how did butter begin?
What inspired this idea anyway? It’s origin story time babes…
BUTTer began when sustainability siren, Bird made a 2024 resolution to keep her Austin people connected. It started as a open house-style gathering of friends/pole dancers a couple times a month. The only rule to attend: bring a move, song, teach the group a trick, or listen/learn while you eat a cookie. Take off your pants, eat some popcorn, throw on some heels, and latch onto the pole, we’re BUTTering babes! Over time, we were fortunate to welcome in more divinely feminine souls to our circle. While some nights were just bout yapping about what it means to be queer in the hellscape that is the 2020s, others were about exploring new interests or giving each other lap dance tips and tricks. No two BUTTer nights have ever felt the same.
This was the safest space for us to express our most vulnerable selves with one another. This is where we supported one another in learning and life. Fun fact: it gave me my first opportunity to intimately snap baddies on film! For more than a year, Bird graciously had opened her home to our group, every other week. Fast-forward to early 2025, she and her partner decided to turn their lives into an EU adventure. Personally, I didn’t want to imagine our lives without BUTTer, so I stepped up to host our gathering.
The only thing missing now is a pole, and of course, our beloveds Bird and Sarah (both relocated to different parts of the US). While everyone in our group continues to evolve and meander through their separate life journeys, we still gather as often as life allows us to connect and hold space for one another.
The current iteration is still play-focused: dress comfy or let it all hang out if you like, snack on radishes dipped in sal de buerre, sip on something bubbly (alcoholic or free-spirited), maybe snap some hotties on analog, share inspirational smut, dance to Enya, jump in the Melrose Place-coded pool, discuss queer theory, and casually dream up our own weirdest and gayest zine yet.