At the beginning of the year I came across an advertisement for “Lick-Melbourne”, an event that is predominantly for girls (but man-bags are allowed), and it was an exciting thought because meeting single girls can be difficult in the swinging scene (we call them unicorns for a reason) so my initial thoughts were “Yay! A whole bunch of girls who like girls in one place, surely it has to be easier to meet a bi girl that way”.
Lick is a girls event and has apparently been attracting a bunch of swingers, however, swingers are getting a bad reputation at this event because they going along as if it’s another swinging event like Saints or Purr – to pick up women. I mean, it sounds like you’ve hit the jackpot when you hear there’s an event which draws all lesbian, bi and bi-curious girls, but that’s not what this even is for and I for one, don’t want swingers to have a bad reputation anywhere so this article is to help clear it up!
I approached Natalie, Lick’s creator and organiser, and thought I’d interview her to write this article and clear it up for all other swingers who might also have the wrong idea about Lick. So here she is:
Chantelle and Natalie getting our Lick on hehe
1. Tell me a bit about your story, how did you come to be such a large part of Lick Melbourne?
I came up with the concept for ‘Lick’ back in 2006 when I first came out. I was 24 and found it hard to meet other like-minded girls, and when I went out to ‘lesbian clubs’ I didn’t feel comfortable being there. I dreamt of a safe place to go to that had beautiful, friendly girls, great music, great entertainment in a comfortable environment. Four years later I stopped thinking about it and finally got the push to actually walk my talk.
2. What is the vision for Lick? Where do you hope it will go?
My aim for Lick is remain consistent with its quality in music, entertainment and venue. The most important thing for me is to aspire to ensure every girl that walks in and out of a Lick night remembers each and everyone and feels they got their money’s worth from all that we offer in the one night.
The Lick brand has become something like a family name that girls are proud of being a part of. It has a ‘family’ feeling to it and the girls that wear our t-shirts and hoodies wear them with so much pride. The name has created a sense of belonging and togetherness amongst the girls, something that I am so proud of being able to provide. I hope to have a Lick event in every major city in Australia and eventually take Lick internationally, something I have already started working on with the contacts I made on my recent overseas trip.
3. What are the common misconceptions about Lick?
Lick is an event for ‘girls-who-love-girls’. We don’t leave any girl out. We get quite a lot of bisexual/bi-curious girls. In none of my advertising will you see solely the word ‘lesbian’, because it’s for those who feel comfortable within themselves to know that they are part of our LGBTIQ community. In saying that, the common misconception I get are from ‘swinger’ couples that contact me asking if they are welcome to attend for this activity (swinging), and it’s important to clear this misconception up as creating a safe and comfortable environment for the Lick guests is so important to me.
I went along to the last event and I took a gal pal with me, left my man bag at home and went with the intention of having a fun night out, to connect with other girls IF the situation arose, but not with the intention of picking up and taking them home to my Mr Wonderful. I was there for me and if I made some new gal pals as purely friends, then I was happy with that. As it turned out, that’s exactly what happened, I now have a new lesbian friend whom I get to ask all my curious questions of ?
Being the eternal observer I am, I watched as groups of girls, who were friends, enjoyed having drinks and dancing together, and noticed there weren’t huge amount of gals who appeared to be mingling or on the prowl to meet someone new. This only proved to me the event was more about celebrating and having a night out in a predominantly girl environment and not to play. And Natalie has told me in a previous conversation, girls had complained to her because they were being hit on by swingers… Hence the bad reputation swingers were getting at Lick.
So there you have it, Lick is about having a night out with a bunch of other girls who are also celebrating their love or interest in girls, it’s not a goldfish bowl full of potential playmates but know it doesn’t mean you won’t meet one either, just allow it to naturally evolve as opposed to looking to make it happen.
Lick happens every 3 months in Sydney and Melbourne, and soon to be in other major cities around Australia so if you are bi or bi-curious (or lesbian), absolutely go and check it out, it’s not every night you get to enjoy a girlie night out… literally!
Oh and the Lick dancers are awesome and that alone made it a great entertaining night! See you there 🙂