Monday Reviews: Pomosexuals
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Every Monday, The CSPH takes a look at a book or film focusing on an aspect of sexuality. This week we are featuring the book Pomosexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality, edited by Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel.
Gay, straight, queer, transgender, genderqueer, pansexual, omnisexual; these are just a few of the many gender and sexuality labels that we acknowledge in our pursuit of identity, community, and relationships. Pomosexuals is an anthology of fifteen essays that examines a new identity: the “pomosexual.” A pomosexual person—“pomo-” indicating “postmodern”—is one who doesn’t follow the most common or expected gender or sexuality conventions.
All of the essays in this anthology challenge binary gender roles and exclusionary attitudes in sexuality communities. Whether it’s Carol Queen discussing her feelings of comfort and safety in her sexual relationships with gay men in “Beyond the Valley of the Fag Hags,” or David Harrison dealing with his misperceived desires as a transman in “The Personals,” desires and passions for the writers are described with independence and confidence, even when these contradict their personal labels.
One of the most powerful essays is Riki Anne Wilchins’ “Lines in the Sand, Cries of Desire,” which tells of the tenuous and difficult journey through her gender transition. As she begins her transition, her therapist doesn’t understand why she, as a transwoman, would be attracted to women, because most people assume transwomen desire male penetration. At the same time, as a lesbian, she is told that lesbians like herself don’t desire penetration—really, that they aren’t supposed to. Through gutsy language slick with emotion, we become completely enthralled by her tale, where through a sexual experience with a married couple, she finally feels a deep sense of confidence with herself, and experiences a high point in her path toward authenticity in her gender and sexual life.
Another interesting feature of this anthology is the way it acknowledges how challenges around identity and behavior can even come from inside queer communities. For example, in D. Travers Scott’s essay “Le Freak, C’est Chic! Le Fag, Quelle Drag!,” he shows how the same sex and gender “policing” that comes from mainstream groups toward queer groups can happen within queer groups as well. He describes a tendency within queer communities to “police” queer identity, calling it “a strain of fascism and conservatism.” This “view from the inside” is enlightening, as it opens up discussion about unique concerns within the LGBTQ movement, which allows for the potential to find solutions.
Kate Bornstein’s excellent foreword addresses the book to those who think they might challenge sex and gender conventions, and Pomosexuals is excellent for those who are seeking that understanding; those of us for whom traditional labels don’t always work. Whether exploring the “boxed-in” sexual roles implied in identity politics, acknowledging the way culture affects unique sexual identities, or combating cultural expectations of attraction and behavior, seeing the world through pomosexual eyes opens our minds to a more diverse and fluid sexual spectrum. In the end, Pomosexuals is all about people living their sexual and gendered lives with their own words and intentions, seeking complete authenticity.
