply. The Students Union are very nit-picky about health and safety, for good reason, so that was a bit tiresome. But as I say, it’s easy enough, so I wouldn’t discourage anyone hoping to start their own society from having a go. 

We did debate whether or not we should be affiliated with the Students Union altogether. For a start, there’s a lot of admin involved, but we also want complete freedom over our society! We want to be able to call ourselves ‘dykes’, be political, and run whatever socials we want to (a couple members of committee went to ‘dyke oil wrestling’ at incredible queer venue Gut Level. This is the level of queer we aspire to. The Students Union would not appreciate this from us). These are the things we sacrifice for the start up grant.

For any students interested in joining the new Sapphic Society, what activities are you hoping to do as a society?

As much as we can! We hope to cater to everyone, so if you don’t drink, that’s great. If you want to get hammered (safely), that’s also great. We’re planning loads of events, one being a guest talk on the history of queer Sheffield. We’ve also got Sapphic karaoke, zine-making, poetry readings, queer bar crawls, and hopefully much more!

How can Sapphic Society be contacted, and how can students get involved if they want to?

@uossapphicsoc on Instagram! We’re very friendly, please message us.

Everything will be up on the Students Union website very soon, but for now, your best chance is Instagram. Sorry.

Finally, what are your plans for the future?

Take over Sheffield. Everyone will be lesbian by the time we’re done with the place!