Those of us who have been part of feminist or queer politics in North America have had plenty of experience with this competition to be named MVP —Most Victimized Person. Many of us dropped out of political activism because of the hellish hours we spent sitting in circles accusing each other of racism and homophobia until someone “won.”
Category: Xtra
Lessons in Connection, Xtra West #369, October 10, 2007
James Loney is my hero. That’s the one-sentence version of how I feel about him.
My intense admiration for him started in March 2006 when he and two other members of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT) were rescued, having been held hostage for four months in Iraq.
My New Gay Friend, Xtra West #366, August 29, 2007
Someone asked me the other day if Paul was my gay boyfriend. I said no, because the label makes me think of a swishy, bitchy fag who would criticize my clothes and make catty comments about my dyke friends. Paul so far has shown little interest in my fashion choices and is far less catty than I am.
Read the rest…
Review of Female to Femme
Femme dykes and our supporters have ranted for at least 30 years about how femmes aren’t considered “real” dykes or queers. So it’s not like the ideas in Female to Femme are completely new. What audiences love is finally seeing them on film…
My review of the documentary Female to Femme is now online at Xtra West.
Loving That Folk Fest Vibe, Xtra West #364, August 2, 2007
This year I loved Folk Fest more than ever, because the welcoming of people with disabilities really sank in. It blew my mind and warmed my heart as much as the queer vibe. More…
Queer Wanderings Online, Xtra West #362, July 5, 2007
Last week I expanded my horizons to Second Life, though my avatar is still floating like a dork at the entryway. All I’ve managed to do is make her thighs and stomach heftier than the starter model. More…
Kids These Days, Xtra West #360, June 7, 2007
When I was in high school, I would rather have died than announce to the class that I was a lesbian. Not that it would even have occurred to me to label myself in the first place, to imagine that my intense lust for girls could be a public identity, and not just my secret problem. More…
In Search of a Snappy Label, Xtra West #358, May 10, 2007
I’m not sure why, but lately I have been obsessing over finding a snappy label for the particular subculture of dykes that I joined when I came out. If I’d been born in another era, I could have been a monocle-wearing mannish lesbian in 1920s Paris, or a high femme with a hard-living butch lover in 1950s America. Or even a radical lesbian separatist clearing land for a commune in the 1970s. But instead, I came out in 1993 in Vancouver. Nothing against the time or the place or the people–it’s just that I find it hard to describe my particular scene in a few potent words.
Finding Comfort in the Sun, Xtra West #356, April 11, 2007
Last December my generous, queer-positive Dad offered to take my girlfriend and me on a tropical holiday for spring break. Of course we said yes–we’d had a crappy, rainy fall and we couldn’t afford to pay for a trip like that ourselves. More…
The Vulva Rant, Xtra West #354, March 15, 2007
I’ve always suspected that the Vagina Monologues would piss me off. But when a local women’s centre put on the Monologues as a fundraiser, I decided I should go and see if my suspicions were justified. Sure enough, supporting a good cause turned out to be pretty much the only enjoyable aspect of my theatre experience…. Vulva refers to the external genitalia-the labia, the clitoris, the vaginal introitus, and to things like the fourchette, fossa and frenulum, which I confess I didn’t even know about before researching this column. So you’d think Ensler might have used that v-word instead. More…