Womyn, Queer?

I am a Womyn, white, a feminist, bisexual, English, Queer, American, middle-class…I could go on for an eternity. The facets of my identity sometimes seem endless, but the two which are closest to my heart in my current life stage are these: I am Queer and a Womyn. These are two categories of my culture which form vital parts of my identity; they inform and express my experiences and perspectives as a lifelong feminist, I participate in them actively as well as passively and they compliment each other to form a balanced side of my cultural identity.

First, a clarification: I use the 1970’s Feminist academic spelling of the word Womyn throughout this piece, as it is the academic exemplification of both the sexuality and politics of my gender identity. The new spelling of the word Woman originated in the Feminist Movement of the 70’s, and was intended to ‘take the man out of woman’, in protest of the historically consistent subjugation and exploitation of womyn by men. I identify strongly with this political stance, as well as with the other connotations that using the new spelling evokes; for example, it signifies the fact that womyn are more than just the proverbial ‘better half’ of a heterosexual partnership (as implied in the word woman) and bespeaks the fact that they are mothers, sisters, lovers, parents, whores, daughters, mentors, lovers, and much, much more.

The other aspect of my cultural identity that I have chosen to expound on is that fact that I am Queer. One last clarification: I use the term Queer as the academically reclaimed umbrella term for anyone who has, does or will ever sexually identify as something other than an absolute 1 on the Kinsey scale. For the past five years, I have identified as Bisexual, though now I identify as Queer, for three reasons: one, it lends support to the overall visibility of the Queer movement; two, I identify more as Fluid (i.e. having a constantly malleable sexuality) than as ‘rigidly’ Bisexual; and three, Queer is a more inclusive term for my political identity and my sexual identity.

Identifying as a Womyn is very much an expression of my familial and academic experiences. My immediate family is very liberal, and all consider themselves feminists, so I grew up with feminist attitudes and views as ‘the norm’. When I became old enough to have access to the larger world, and I learned that the prevailing culture in this and most other countries is decidedly not the feminist one in which I was brought up, I had the amazing fortune to have a series of teachers who were dedicated to feminist ideas (equal rights for equal genders, the right to self-determination, abortion rights etc.) and the non-traditional views of History.

Identifying as Queer is not only a reflection of how I have experienced my sexuality thus far, but it is a perfect description of my political perspective on Sexuality in general. I believe that the binary system we have of two genders/sexes is artificial and tries to ‘fit’ humanity into neat little boxes which do not really exist; and the fact that there is hatred and violence directed at those who chose to ignore this confining system is heinous and needs to be rectified. I chose to identify (in academic circles) as a Bisexual Queer, because even within the Queer movement, divisiveness and discrimination against minorities is still present (one of the faults of Identity political movements), and I increase Bisexual visibility by choosing to add that name to my identity; thus, my sexuality becomes a statement of my political perspective.

I gained membership to Womanhood by being born with female genitalia and was accordingly raised as an ‘American’ girl, so my participation in that facet of my identity was, at first, largely passive. I now make active, conscious choice to participate in (the ‘Womyn’ definition of) my sexual category, while allowing my gender identity to remain more fluid than the prevalent binary system will allow. I gained membership to the Queer community through two main avenues: first, I was born as a being who is capable of romantic and/or sexual feelings for all other variations of my species, and second, when I discovered that I didn’t identify with any of the mainstream definitions of sexual preference, I searched for, found, and used the terms Bisexual and Queer, and thus became a member of the community. My participation in this community is both a conscious choice and an assignation; I choose to consciously participate in the Queer community, but it is also assigned, because I unconsciously conform to the identity which that community creates and calls ‘being a real Queer’, which does not always jibe with my individual identity.

Being a member of many different cultural categories can lead to conflict when they rub the wrong way; but, being a Womyn and being Queer are more symbiotic than mutually exclusive. The political movements of each Identity have roots in the same social movement of the late 60’s and 70’s: the Lesbian Feminist movement. Although I have not yet been exposed to the few situations where conflict may arise (i.e. issues of marriage and motherhood), in my experience, they overlap in many positive and constructive ways. For me, being a Womyn and Queer are complimentary in all the most important aspects; they agree on issues of self determination, abortion rights, equal work for equal pay, civil unions and many other areas.

In conclusion, though there are innumerable facets to my cultural identity, the two that are the most central to my current political, emotional and mental being are being a Womyn and being Queer. These categories are the result of my experiences, a manifestation of my perspectives, and very complimentary to each other. There is no need for different facets of one’s identity to war against one another, just as there is truly no need for different factions within a movement or nation or community to discriminate against, and exclude one another.

As Lani Ka’ahumanu says in her speech “It Ain’t Over ‘til the Bisexual Speaks”:

Society is based
        on the denial of diversity,
        on the denial of complexity.
This is not a competition.
        I will not play by the rules
        that pit me against any oppressed group.
Remember that we have every right
        to be in the world
        exactly as we are.
Celebrate that simply and fiercely.


By Kate Sassoon