Yes, I have an agenda. It’s in my backpack right now, filled with scribbled stuff I can barely [and seldom do] read and rainbows of Post-it notes that peek from the edges. Write this paper, fill in these blanks, read pages 20-2895…a lot of post-its.
Really, though. There are a lot of reasons queer writer’s write, and I don’t pretend to know them all. At the moment, I’m studying a couple modes, pulp fiction and the sovereign erotic, that really seem to amount to the same thing.
I’m writing an essay about pulp fiction (specifically, Rihanna’s “Te Amo” music video), which got me thinking. Some academics who study lesbian pulp aren’t a big fan, and it’s fair to see why. Substantial amounts of pulp fiction were written by men, for men. The stories didn’t revolve around emotion and usually one or both characters went crazy/died (and the other ended up with the male hero). Speaking for myself, that’s not what I prefer to see in my lesbian literature. When I scoured the shelves as a kid, though, I didn’t care what it was. I just wanted to see a lesbian so that I could imagine myself on that plane. If they can kiss girls in this book, I can kiss girls in real life. A decent number of women wrote lesbian pulp fiction during its golden age (1950-65 ish), toeing the line between the hetero male and lesbian audiences. Writing for representation is one of my driving forces.
The other interesting notion is the Sovereign Erotic. Qwo-Li Driskill, Native American Two-Spirit, stands with other notable poets like Audre Lorde who believe erotic writing isn’t just overrated textual porn. His Sovereign Erotic is the idea that writing out the erotic feelings of an oppressed people helps them heal from physical and emotional abuse (of ancestors and of the self) by owning it. I like this idea, that writing about something the way you see it can reclaim it for you and yours. I also think it can be applied not just to different races, but to queerness itself.
I write for a lot of different reasons. Representation is one of them. At the same time, I started writing when I was younger so that I could do things, go places that I normally couldn’t–kinda the same reasons I read. But I couldn’t find a story for everything I wanted to be and do. I couldn’t find a fantasy story that had swashbuckling, lady-loving lady warriors, so I wrote them myself. Recently, though, I’ve decided there’s more to it. I don’t plan on making an “It Gets Better” video right now, but I will write stories. Not necessarily stories that “get better,” either, but realistic, everyday stories that people can see and identify with. I’m working on a collection of short fiction surrounding [young] queer adults and the stuff they go through in life. Everyone has different problems, and I want the collection to reflect that. Not everyone can identify with everything, so I think the scope of what is available should be broadened. So, right now, this is why I stay up late staring at glaring computer screens.
Seems to me that the queer writer’s agenda is to scratch, “We’re here!” on every blank surface left–and some that aren’t so blank.
Not so innocent after all.
[Sources: Qwo-Li Driskill – “Stolen From Our Bodies”
Yvonne Keller – “‘Was it Right to Love her Brother’s Wife So Passionately?’: Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965”]
Changing Shapes 