In the sexually liberated, genre-bending nightlife of the 1970s, the Cycle Sluts weren’t just another drag act — they were a revelation. Emerging out of New York’s downtown performance scene, this troupe blended drag, punk attitude, risqué humor, and a fearless disregard for norms into something that felt equal parts cabaret, clown show, and queer avant-garde spectacle.
The group took its name with a wink and a roar, riffing on biker imagery while flipping gender expectations inside out. Their performances were wild, bawdy, and theatrical — not polished pageants but joyful uprisings against conformity. The Cycle Sluts weren’t just performing in nightlife; they were nightlife, inhabiting stages, bars, loft parties, and performance spaces with a blend of drag, camp, slapstick, and radical playfulness that turned every show into a frontier of queer expression.
