Geography, for lesbians and other members of the collective, has the potential to shape our sexual identities, our sexual practices, our sense of community, our political objectives related to our orientation and sex.  It can mean in some places, it is easier to come out of the closet and be safe while in other places, we risk finding ourselves without support, without resources and without community.[1] Very little research has been done around lesbian geography in general, and none, even informal research like this post, has been done about Spain.

              Research has been done about lesbian territories and spaces in Montreal, Canada and concluded that lesbian spaces are comparatively invisible to gay geographies.  Lesbians organize around their own personally constituted spaces, rather than in the comparatively commercial spaces of gay men. [2]

              Lesbian spaces in Madrid have the same issue.  They are invisible spaces, social spaces or shared spaces. In the context of Pride and HIV / AIDS, lesbian only geography, both historically and in the present, is largely non-existent with the possible exception of Calle de Preciados, the location of historical Franco era, largely lesbian only Pride marches. Lesbians do not have lesbian centered HIV /AIDS resources to call upon, and generally have limited access to women only HIV / AIDS resources, including treatment and prevention. Pride historically has had some lesbian targeted events, but these rarely repeat from year to year as a way of delineating lesbian only space at Pride.  Some events, including a football tournament, are aimed at lesbian women but are inclusive of bisexual women and people with penises who identify as lesbians while being openly hostile to or forcing silence from lesbians who deny attraction to people with penises. Sports is never lesbian only, but a place where lesbians have been more visible than in other places in Spanish society.

              To understand lesbian the physical geography of space in the city of Madrid, a look needs to taken of either places where lesbians can be interlopers because of their LGTB collective membership, their sex class membership or because events, services, publications or organizations that are generally related to Pride or HIV / AIDS or sports

              The total number of place references were counted on a by barrio level, with one count for each historical mention.  This meant some places were counted a number of times, like FELGTB and PSOE’s headquarters because of manifestos they published or events they organized. This was done along three specific thematic lines.  They were HIV / AIDS, Pride and sports.  Not every historical reference to everything that ever occurred related to AIDS or Pride or sports was counted, but rather events that specifically related to lesbians or were less about lesbians but connected to painting a more complete picture of the situation related to lesbians in that thematic area were counted.  This list can never be complete because of the nature but is still the most complete one the author is aware of.

              Three districts have a notable lesbian historical presence.  These are Centro, with 341 places + points in time with Moncloa-Aravaca coming in a distant second with 77 and Salamanca an even more disanct third at 45.  Centro had the most balance between Pride and HIV / AIDS related locations, with a ratio of 2 : 1 compared to 8 : 1 and 11.5 for Moncloa-Aravaca and Salamanca respectively.  Salamanca lacks any sports related historical locations.  That these three districts are among the ones with the highest density of lesbian places is not surprising.  They are among the most central barrios and the most historical ones in the city.

              Of the thirteen out of twenty-one districts with more than ten historical places in them, ten have more Pride places than AIDS / HIV.  Only Fuencarral-El Pardo, Ciudad Lineal and Villa de Vallecas have the same amount or more AIDS / HIV places associated with them.  In the case of Villa de Vallecas, the number of Pride related locations is zero. That total is enough to put the district fourth overall in that category, with only Centro, Chamberí and Moncloa-Aravaca having more than 12 HIV / AIDS places with 111, 18 and 17 respectively. 

Most popular Madrid districts for lesbians
Distrito	HIV / AIDS	Pride	Sports	Total
Centro	111	226	4	341
Arganzuela	2	23	0	25
Retiro	3	24	0	27
Salamanca	3	42	0	45
Chamartín	1	6	0	7
Tetuán	6	7	0	13
Chamberí	18	19	1	38
Fuencarral-El Pardo	10	7	1	18
Moncloa-Aravaca	17	58	2	77
Latina	1	4	0	5
Carabanchel	0	7	0	7
Usera	2	4	0	6
Puente de Vallecas	0	22	0	22
Moratalaz	0	1	0	1
Ciudad Lineal	6	6	1	13
Hortaleza	3	22	0	25
Villaverde	2	13	2	17
Villa de Vallecas	12	0	1	13
Vicálvaro	0	1	0	1
San Blas-Canillejas	4	0	1	5
Barajas	1	1	0	2
Count of unique historical events related to specific themes about lesbians sorted by district found in España’s Safica revised Madrid Lesbian History Travel Guide.

              On a barrio level, the first thing to mention is that Madrid has a total of 131 barrios. 48 of these barrios did not have a single historical event associated with them.  Of these, 14 do have some lesbian place associated with them in a category not counted in this analysis.

              These 48 barrios include Imperial, Estrella, Niño Jesús, Fuente del Berro, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, Bellas Vistas, Castillejos, Berruguete, Arapiles, Fuentelarreina, Peñagrande, Valdezarza, El Plantío, Puerta del Ángel, Lucero, Campamento, Cuatro Vientos, Comillas, Puerta Bonita, San Fermín, Almendrales, Moscardó, Pradolongo, San Diego, Palomeras Bajas, Pavones, Horcajo, Marroquina, Media Legua, Fontarrón, Colina, Atalaya, Palomas, Apóstol Santiago, Santa Eugenia, Valdebernardo, Valderrivas, El Cañaveral, Hellín, Amposta, Arcos, Rosas, Rejas, Salvador, Alameda de Osuna, Casco Histórico de Barajas and Timón.  Many of these barrios are located in newer parts of Madrid or barrios on the periphery of Madrid life.

              The fifteen barrios with ten or more historical locations in them are mostly clustered together.  They are Palacio, Embajadores, Cortes, Justicia, Universidad, Sol, Atocha, Jerónimos, Recoletos, Almagro, Argüelles, Ciudad Universitaria, Numancia, Piovera and Casco Histórico de Vallecas.  Six of these are in Centro.  One each are in Retiro and Arganzuela in barrios that border Centro, two are in Moncloa-Aravaca in historic barrios that border Centro and have large student populations.  Two were tied to moving Pride to the periphery and specific political groups in Vallecas which have large groups of LGTB activists, one is home to a large number of HIV / AIDS locations.  Only Piovera is less obvious, and it appears as a result of Izquierda Unida having offices in the barrio and engaging politically directly or through their group ALEAS in issues related to Pride and HIV / AIDS. 

Distrito	Número	Nombre	HIV / AIDS	Pride	Sports	Total
Centro	11	Palacio	6	20	0	26
	12	Embajadores	15	17	0	32
	13	Cortes	21	16	1	38
	14	Justicia	36	98	2	136
	15	Universidad	29	21	0	50
	16	Sol	4	54	1	59
Arganzuela	21	Imperial	0	0	0	0
	22	Acacias	0	2	0	2
	23	Chopera	0	1	0	1
	24	Legazpi	0	2	0	2
	25	Delicias	1	2	0	3
	26	Palos de la Frontera	0	2	0	2
	27	Atocha	1	14	0	15
Retiro	31	Pacífico	0	7	0	7
	32	Adelfas	2	0	0	2
	33	Estrella	0	0	0	0
	34	Ibiza	1	0	0	1
	35	Jerónimos	0	17	0	17
	36	Niño Jesús	0	0	0	0
Salamanca	41	Recoletos	0	36	0	36
	42	Goya	0	2	0	2
	43	Fuente del Berro	0	0	0	0
	44	La Guindalera	1	1	0	2
	45	Lista	1	1	0	2
	46	Castellana	1	2	0	3
Chamartín	51	El Viso	1	1	0	2
	52	Prosperidad	0	3	0	3
	53	Ciudad Jardín	0	1	0	1
	54	Hispanoamérica	0	0	0	0
	55	Nueva España	0	0	0	0
	56	Castilla	0	1	0	1
Tetuán	61	Bellas Vistas	0	0	0	0
	62	Cuatro Caminos	1	5	0	6
	63	Castillejos	0	0	0	0
	64	Almenara	4	0	0	4
	65	Valdeacederas	1	2	0	3
	66	Berruguete	0	0	0	0
Chamberí	71	Gaztambide	6	3	0	9
	72	Arapiles	0	0	0	0
	73	Trafalgar	7	2	0	9
	74	Almagro	4	11	0	15
	75	Ríos Rosas	1	1	0	2
	76	Vallehermoso	0	2	1	3
Fuencarral-El Pardo	81	El Pardo	0	1	0	1
	82	Fuentelarreina	0	0	0	0
	83	Peñagrande	0	0	0	0
	84	El Pilar	0	2	0	2
	85	La Paz	0	1	1	2
	86	Valverde	8	1	0	9
	87	Mirasierra	1	0	0	1
	88	El Goloso	1	2	0	3
Moncloa-Aravaca	91	Casa de Campo	0	7	0	7
	92	Argüelles	13	43	0	56
	93	Ciudad Universitaria	4	6	2	12
	94	Valdezarza	0	0	0	0
	95	Valdemarín	0	1	0	1
	96	El Plantío	0	0	0	0
	97	Aravaca	0	1	0	1
Latina	101	Los Cármenes	1	0	0	1
	102	Puerta del Ángel	0	0	0	0
	103	Lucero	0	0	0	0
	104	Aluche	0	3	0	3
	105	Campamento	0	0	0	0
	106	Cuatro Vientos	0	0	0	0
	107	Las Águilas	0	1	0	1
Carabanchel	111	Comillas	0	0	0	0
	112	Opañel	0	1	0	1
	113	San Isidro	0	1	0	1
	114	Vista Alegre	0	3	0	3
	115	Puerta Bonita	0	0	0	0
	116	Buenavista	0	1	0	1
	117	Abrantes	0	1	0	1
Usera	121	Orcasitas	0	1	0	1
	122	Orcasur	2	2	0	4
	123	San Fermín	0	0	0	0
	124	Almendrales	0	0	0	0
	125	Moscardó	0	0	0	0
	126	Zofío	0	1	0	1
	127	Pradolongo	0	0	0	0
Puente de Vallecas	131	Entrevías	0	1	0	1
	132	San Diego	0	0	0	0
	133	Palomeras Bajas	0	0	0	0
	134	Palomeras Sureste	0	1	0	1
	135	Portazgo	0	9	0	9
	136	Numancia	0	11	0	11
Moratalaz	141	Pavones	0	0	0	0
	142	Horcajo	0	0	0	0
	143	Marroquina	0	0	0	0
	144	Media Legua	0	0	0	0
	145	Fontarrón	0	0	0	0
	146	Vinateros	0	1	0	1
Ciudad Lineal	151	Ventas	0	1	0	1
	152	Pueblo Nuevo	1	0	0	1
	153	Quintana	0	1	0	1
	154	Concepción	1	1	0	2
	155	San Pascual	4	1	0	5
	156	San Juan Bautista	0	0	1	1
	157	Colina	0	0	0	0
	158	Atalaya	0	0	0	0
	159	Costillares	0	2	0	2
Hortaleza	161	Palomas	0	0	0	0
	162	Piovera	1	18	0	19
	163	Canillas	0	1	0	1
	164	Pinar del Rey	2	0	0	2
	165	Apóstol Santiago	0	0	0	0
	166	Valdefuentes	0	3	0	3
Villaverde	171	Villaverde Alto	0	4	0	4
	172	San Cristóbal	2	3	0	5
	173	Butarque	0	1	0	1
	174	Los Rosales	0	5	0	5
	175	Los Ángeles	0	0	2	2
Villa de Vallecas	181	Casco Histórico de Vallecas	12	0	0	12
	182	Santa Eugenia	0	0	0	0
	183	Ensanche de Vallecas	0	0	1	1
Vicálvaro	191	Casco Histórico de Vicálvaro	0	1	0	1
	192	Valdebernardo	0	0	0	0
	193	Valderrivas	0	0	0	0
	194	El Cañaveral	0	0	0	0
San Blas-Canillejas	201	Simancas	4	0	0	4
	202	Hellín	0	0	0	0
	203	Amposta	0	0	0	0
	204	Arcos	0	0	0	0
	205	Rosas	0	0	0	0
	206	Rejas	0	0	0	0
	207	Canillejas	0	0	1	1
	208	Salvador	0	0	0	0
Barajas	211	Alameda de Osuna	0	0	0	0
	212	Aeropuerto	0	1	0	1
	213	Casco Histórico de Barajas	0	0	0	0
	214	Timón	0	0	0	0
	215	Corralejos	1	0	0	1

              More analysis needs to be done related to the whole topic of lesbian geographies in Madrid and using that to understand lesbian life, both past and present.  Major issues remain though which cause challenges, like many places for lesbians being informal places not likely to be picked up in historical accounts and many histories not being told.  Lesbians from the Franco period and the transition period are sometimes still reticent to talk about that time, even as the stigma related to female homosexuality has lessened.  That means critical places may never be known. Hopefully in the future, I will be able to return to this topic with more data.

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[1] (Mayhew, 2009)

[2] (Mayhew, 2009)