ju s t o u t ▼ m ay 2 . 1 9 0 7 ▼ 21
Mjxing It W
Continued from page 19
It is a Value of Transgression.
Portland resident Lori Buckwalter, who
is often described as a male-to-female trans
sexual, adds: “I can’t have an identity that
is static.”
For her, gender is not either/or, it is
grounded in fluidity, expression and self-
discovery.
Buckwalter also says gender—which is
often associated with power over some
thing or someone, is the power to con
nect—“with the world, nature, the uni
verse.”
She adds she can no longer view gender
objectively: “Like life, gender is a personal
and subjective experience.”
importance of
identity politics
cannot be ig
nored. Without it,
for exam ple,
there would likely be no
civil rights protections
for African Americans,
women and (to a far
lesser extent) sexual mi
norities.
Identity politics has
its role, particularly for
those who have resided
on society’s margins.
Indeed, Bornstein
and others credit the
women’s movement for
getting the ball rolling in
the “rethinking gender”
department.
“They were the ones
who asked ‘What does
it mean to be a woman?
What is a woman?’ The
w om en’s m ovem ent
called into question the
stereotypes and the view
that there was a ‘natu
ral’ order to things. It
was very liberating
when they did that,” she
says.
Sven Bonnichsen,
political director for the
Portland Bisexual Alli
ance, sees a need for
identity politics to liber
ate bisexuals, too.
‘There are people in
the bi community who
ask, ‘Why do we have
to label ourselves? Let’s
be fluid,’ ” he says. “But 1 think labels are
something that we can rally under to fight for our
rights.”
At the same time, Bonnichsen diverges from
the common view that bi-identified people are
those who are attracted to both men and women.
“1 view it as being attracted to people for
characteristics other than their sex,” he says, “not
because of it.”
As for the shortcomings of identity politics,
Bornstein says: “Identity politics doesn’t work
for that ‘queer boy dyke bisexual.’ There is no
room for this person in any political movement
today. I think that’s a shame.”
In the April 29 issue of the Advocate, histo-
rian/author Lillian Faderman further tugs at the
weaknesses. The column, entitled “Politics of
the Heart,” was prompted by the Loulan brou
haha.
“The narrow categories of identity politics are
obviously deceptive. They hide the complex,
multifaceted nature of human beings,” Faderman
writes. “But the undeniable successes of identity
politics have made life easier for many of us....
That being so, how can we not feel discomfort and
annoyance when anything or anyone reminds us
how simplistic and unstable the notion of identity
truly is?”
and lesbians also stand to gain in a big way.
And yet, many lesbians and gay men
jump down the throats of a Loulan or a
Bornstein or a Bonnichsen. And in doing
so they clunk down barriers where bridges
could so naturally be built.
“Many gays and lesbians have long
fought gender roles,” says NGLTF’s Kerry
Lobel. “The sexual minorities community
has been at the forefront of this issue. But
let’s face it, it doesn’t always come easily.
I mean, it’s only been 10 years since the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in
cluded the word ‘Lesbian.’ Change is slow,
but it is coming.”
She and others say look to the queer
youth movement to edge us along.
“My generation did the sexual revolu-
T
tion thing,” says the 49-year-old Bornstein. “This
generation will do for gender what my generation
did for sex.”
That is, in essence, question the cultural mo
res, step on the establishment’s toes, shatter rules
and expand narrow ways of viewing the world.
“I love it when I see [queer youth groups]
described as ‘gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual,
transgendered and questioning,” says Suzanne
Pharr, of the Lesbian Community Project. “It’s
that ‘questioning’ component that I really love.
Imagine if we all began questioning gender.”
Bornstein adds: “Imagine if all the gays, lesbi
ans, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgendered,
omnisexuals, hermaphrodites, intersexed, S/M
players, sex workers, young people and all the rest
of those on the outside joined together, rather than
attacking each other. Just imagine what that would
be like, what we could
be.”
Just imagine...
“Rethinking Gender, ”
a free community
discussion sponsored
by the Lesbian
Community Project
and the Women's
Project, will be held at
7 pm Tuesday, May 6,
at the Metropolitan
Community Church,
2400 NE Broadway, in
Portland. For more
information, call LCP
at 223-0071.
Another forum,
featuring Bornstein
and Jo Ann Loulan,
sponsored by the
institute for the
Advancement of
Human Behavior and
Just Out, will be held
in Portland on Aug. 1.
That discussion will
focus on how we might
create a culture that
includes all visions of
gender, orientation
and sex activity.
Watch for details
in Just Out this
summer.
as we rethink gender, who stands to
gain?
S
All of society, conclude the folks
we spoke with.
However, several pointed out
that women will be major beneficiaries.
After all, without gender (and those
cumbersome roles) maybe women will be
paid fairly; maybe they won’t be the targets
of rape, battering and everyday harassment
on the streets, in the workplace or in the
home.
"Without gender, there isn’t that group
to strike out against,” says Bomstein. “There
would be a cessation of the violence agai nst
women.”
Bonnichsen agrees: “Battery and vio
lence are tied to feelings of supremacy....
People think that their whiteness, or male
ness or heterosexuality makes them supe
rior, and they often use violence as a way to
maintain that sense.”
If you support the belief that sexual
orientation is simply another gender role—
for example, that being a “real” man or
woman means you must be intimately in
volved with someone of the opposite sex—
then the obvious conclusion is that gay men