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Pomosexuals: Challenging Assumptions About Gender and Identity. Edited by Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel. Cleis Press, San Francisco, 1997, 199 pp., $14.95 (paperback).
This edited book consists of first person accounts of what life is like for people who self identify as "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and friends (LGBT & F)." Christina's opening essay sets the tone and theme of this book in a remarkable essay about the significance of the terms used to define identity. She explains why a woman who has sex with men and women may choose to identify herself as lesbian because of a subcultural belief that bisexual women mean "a bad person to be scorned and feared." She suggests that debates about nomenclature, far from being mere academic discourses, may, in fact, be a way of facilitating discussion about issues that are difficult to address directly. For example, the question in some circles about whether "bisexuality" exists raises questions like: "Which is more important, who you have sex with or who you don't have sex with? Is sex more important than romance? Is sexual activity more important than sexual attraction? (Or the more universal version of that question: Is identity defined by feeling or behavior?) Is fantasy the same as desire? Is desire the same as intention? Is gender born, learned or both?" Unfortunately, as Christina points out, nomenclature debates can also disguise these questions, particularly since the way people see a situation can influence how terms are defined, and vice-versa.
Weir describes his attempts to have sex with a woman while still identifying himself as gay. What are his motivations? Weir answers in the final paragraph of his essay: "It's not women I want. I don't even really want men. What I want is that unquestioned ease in the world, like Nick (his straight male friend) flirting with the waitress without caring about his awkwardness or realizing his grace. I want a woman so I can see myself, even briefly, even just in Nick's eyes, as a man."
Raymond is the daughter of a "feminist lesbian" who describes the sociocultural and political pressures she experiences as an involuntarily celibate woman with sexual desires for both men and women. "I want to be a sexual being without...