Well, the responses are coming in to my blog about the BBC program titled 'Angry Wimmin'. And yes, the mercury is still way up there in the danger zone. See what I mean about the emotional hot coals of the 70's London feminist movement? It's no wonder many of us came away with burned insoles.
I'm not upset at all that I wasn't asked to participate in the program on screen. I'm relieved actually. Let me tell the truth - I became pretty 'famous' in England early in my life. I wrote a play at the age of 21, 'Any Woman Can' about coming out as a lesbian, which has been described as the 'beginning' of lesbian theatre in Britain in a book about women's theatre. I remember seeing Joan Armatrading in the audience once and going into a sweat. The very first performance of 'Any Woman Can' was in Leicester of all places and Miriam Margolyes, one of Britains' greatest character actresses performed in the lead role. In 1976 I was the first woman to join Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company (along with Kate Crutchley and Mary Moore who directed and designed Any Woman Can), and became a reluctant ambassador for 'out' lesbians as one of the original touring members of that company.
My postcards of feminist graffiti have been described as 'icons' of the feminist movement, my books 'Spray It Loud' and 'Louder Than Words' took me on book tours around the world, and my friend Tom Robinson wrote a song about me: 'Right On Sister', which is on an early TRB record. There were TV and radio interviews, newspaper articles, and exhibitions. Want a good quote about lesbian life? I was one of the first to be called. Life seemed good.
Everyone wanted to sign me up. I worked for The Daily Mirror Features Dept - the now infamous Anne Robinson was one of my editors, I had double page spreads in The Guardian and people kept telling me: 'We can't wait to see what you produce next'. Except of course the very people on whom I was so dependent for emotional and sexual intimacy and support. Women who lived in the same women's squat as me accused me of ripping off the women's movement by 'publishing' the graffiti images, women accused me of being too middle class because I had written about taking a plane to visit my family. At 'working class' women's events, women I lived next to held out a tin can requesting donations so they could have a vacation in Greece like us middle class jerks.
Women I got involved with berated me for wanting sex that involved penetration, women I lived with attacked the music I played at the disco as too 'male identified', and while I longed for acceptance among other Jewish lesbians I was informed that my curiosity about SM precluded my being a good Jew.
So, let's not beat around this bush - am I angry? Not really, I'm just not willing to stay silent about the abuses heaped on those of us who questioned the dogma, the proscriptive feminism that was stifling, destructive and which threatened to suck the life out of me. Not long after a crazy public meeting during which those of us who were 'sex positive' sat on one side of the aisle while those 'correct' others hissed at us from across the room, I bought a ticket to San Francsico (how middle class), met Susie Bright - and many others - and began to breathe again. In 1996 I ventured back into the public arena with a book I'm immensely proud of: 'Nothing But The Girl, which is a celebration of lesbian sexuality in photography, co-edited with Susie B. And even though some hated the book, and one person even went through it, counting how many dildoes were depicted, my sense of personal liberation won out. As I walked my beautiful dogs on Bernal Hill, I could take in the breathtaking view of San Francisco, and fantasize about my unique and independent sexuality and not worry whether a member of the sex police would jump out of a closet brandishing a copy of The Womens Liberation Newsletter in which I might be evoked as a fascist or worse....a butch top.
I don't need to lighten up. The lights went on a long time ago, I just needed to be reminded of how lucky I truly am!
Right on Sister!
Posted by: Alan | February 23, 2006 at 12:23 AM