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Bi Lines
The Bisexual writer / The Writing bisexual
This column appeared in Siren: irresistibly tempting for queer women, Queer Talent issue, vol. 7 issue 3 (August/September 2002), page 15.
The Bisexual Writer
Sometimes I feel the need to be visible as a bisexual first. It doesn't mean I'm not other things as well, but there are times when my sexuality needs to come to the fore. One of these times was June's bisexuality-themed Clit Lit which I co-hosted with Susan Osborne. Together we introduced bisexual readers and writers to a lot of other bisexuals. Thank goodness she's a better public speaker than I am!
Sitting in the darkened Red Spot with my cranberry juice, I thought, "Wow. These women are good!" The bi women's community is relatively small, yet we had more writers come forward than the night's schedule could accommodate. Some were first-timers, others have been published, some have even been paid for their writing. Each one identified, currently or in the past, with the bisexual community.
The idea for a bi women's zine must have hung in the air that night, because it started to emerge spontaneously in conversations, and to drive women to their word processors. I crunched out a zine called Bi Dyke in time for Pride. Cheryl Dobinson, one of the readers that night, is a fellow zine queen. Cheryl is a feminist pagan, a community organizer, and a sexy rollerblader. She's got an MA in Sociology from York and she's a published writer and poet. Her zine is called The Fence. "Calling bisexuals 'fencesitters' has been a way of marginalizing us," wrote Cheryl. "The Fence is going to be all about bisexual women reclaiming this position and speaking from our unique viewpoints that traverse straight and gay/lesbian cultures, but also allow us to have spaces of our own." Look for copies around Celebrate Bisexuality Day on September 23.
The Writing Bisexual
There are also times when my sexuality takes a back seat to other aspects of my identity. One of the things about Clit Lit I've enjoyed, both as a reader and as a member of the audience, is that you don't have to read about being queer. You're in a queer space, reading to an audience who chose to attend something called "Clit Lit." You don't need to cover the basics. This is the advanced class. You're free to put your energy elsewhere-to write about deeper issues, to do a character study, or spin a fiction tale. You don't have to be The Queer, or The Bisexual, or The Woman. You can be A Writer. A Reader.
One of the reasons this is possible is that Clit Lit's organizer, Elizabeth Ruth, prefers to focus her series on issues rather than identities. "Clit had always been open to anyone," Elizabeth said, "no identity cards checked at the door, but it's predominantly featured queer women's writing." This doesn't exclude nights themed around identity (like ours), but it does shift the spotlight slightly. "I've brought in guest curators to do identity-specific nights," said Elizabeth, "and I've integrated issues into those nights. For example, when Mirha Soleil-Ross and I were discussing her curating a transsexual event, we didn't want to make it about the usual identity issues, but instead about sex, overt and brazenly about transsexual sex. Something folks don't get occasion to hear about and something that was infinitely more challenging to a majority non-trans audience. That to me, was exciting and good politics."
Taking the emphasis off sexual identity doesn't necessarily mean that reading to an audience will be any safer. It may mean that rather than being rejected for my bisexuality I'm rejected for my clumsy prose, cliche metaphors and cardboard characterizations. It may be more dangerous in that it hits closer to home for the writer in me.
And Elizabeth Ruth doesn't guarantee safety. "Safety doesn't exist for marginalised people," she said, "including within marginalised communities such as the gay/lesbian one. Frankly, I don't expect myself to create safety at Clit Lit, I expect to create enough openness so as to make it possible for people to take risks."
You can learn more about Elizabeth Ruth at www.elizabethruth.com.
You can email Cheryl Dobinson at cjdobins@YorkU.CA.
