MARCH 21, 2008 |l
books
Read All About It
Recent titles examine butch identity, family-of-origin disputes
Butch Is a Noun
Bear Burgman. The book brings together a collection of stories and
chose to refer to hutches with gender-neutral pronouns unless ze
knew the pronoun preference of a specific butch. My main critique
of the text was that the same thing was not done for femmes, instead
of the blanket assumption that all use female pronouns. Beyond
that, Burgman humorously writes about everything from the awk­
ruminations about hir life, experiences and identities as a butch.
wardness of buying hir first boxer briefs to the experience of filling
volume, Silva creates
(Burgman prefers the gender-neutral pronouns “hir” and “ze.”)
out a bridal registry with hir now wife.
Seamlessly weaving together accounts of hir history, family, sexuali­
Burgman describes how Butch Is a Noun is intended to provide a
voice for the butch community’s diversity, and while I think ze falls
short of this noble aspiration—the book more accurately could be
fully imaginable worlds
that live all the more
by S. Bear Burgman; Suspect Thoughts Press, 2006; $16.95 softcover
Butch Is a Noun is a collection of short stories by butch author S.
ty, butch/femme dynamics and gender theory, Burgman carries read­
ers along through pieces that challenge the definitions and bound­
aries of what it means to be butch. As a femme who loves hutches,
I read this brxik with
considered a collection of stories about what it means to Burgman
to have a butch identity, as opposed to some sort of universal butch­
great excitement, and
ness—there is larger cultural power and importance to the text. The
without a doubt 1 was
author honestly brings readers into hir life, sharing with them the
not disappointed.
intimate details of what butchness means to hir. Furthermore, Butch
she works on the case
of one lesbian mother’s
legal
rights
against
another’s.
In a slim paperback
distinctive
in
their
juxtaposition. The Bay
Area details, including the loneliness of Sousa’s spare studio apart- -*
ment and neighborhood cafe, stand starkly against the ancestral
One of the most
Is a Noun joins a fine tradition of texts that provide visibility to
connections of the vibrant Baobique. The sometimes uncomfort­
able distance between characters is best understood in terms of
Sousa’s inability to coalesce her identities: “When 1 left my uncle’s
house that trip, running back to my United States so the part of me
interesting and pow­
those in butch/femme relationships, which are too frequently con­
that was gay could think straight, 1 left behind the part that was
erful aspects of Butch
sidered relics of the past by modem queer communities.
Baobiquen, as if removing one layer of myself to save another.”
A tumultuous relationship between Sousa and the daughter of a
—Sassafras Lowrey
Is a Noun is the way
family rival gives the novel a sexy edge—one of which readers’, no
which Burgman
bridges the theoreti­
A Simple Distance
doubt, would enjoy more. The constant movement of the charac­
cal
by K.E. Silva; Akashic Books, 2006; $14.95 softcover
ters, between the United States and the island and between differ­
in
divide
between
ent locales of family importance on the island, shows that coming
butch and trans com­
out to your family is not a simple, one-time-only trip to make.
munities, giving voice
There is nothing simple about the distances described in K.E.
to the many trans­
Silva’s debut novel. A young lesbian lawyer living in San Francisco,
Silva has created a smart and heartfelt novel that speaks to press­
people who
also maintain a tight
Silva’s main character, Jean Sousa, is forced to traverse the distance
between the United States and Baobique, her family’s fictional is­
ing issues of race in the United States, family-of-origin disputes and
fear of intimacy. Whether we read more about Sousa in the future
hold on their butch
land home. On the island, she faces the distance set by a homopho­
or discover other worlds of Silva’s imagination, we can look forward
identities.
Driving
bic ruling class and her personal struggles with love and acceptance.
to another great read.
this point home, ze
Back home, the distance between right and wrong is examined as
gender
—Malka Geffen ©
Profile Theatre Presents -
Landscape of the Body
By John Guare
March 8 - April 6, 2008
APRIL 17 • SCHNITZER HALL
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503.242.0080 Buy your tickets online now! www.profiletheatre.org
Theater! Theatre! ■ 3430 SE Belmont Street
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Tickets available online at ticketmaster com and livenation com. at all Ticketmaster outlets.
or charge by phone (503) 224-4400
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