I've been going back through some of what I've written before now as we prepare to go to Floating World.
I'll start with a diary entry from July '06, I was faced with trying to write a short summary profile of myself for the final Ohio Leather Fest. This is not the profile, but the thought process that went into the writing;
Ever tried to summarize portions of your life in a few sentences?
No part of my life lends itself to summaries like that- yet that's exactly what I'm trying to get out digitally at the moment; a bio of sorts. So as usual, I'm stuck.
Worse, I'm not just trying to describe what I am, I'm also trying to set up some very basic gates of what I'm not, so as to avoid certain easily made incorrect assumptions about me. People tend to make all kinds of assumptions not merely based on their projections and what vibe the pick up on, but yes, in person I do actual intentionally wear certain symbiology under the right conditions- however, those signals may not equally apply to say for instance, all genders equally, etc. (That's a really opaque way of saying what I'm trying to express. Let's try that again... .)
Ok, so some examples- I wear a collar- that does not mean I'm monogamous. Sometimes I wear a black bandanna and my keys on the left (signaling being a 'Top' or 'Domme', for complete lack of language). Firstly, what people need to understand is that does not mean I will top YOU- just any ole you in just any ole situation. Further, it does not mean I will "Top/Domme" men- in actuality I almost exclusively "Top/Domme" womyn. Not confused yet? Fine. Just keep in mind, the next night I may well show up wearing my keys on the right, stilettos locked around my ankles, in full "bottom"/"property" mode.
Now ready for bonus round confusion? I've been known to wear a locked collar around my neck, keys on the left, with bandanna, and heavy flogger on my belt. What's it mean? Well I belong to my Sir, and it is by his permission that I have the freedom I want to express these ("Top"/"Domme") parts of myself. I never forget I am His, but I'm also free to be myself.
So how in the hell do I summarize any of the realities of my life, distilled down into something that makes any sense to others?
I've been accused (lovingly!) of having San Francisco "pansexual" sensibilities about these things. I find this hysterical as at times, as in some spaces SF is even more tightly wound up about role, and 'proper ways of doing things' than most people imagine. There are times SF tends to make me wanna run the opposite direction rapidly. But I can see how all these things that get tangled up into nice neat little parameters and boundaries on this coast, in some spaces and times just don't always shake out that way on the sunset coast. "Bi" and "S/switch" and "pansexual" communities SOMETIMES eeeeek out a bit more space in the community there than in other cities- if only because SF is where so many have run to.
At its most basic, labels, containers, properly defined 'identities' just break when held up to how I live my life.
But then, I'm still looking for spaces with Queer sensibility that could somehow deal with Sir and I (an opposite gendered couple) as something other than a 'heterosexual' couple. Neither of us identify that way- despite the fact that Sir only sleeps with womyn. Politically, and sexually- as Queer Nation always defined "Queer" both Sir and I are best filed there-under.
So here I am again, staring at a blank sheet of paper and trying for the life of me to define basic linguistic assumptions I use in describing my life- like Queer, that no one else really has anymore- if they ever did.
Even a simple websearch on "Queer Nation" will come up with some hits, but very little by way of how QN used that word. And that's a fucking travesty- as that was perhaps one of the largest and most important legacies of QN.
There's this void that surely SOMEONE should have that up by now, but no. So how do I write even a simple profile using words that the meanings of as I use them are not only not in common usage, but are not anywhere digital I can point people at? As always, it seems, in order to even do the most basic job of trying to communicate I need instead to put the 'building blocks' of how I use language up first- and that's not going to happen right now.
Then there are places where there just is no language. What's the word for a womyn who almost exclusively dominates other womyn? A womyn who almost exclusively serves not men, but one particular Sir? There is no language for the fact that my life-partner is an exception to my usual desires and practices. What are words beyond "Top", "Dominant", "Domme" etc? We need new and descriptive language more badly than I can possibly express.
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