WOMONSPACE NEWS our voice in the lesbian community Inside EOWA) EW Secs chase an Hit cau een hee 2 oplinters From The Board ................. 3 Woman to Woman Books................... 5 Sca vgcsaTnes A Vi UNIt y,9 4e2 cities ceased 6 Queer Sites Conference................cc00e "4 fever ts,G o LIAD DONING s seer. rtstenc: 8 The Righteous Mothers......7..2.00.04.. 9 PLUGV sB its tolsrccheln sears ce eet eae 10 Mo jucdeement Please. -eisecsats 172 EXPOUND NEAWVV OT Gitte tec cnntare 13 CHARS Gea Eee Rn aren aha Ren aan 14 July/August, 1993 ee Edit orial “the lesbian communes perceptions of failure -around the struggle for protection against ~ discrimination (one step forward, two steps back), and the splitting of lesbian communities over fei c ece ee 1 _ censorship and who “fits” under that nonsensical oe t;a sfk ea l oto ffu n, | noe all term “sexual orientation”. |c annothelp wondering | | whose ‘agenda’ weare fulfiwitlh tlhisi vinolegnc e, collective anxiety, and internal arguments. On mb viata1e latest. The eee group 7 “my good days | try to see it as a healthy growth rho i the EDEOCESS.. ___ Listening to various groups of women react _ the recent election has been very interesting. | keep hearing things like, “it’s so depressing, se | interested please al 425-0511 and leave a : we have nothing to look forward to” and “we had so much hope for xxx”. It appears that we may ge. happy to tell you about being | || have gotten caught up in looking to others (people outside our communities, funding agencies, |p olititcod iot ahinngss fo)ru s. Liberation, equality ieT e ee issue on ae |o rsocial justice, whatever you want to Call it, isn’t Cae seems to have evolved into a |g oing to happen if the people affected do not go ~ aleconofisanapieces ih no theamt aell . out and work for it themselves. Rather than be Then again,i t may be that what we read is our _ depressedo rm ourn about what might have been, connectioton e ach othera lot of the time, so, a _ we need to get angry and use that anger to re- newsletter that is about the books we read, just _g roup and start again. Ifw e really believe that we, | may:b e about Community. Since the lastissue, Maureen and Ih ave driven| | as lesbians, in all of our diversity, are hated and | discriminated against in this Province; ifw e really ~ to Toronto and back (via USA), flown to Ottawa, believe that this is wrong, as wrong as and experiePrnidce eWedek . That’salotofliving| discrimination against women and other in two months!! As we moved back and forth— | minorities, than let’s take the risks and speak out across the country we collected lesbian books, “repeatedly at work, in social settings and in the newspapers, and magazines from 4 States, 2 - media. If 400 of us can march down Whyte Provinces and several cities. If |r ead nothing but Avenue, all of us can work together to stop the this “alternative press”, I'd think lesbians are an _ nonsense and change the political will in our active, proud, out and accepted part of our society. favor. Now, that is something to look forward to! We are everywhere, we do everything, and we havea lot of fun doing what we do. The underside Have a happy, loving summer! of all this are the reports, in the lesbian and Sheryl mainstream BES on the rise in violence within WOMONSPACE NEWS is a Geter ooff WOMONSPACE, an Spent ie iti in the Edmonton area. The opinions expressed in any issue of WOMONSPACE NEWS do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Directors or the Editorial Collective. Articles or letters to the Editor may be sent to Newsletter/Womonspace, Basement, 9930 -1 06 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 1C7. All material submitted becomes the property of Womonspace, and the Editorial Committee reserves the right to edit for length and content. Graphics courtesy Women's Newsletters and local artists. PAGE o WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST 1993 Loretta Love is on Holiday — She has also run out of "Letters" — Write her soon so she can come back in September. SPLINTERS FROM THE BOARD by Sandra N. SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER BIGGEST LITTLE BLACK BOOK IN There will be no dances in July and August... and... The THE CITY AWARD Board meetings will not be happening this summer. Tina, the volunteer co-ordinator, has the phone numbers Board mectings will resume on September 1 2th at 7:30. of more luscious lesbians than any other woman in the Not only do our hard-working dance volunteers and city. However, along with the list goes the rather co-ordinators need a break, but also our tireless Board thankless job of trying to organize workers for the members are looking forward to the summer off to dances. This is not always an easy job and Tina has recharge themselves for the next year. been superb at it. Dank je wel, Tina! A VERY BIG THANK YOU LIST THE MOST ESSENTIAL COG September ’92 - June ’93, was a very successful season IN THE WHEEL AWARD of dances for Womonspace and the board would like to Athank you is not really enough credit to bestow on the thank the following people for their invaluable support. fantastic dance co-ordinators of Womonspace. Every There is no rhyme or reason for the order of the thank one in the community should know what a great job you’s and if any deserving person was left out, let me these women do. If you have had a good time at one of know and I'll buy the deserving person a beer at the our dances it is because these women made every September Dance. dance a smooth, efficiently run, special event. Sometimes things happen, the cooler breaks down, the WITHOUT YOU pop dispenser won't work, or someone doesn’t show I’M NOTHING AWARD up for their shift. Our dance co-ordinators handle it all. Here’s to you ladies, thank you Debbie, Faye, Narda, This special thank you goes to all the people who and Glory. You are very special people. worked the dances as door people, bar staff, drink ticket sellers, set-up and clean-up. So often it was the same SOME GAVE ALL AWARD people over and over (like Sandy the bartender). Every Back in September, Womonspace was in desperate dyke at the dances owes these people a big thank you. need of volunteers to help with the dances. We put out the word about our need for help and some of the KITCHEN KUTIE AWARD women who responded are now invaluable helpers. A big thanks to Barb and her efforts to keep all the Thank you to Jan & Doris for picking up the liquor for dance-goers well fed and happy, which is no easy task. nearly every dance. Our hall was decorated, thanks to Barb has been very dependable as the volunteer caterer Shelley, Joe, Joan, Anne, and to Gail for helping us for our dances and Womonspace owes her a great deal remember how a tew extra touch’s and a little effort can of appreciation. make a difference. | suppose I’ve forpotten a few people and misspelled a FUNKY DIVA’S AWARD few names and for that | apologize. Thanks to all the Our dynamic, driving, DJ. duo, Ann and Petra, made people who volunteered, whether for one shift at the all of ourdances musical successes. Thank you both for door, or as a dance co-ordinator. You made the dance your expertise and professionalism. season, of Sept. ’92 to June ‘93 happen. Thank you all. JULY/AUGUST 1993 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 Summer ‘Reading GOOD NEWS? NEW BRUNSWICK EXTENDS by Lindy Pratch Here are a few suggestions if you're in the mood to GAY/LESBIAN SPOUSAL RIGHTS read about women who love women. I've just finished Dorothy Allison’s gut-wrenching Bastard Out of The new Brunswick government has expanded the Carolinaa,nd it was great. The young girl abused by her definition of “common-law spouse” to include same- stepfather in this story has a warm, lesbian aunt helping sex couples. This gives gays and lesbians who work for her out. Helen Eisenbach, another lesbian author, explores human sexuality in Loonglow. It’s told from the province access to health and dental plans, life the viewpoint ofa straight man who falls in love with a insurance, and pension benefits for their spouses. woman who is not interested in men. Jana Williams MLA Brent Taylor from the Confederation of Regions writes about boot camp in Scuttlebutt. Although fictional, party (CoR) called this a “further invasion of what is the experiences will likely ring true for many women appropriately considered a family unit. The government who have been in the military. is officially sanctioning what is considered by many to Novels about lesbians are often watered down be an unacceptable practice.” The changes conform to when they’re made into movies. Why not read, or amendmentst o the provincial Human Rights Act passed reread, the originals this summer? Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at by the legislature in May, 1992 barring discrimination the Whistle Stop Cafe, and Jane Rule’s Desert of the on the basis of sexual orientation. CoR opposed those Heart are all excellent. The film version of Tom changes, saying they went against the moral code of the Robbins’ Even Cowgirls Get the Blues will be released majority of New Brunswickers. The Liberal Party, in October. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit was well which controls the legislature, has been making these done on screen, but the book is even better. Get your changes. hands on anything else by Jeanneatte Winterson while Provincial NDP leader Elizabeth Weir, who has you're at it. campaigned strongly against sexual discrimination, If you’re a mystery buff, Everything You Have is Mine, by Sandra Scoppettone, will be a treat. The said she can’t understand what the fuss is about. She detective in this book is a mystery fan herself, and stated that the protection of families in any form is a mentions her favorite female fictional sleuths throughout, laudable goal. MLAs should have more important like V.I. Warshawski and Kinsey Millhone. Fantasy matters to debate in the legislature. “My advice to the readers will enjoy Jane Yolen’s Sister Light, Sister Dark. official opposition is to haul themselves out of the mud The sequel, White Jenna, is not as good. Do and leave the dinosaur days behind.” psychological thrillers appeal to you? You might like Mercy by David Lindsey. The dykes here are into S/M scenes and the serial murders are quite grisly, so be ...But forewarned. If nothing else, it’s a book to spark discussion. Another author I'll mention with some And isn’t there always a “But”. Same-sex Spousal trepidation is Armistead Maupin. His Tales of the City Benefit Plans may get shot down at the Revenue Canada series are fast-paced and very funny. They’re set in San level because these “plans” are not in accord with the Francisco, a sort of wacky soap opera with both bent Canada Income Tax Act. Those “Dinosaurs” are also and straight characters. He is lamentably unsympathetic having some problems with “spouse” and “family”. | to his female players, but i think you should still give his guess we will be doing this Act-by-Act| wherever stuff a try. heterosexuality has been assumed. Nights in the Underground: An Exploration of Love, by Marie-Claire Balis, is the first lesbian novel | found at the library, shortly after | moved to Edmonton in 1979. The setting, awomen’s bar in Quebec, has stayed with me to this day. Last of all, a book for cat lovers The Fur Person, by May Sarton, is a gentle story of ac at's life with two women. So there you have plenty to choose from! Check out some good lesbian fiction at the Edmonton Public Library this summer. PAGE 4 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER 3 JULY/AUGUST 1993 Family Values Woman To Womon Two Moms and Their Son by Phyllis Burke (Random House, $21) Feminist and Lesbian B 0 oks mail-order book business Family Values is a pleasantly understated way of serving Western Canada. titling Phyllis Burke’s strugglet o be legally recognized #106, 12404 - 114 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5M 3M5 as the second mother of Jesse, the biological son of Telephone: (403) 454-8031 her lover, Cheryl. This struggle is only the springboard ¢ All titles in our catalogue are here in stock ¢ for her struggle to come to terms with her own part e Mail Order for Lesbians & Feminists ¢ in the rich history of the gay and lesbian movement e Special Order for Hard to Find Titles « as it struggles to find its place after Stonewall, the Write or call to be on our mailing list. sexual revolution, Harvey Milk, and the first decade All Naiad titles available with our special order form: of AIDS ignorance. OF NOTE... As it chronicles Jesse’s birth and the early years, ¢ Murder by Tradition (in paper) the book also chronicles the early years of Queer K. Forrest ealB es Nation and the birth of the author as an “accidental ¢ 10th Anniversary Edition of Curious Wine radical,” as she calls herself. K. Forrest 12-95 Burke’s story is ultimately as political as it is e Silent Heart - New from Claire McNabb — 12.95 personal. That, she might tell readers, is precisely e Claire of the Moon - The Book PERS the point. It’s entertaining, enriching, exciting, and e Happy Endings: Naiad Authors Talk About perhaps most important of all, enlightening. Their Lives and Work 05 e The Erotic Naiad - Short Stories By Your Favorite Naiad Authors 13.95 N ERA/MME OF MIND iE RA/VE OF MIND All above can be ordered (prepaid + 10% post) by mail. FRAME OF MIND The Oyke pails by D.M.S. Cee >.e o, Pros) Custom Art Framing 465-0534 6150 - 90 Ave., Ottewell Shopping Centre, Edmonton, Alta. T6B OP2 Lesbian, Lesbian, Lesbian If you haven’t noticed it yet - run to the library and look for the June 13 issue of Newsweek. The cover story is “Lesbians”. It’s hard to decide which is best, the article or the picture on the Cover! If you are into Lesbian Theory, the Summer 1993 issue of “Signs: A Journal of Women and Culture” (Vol. 18:4) is about us. Also... Latest issue of “Fuse” on Queer Theory and Winter and Spring ‘93 issues of “Fireweed” on T Ey yeee na ; Sex and Sexuality. JULY/AUGUST 1993 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 GAY GAMES IV PUNY N.Y. es pNs.sY . ° = Vv =_ Vv —k> + '9S4kzn'Ss4 CA Wafal ca f= Pat i, '94. nA T=] UNITY 94 UNIT* It’s time to get active! “Team Edmonton Gay If you or your group would like to be involved and Lesbian Sports Association” is a new group with Team Edmonton Gay and Lesbian Sports established to support Gay and Lesbian sporting, Association or be a part of Gay Games IV, please cultural and leisure activities in Edmonton. call us or come to our general meetings the last Membership is growing quickly and we’re Sunday of every month. very excited about becoming one more outlet to 7:00 p.m., GLCCE, #104, 11745 Jasper Avenue raise awareness oft he strength in our Community. more info: Gil 477-3304 Our mission isto enhance Edmonton’s Lesbian and Gay Community by facilitating participation GAY GAMES in sporting, cultural, and leisure activities at the local, national and international levels. At present, Sports Final List Team Edmonton Gay and Lesbian Sports Association is putting alot of energy into organizing Aerobics fundraisers and events for the upcoming year inan Ice Hockey effortt or aise moneyt o send ateam from Edmonton Sport Climbing and any supporters or cultural participants to the Badminton — In Line Skating Squash Gay Games. Basketball Judo Swimming Gay Games IV will take place from June 17 to Billiards Marathon Bowling June 25,1994, andwill Martial Arts Table Tennis — Tennis be a fantastic oppor- tunity to get involved Cycling Physique Diving in the largest amateur Track & Field Power Lifting — Triathlon athletic and cultural Figure Skating event on earth next year. Gay Games IV is Raquetball centered on the principal of inclusion. Everyone Volleyball is welcoming - people of all ages, colors and Flag Football sexual orientation. Athletes and artists with all Soccer degrees of skills are encouraged to take part, as Water Polo winning atthe Games means doing one's personal Golf best. Wrestling In ordert om ake this happen for Edmonton, we need your help. Team Edmonton Gay and Lesbian Softball Sports Association is looking for athletes, artists (slow pitch & and spectators... anybody interested in supporting women’s fast pitch) the Games in any way. PAGE6 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST 1993 C/O Queer Sizes Conference C/O ... Sheryl Mcinnes Since | attended the QUEER SITES CONFERENCE in “those feminists” did this to me... lesbian is not yet in her Toronto (and more on that in the next issue), |h ave been vocabulary. The point, that she misses, is that once free struggling with the concepts and “identities” that seem of the patriarchal rules about what a woman must look to be pushing their way under “sexual orientation”. At like, we are free to dress according to our bodies and least two of these are bi-sexual and transgender. I'd like our inner perceptions of ourselves. to think out-loud here, and welcome input from anyone Now what about the transexual “woman”; that is, who would care to help clarify my thinking. the male who feels he is a woman and uses hormonal If we go back to the 1970's and the literature from therapy or surgery to change his body. If “she” has a lesbian/radical feminists, we get a general definition of primary commitment to exclusive relationships with lesbian as: a woman whose primary emotional, women, is “she” a lesbian? What about the transexual intellectual, physical/sexual desire is directed toward, “man”,a woman who uses hormones and breast surgery or aligned with, another woman or women. For the in order to pass as a man. If “he” has exclusive sake of argument, let’s suppose that this is an accurate, relationships with women, is “he” a lesbian? if somewhat limited, definition of what a lesbian is. Even without taking into account the differences in Now let’s broaden that definition out to the ways in our lesbian experience with race and ethnic identity, which a woman might act out a personal identity we are faced with a great deal of diversity within one around that desire. What does a lesbian look like, act definition. However, the one difference that | cannot like? This raises the issue of gender representation that get my mind to accept is serial or concurrent sexual can be pure performance (costume) or a deeply felt activity with men... “lesbians who fuck boys” sounds need to present oneself in a particular way. We can like bi-sexual to me. Why the need to use the term begin with “high femme” or the “lipstick lesbian”, who lesbian at all? prefers to dress and present herself in a way that our | have heard it said, “| may sleep with men society perceives to be ‘feminine’ and sex-appropriate. occasionally, but my primary emotional tie isto women, Then we have the “butch” who may costume in male (?) so | am lesbian”. Is a heterosexual woman who is attire to confirm herself as not-fei::s:ine, or whose very woman-identified in all but sexual activity, (if also only being is only comfortable appearing in a way that our occasional) a lesbian too? | am not doubting bi- society sees as ‘masculine’. This woman is often sexuality. There is no doubt that there are real personal labeled gender in-appropriate, passing, transgender agonies and life problems for bi-sexual women. But etc. If either the very "feminine" or very "masculine" they cannotexpect lesbians to ‘fix it’ or provide services woman has relationships exclusively with women, they for them, any more than we should be expected to are lesbian by our definition, even if they choose NOT provide services for gay men. The politics are different. to use that label. And, | am not suggesting that they I’m not even sure that bi-sexual IS a sexual orientation; should use it. I’m only using it here as a short form for it may be more a lack of any sexual orientation. a very long definition. The word Queer, seems to encompass all so called And then, there are those of us who do not have sex-outlaws; transexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, gender deep feelings about how we present ourselves, or the transgressors, gays and lesbians etc. This not only energy to worry about costuming, but rather base our diffuses the very identity | have fought for, beginning appearance and behavior on what is comfortable. with that bra-war, it also makes lesbianism simply a When | was about 11 years old | entered into open matter of “who | sleep with or desire to sleep with”. | warfare with my mother over “the bra”. | did not then, am thus reduced to my sexual practises. Haven’t nor do | now, see any sense to the thing. As | got older lesbians been fighting against that for 20 years? Is it | was perceptive enough to see that my body looked mere coincidence that “queer” appears on the scene ridiculous in anything defined at the waist, or that just when lesbians are really beginning to speak with stopped at the knee or mid-calf. To this day, 39 years their own voice, find their own history, and accept later, my mother still asks if I’m wearing a bra and what themselves as neither sinful, sick nor criminal? Queer? dress | will wear to any event. She’s convinced that Call me lesbian, or better yet, dyke! JULY/AUGUST 1993 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER PAGE7 PURPLE WOLF RECORDS JESSICA SCHOENBERG | LORELEI LanOd VERIDGE| ; °__ | In Concert With Rob Falconer & Randy Reichert Ms Boi Enjoy a very special evening of Fresh, | _,. A provocative and soulful music with a vA wine and cheese reception to follow . ne %s arttt 3! All proceeds will go directly to y The Edmonton Sexual Assault Centre amo ace rane FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1993 — 7:30 p.m. Ue a, ewosrF FE 5 Centennial Library Theatre mete 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square ~ Yodl Mien en $10 Advance (Recommended) a be ee eee Ne eee cs Whos / Y; WOR BOT “ect ha, $12 Door (If Available) loys Best 4! bs Tickets Available: Drawi i Southside Sound, Whyte Avenue Ng the line The Gramophone, Downtown lesbian sexual politics on the wall or call 420-0113 June 3 - July 16, 1993 A 10137 - 104 Street Mark Your Calendar! : Latitude Edmonton, Alberta Heather Bishop in Concert § 53 RUT hd October 24, 1993 Gallery eres PAGES WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST 1993 Womonspace, Sister Acts & the Edmonton Women's Music Collective join energies to sponsor a concert and dance for women featuring The Righteous Motheu A sassy and irrevent vocal group from the Seattle area. Specialists in intricate vocal harmony, these four women grab hearts and funny bones with songs about ice cream, domestic violence, childbirth, big thighs, fighting back and mothering. The Righteous Mothers have been performing together since 1981. They have 3 albums to their credit, including a recent release entitled ... All The Rage ... and None of the Calories. SATURDAY, JULY 31 Concert at 9 pm, Dancing until 1 am Riverdale Community Hall, 9231 - 100 Avenue Tickets available in advance, at upcoming Womonspace and Edmonton Women's Music Collective events. Tickets will also be available at the door. Regular tickets $12.00. A limited number of low income tickets at $6.00 will be sold. JULY/AUGUST 1993 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER PAGE9 JUICY BITS A light hearted look at lesbian novels and their love scenes by Beryl Pears — Distributed for reprint by Naiad Press “| was suddenly frantic for her, grazing my lips over expectations of them. We care. We are fussier about the length of her, tracing my fingertips lightly down her who they sleep with and why, and even about what legs to raise goosebumps, tangling my hands in her hair they do when they get there. and licking circles around her ears and nipples...” So when we reach the first love scene in a lesbian Ah, at last, Joyce and Zena Beth hit the sack. It’s novel (usually about chapter five or six) we are getting chapter Five and author Diane Salvatore, like so many keen - and a little bit anxious. Will it be good, not just lesbian authors before her, has reached the moment we for them but also for us? readers have been waiting for. Quit the teasing, cut the In my reading of lesbian novels and short stories, | foreplay, just DO IT! have encountered many attempts at The Love Scene, Buthow? Should every detail be spelt out, or should from abysmal to arousing. In general, they fall into four the reader use her imagination? Will the author rely on categories whicfohr ,fun , I’ve classified as you mightd o familiar terms or try to find new ways of describing for a sub species of plants: Erotica dottica, Erotica things? Willwe cringe or will we flush with excitement? botanica, Erotica naiad pressica, and Erotica explicita. Will we still respect the characters in the morning? Let me explain... Writing love scenes in a lesbian novel is as difficult as choosintgh e music for a lesbian dance. It’s a miracle Erotica Dottica if you please everyone, and no one ever appreciates the This species originates from the days when sex was problems you face. not actually described at all, and the advent of anything Take, for example, the Personal Pronoun Problem, other than passionate friendship or a romantic kiss was as in “Her hands moved slowly up her back while her hinted at by the means of a coy “...” at the end of the fingers explored deep inside her throbbing centre of sentence, or a *** in the middle of a page. In that blank desire...” That’s what | call the Four Handed space, the imaginations of lesbians could go Lesbian in Yoga Position syndrome. Bewild- _ wild if they pleased. Today, this type of love ered, we stop to ask - whose hands? scene (or lack of it) is regarded as acop out, where? How did... But that’s not phys- or a denial of our sexuality, or self cen- ically possible! And the magic of the sorship. Instead, the lead up to the dot- moment is lost. Using the women's dot-dot has become longer, allowing names is one well-tried solution, but | the women to get somewhere (usu- that can become very irritating too: ally below the belt but not right in) “Narida’s hands moved slowly up before they have to close the curtains Angela’s back as Angela’s fingers on their lovemaking. This is the “less explored deep inside Narida’s is more” theory of lesbian love scenes. throbbing... etc. etc.” Somehow it Of course, some authors can’t do sounds like they’re following an in- Frotica dotticavery well at all. “Frances struction manual rather than making leaned over and kisses Caroline on the passionate love. mouth,” for example, is not the sort of Writers of lesbian novels (rather than sentence that should lead to a dot-dot-dot. short stories) face another major problem. This is selling the reader short. At the very least, We readers become fond of their characters, sometimes Frances should continue kissing Caroline’s longing following them from novel to novel with great affection nipples, trembling stomach and be decisively making we normally reserve for old friends. Stoner McTavish, her way further down to the aching warm wetness Kate Delafield, Carol Ashton... We know how they before any dots intrude. ; have their coffee, how they handle stress, what hurts continued page 11 them - and how they make love. We have certain PAGE 10 WOMONSPACE NEWSLETTER JULY/AUGUST 1993