firecat: pink and blue triangles (bi triangle)
firecat (attention machine in need of calibration) ([personal profile] firecat) wrote2005-07-29 06:30 pm

engaging decloaking device

Of potential interest to readers of http://www.bitchmagazine.com/ here is a letter I sent them about an article in their latest issue.

Subject: We're here, but no one seems to get used to us

My straight white male partner and I lay in bed one night recently and he told me that the latest issue of Bitch (Truth & Consequences) had an article about sexual identity revisionist history ("We Were Here, We Were Maybe Queer" by Laura Nathan), and he made me guess what word didn't appear even once in the article.

I got it in one.

It's too bad that an article which on the surface appears to usefully question rigid labeling of sexual activities and identities (for example, "What's problematic about the outing of Nixon is the hetero/homo binary the media relied on to report the story...obscuring the complex nature of sexual orientation and desire and leaving no room to transform the language we use to discuss sexuality") can't bring itself to use the 'b' word even once. (And no, I don't mean "bitch".)

Maybe in another 60 years we'll be talking about sex and sexuality in a way that is apparently still unthinkable to some of us now.


"Waltz in B minor, Op. 69 No. 2 (Posth.)" - Artur Rubinstein - Chopin: The Waltzes (Chopin Collection disc 9)

[identity profile] grumpywitch.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Argh! I hate that. I may be shy but I'm not invisible!

Thank you for writing in.

[identity profile] kightp.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
You rock.
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[identity profile] vito-excalibur.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Good for you.
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[identity profile] submarine-bells.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
One of many reasons why you rock my world. :-)

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent!

[identity profile] laurenhat.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
Well said.

[identity profile] lysana.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nice. And I'm disappointed in Bitch for being that stupid.

[identity profile] wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com 2005-07-30 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
But it's been scientifically proven that bisexuality doesn't exist!

(I assume you saw the recent study of 100 males shown gay male porn and lesbian porn, right?)

It's not just a question of my right to name my own experience. It's a question of recognizing that yes, I have for all my life loved, desired, and formed committed relationships with people of both generally recognized sexes.

[identity profile] baerana.livejournal.com 2005-07-31 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
brava!

[identity profile] arrietty42.livejournal.com 2005-10-26 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
How about trisexual? Or Asexual. A famous artist friend of mine in NYC is a firm asexual. She doesn't even like to touch herself and puts the sheets so that no skin touches any other skin. I found that a bit fascinating. (p.s. Indulgence, I've been wanting to use this av for the longest time...)