Current owner of Womencrafts Michelle Axelson with wife Erin Splaine (left) and their dog, Charlie.
Photo: Rebecca M. Alvin
Womencrafts at 50
by Rebecca M. Alvin
Walking into Womencrafts on a pleasant April afternoon, one winds their way around three children sitting on the red-brick steps selling Girl Scout cookies to passersby and Womencrafts shoppers. They are making a killing, selling out completely by the end of their time there. Axelson, who does not have children herself, is the Scout leader for this troop and says she’s so happy to be a part of something she enjoyed as a child herself. She accepted to role when a friend whose daughter is in the troop asked her to help out.
The children come in and out of the store comfortably, as if it were their living room. “I want them to see themselves in this room. I want them to be around me. I love kids, and I was a Girl Scout growing up,” Axelson says. “And not being a parent, like, there’s different losses along the way of things you don’t have, and until she asked me, I didn’t even realize how sad it made me that I didn’t have that connection. And when I could, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I could still be a Girl Scout troop leader.’”
Originally located at 373 Commercial Street (near Pepe’s Wharf), the feminist bookshop and women’s art purveyor relocated across the street to 376 Commercial Street in 1990 where it has remained a vital local store with a mission to offer not only books and artwork made by women, but also to offer community. On March 22, 1976 a business license to open the Commercial Street store was granted, and its first owners, Vashte and Alexea, started what’s become an institution in Provincetown. It’s been through a few owners, but its essence has stayed the same under current owner Michelle Axelson who bought the store in 2015. And, she says, there is a base of repeat customers who come to the store every time they are in town.
“I think people are really loyal to it because it meant so much to them whenever their first time was. So, when people didn’t have a place where they were safe or they could see themselves,” she theorizes. “So that touchstone, like, the goodwill of the shop certainly carries it, I think, more than the merchandise. And just the feeling that people have here.”
Now, 50 years later, Womencrafts feels just as important in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade in 2022 and recent right-wing efforts to actually dismantle the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. “I think the mission of the shop and the reason the shop existed was to give space and representation to underrepresented people. And what I always say is, if that mission was complete and no longer needed, we wouldn’t have to be here. But it is, and the things that we sell for bumper stickers are still relevant and still going on,” she explains.
Customers come up and purchase stickers, books, t-shirts, and more and all are offered the 10% queer discount that has long been a part of the Womencrafts experience, originating long before Axelson bought it. “So many women have told me stories about how they would come to Provincetown, specifically to come here and to accept the ‘dyke discount’ so that it was a way of saying out loud that they were a lesbian. And some people went back to the rest of their lives and weren’t out for years. But here, they were.”
The wall across from the checkout counter is lined with portraits of well-known women painted by local artist Jo Hay. They include KD Lang, Tracy Chapman, and Cris Williamson, among others. Below them the store is stocked with Womencrafts t-shirts and a mug proudly declaring: “Queer Joy,” surrounded by stickers proclaiming anti-fascist, feminist, pro-immigrant and LGBTQ statements. Books that range from classic feminist poetry to brand-new signed copies of Something About the Women: Five Decades of Seeing, a book of photos of female artists and luminaries by Irene Young, Alison Bechdels’ comic novel Spent, and Gisèle Pelicot’s new memoir A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides occupy shelves around the room, and lovely ceramic works, handcrafted jewelry are on offer along with posters, hoodies, and bumper stickers that communicate feminist and LGBTQ community alignment.
The store evokes an inclusive feminism, welcoming lesbian and trans women with open arms, but also women of any sexuality, race, ethnicity, or religious background, and even men as long as they are open to being in a women-centered space, which is something that should not be so difficult, but sometimes is. Axelson says even today, even in Massachusetts—in Provincetown—there are still many people who are afraid to be open about their own identity. Some shop in the store and refuse a bag with the logo because if they are queer, they don’t want to advertise it, and if they are not, there is perhaps a fear of appearing to be gay, all because of a simple logo that represents a feminist space.
One thing that surprised Axelson at first was the hostility with which some straight men coming into the store would say, “Are men allowed in here?”
“It surprised me at first. Now it’s old, but it disappointed me,” Axelson says. “Like, I would say, ‘The name of the shop is Womencrafts. There’s a place that’s called the Cuban Art Gallery down the street. Do you ask if you have to be a Cuban to walk in there?’”
Axelson says while there are “a few standard responses to really shitty comments,” mostly it’s not about shaming people. It just depends where they are coming from. “I’m not going to collude with anybody’s sexism, homophobia, or racism, but I absolutely think this is a learning space and that can be visual,” she says. At the same time, she says things are changing and that the younger men who come to Provincetown now actually have more awareness and understanding of feminism, ironically, because of President Trump’s vitriol against it. Where before it was more straight husbands uncomfortable about whether or not they were allowed in the space with their wives, now there seems to be a growing understanding of what the store is all about. Questioning is fine. It’s the attitude that matters.
She cites as an example a straight dad who came in with his queer teenage daughter. At first, he, too asked if it was okay that he was there, although he did so without any hostility. Axelson says she encouraged him to stay because perhaps there would be something for him, as well. “He was wearing a Boston College hat, and he just took the room in. And then he handed me his credit card and he’s like, anything she wants she can have. I’m just going to give her space. That felt great.”
She says it’s all about being welcoming without catering to ignorance. Last year, after Womencrafts won the Jamie Lee Curtis Award for Gusto, Enthusiasm and Individuality at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, hosted by with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, she recalls un uptick in gay men coming into the store, many of whom were unaware of the history. She laughs and recalls being asked if the store was new. “I’m like, well, if you think 49 years is new, then welcome… You know, it’s always welcoming to people, even if they’re late. Like, even what we’re saying to ICE, like, it’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to wake up and pay attention.”
In the last two years, Womencrafts’ mission has been spilling into the street with a weekly Friday night open mic reading series featuring writers reading their own works, as well as sometimes the works of important literary figures of the past. The event was inspired by Kate Clinton and Urvashi Vaid who used to do readings of feminist literature outside Spiritus as a comic female interruption to the male cruising scene out front, but now it’s more about people sharing their own poetry and stories on Friday nights at 5:30 p.m. just before the weekly gallery stroll begins. There are no microphones, so the event tends to be intimate even as it is out on the street and therefore quite public. “It feels really powerful to see, like, people strolling in August and noticing that there’s all these women, and then kind of trying to figure it out,” Axelson says, “And there’s such talented people in this town.”
This year there will be a range of events to honor Womencrafts’ silver anniversary, but Axelson says she also wants to support other important local events, theme weeks, and legacies. She offers as an example, Women of Color Weekend, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, the first weekend in June. To that end, she plans to co-sponsor events and work with organizations from Twenty Summers to Planned Parenthood, “to kind of remind people that the intersection of the shop doesn’t just live in the shop and it lives with the rest of the community. “ And the Friday night readings, continuing through Women’s Week this year, will frequently correspond with themes related to what’s happening in town that particular week.
Womencrafts, she says, is connected to everything else in town. She smiles and says, “I can tell you that the Womencrafts is relevant to everything. Yeah, I’ll make the case that it’s relevant to Bear Week, you know?”
Womencrafts is located at 376 Commercial St., Provincetown. The shop is open year-round, although hours may vary. For more information, call 508.487.2501, stop by the store, or visit womencraftsptown.com.
