You better bring yrself

I've written an article on queer women who are/do poly and what monogamous types can learn from them, which can be found in the current (January) issue of DIVA Magazine. Its out now and features mega babe Ana Matronic on la cover. Word of the day: frubbliness!

I've been taking stock, as crits/writers/the world is wont to do at this time of year, and am feeling mighty proud of the pieces I've written for the magazine over the past 12 months. I'm particularly grateful to be working for/with an editor so consistently committed to covering talented queer women and exploring issues that matter to our communities, both within the mainstream and outside of it. My features for DIVA in Twenty Twelve have included interviews with THEEsatisfaction, Staceyanne Chin, Beth Ditto and Hannah Blilie of Gossip, Stooshe, Peaches, Grace Petrie, Skunk Anansie's Skin and Nona Hendryx, along with investigative/reportive pieces on lezsploitation and in/visibility in UK TV, the rise of UK based lesbian activism (in response to the ConDem coalition and austerity measures), the achievements of queer women on the UK zine scene, the new anti-squatting laws and the aforementioned poly article. 

I'm biased, obvs, but I think DIVA does a spectacular job of representing queer women. Not yet a subscriber? Then fix that ish up sharpish, friend, and ensure yr 2013 rules by supporting and enjoying radicallesbianfeminist print publications!  

"When I look at my daughter’s face, I know I flew in the face of tradition and culture. She’s an extension of my radical progressive politics. Her birth was outside the norm"

The May edition of DIVA Magazine is out today, and features my investigative article on lezsploitation in UK TV. It also contains my interview with poet and activist Staceyann Chin, on the politics of sex, feminism, the journey towards pregnancy and single-parenting for lesbians. Aging and motherhood are big topics for me at the moment, and as I navigate those things, I find myself reaching out for older, wiser dykes who have traveled/are traveling those roads and can report back with compass and maps. Talking with Chin was important and rewarding in that respect; she makes aging and motherhood look sexy, rewarding and radical.

I ate the meklah fruit, I fell in love with blues

My Q+A with Cat and Stas of rad Sub Pop duo THEEsatisfaction is out now, in the April edition of Diva magazine. We talked about recreating samples, the (unspoken) power of instrumentals (and slang), hip hop rebellion, and making music "travel". THEE are crazy talented, and also the first out black queer female outfit to be signed to Sub Pop. I've been hyping/hearting them for some time (here and here).

 

Dyke comix, from Second Wave counter-culture to the New 52

My Diva magazine feature on the herstory of lesbians in comics is out today. I'm not ashamed to say that writing it sent me a little crazy. Its such a niche branch of comics, with roots in Second Wave feminsim and late 60s underground counter-culture publishing, so all those early artists and volumes proved tricky to track down and draw out. The power of the lesbian phone tree came good, and I ended up e-talking with Mary Wings, Trina Robbins and Roberta Gregory, the real 70s matriarchs of dyke comix. Can you imagine emailing with women who were creating lesbian legacies in a pre-internet world? Seeing the PDF panels of 'Sandy Comes Out' in my inbox one chilly November morning was a BIG deal. I spent an obsessive amount of time drawing up timelines and cruising Amazon and Ebay, to moderately successful ends, for obscure issues, and spent a lot of cash padding out my collection with volumes I could ill-afford. I plan on pouring everything I've amassed into a bumper-sized zine at some point.

In the mean time, head to Queer Zine Archive Project to download a copy of Roberta Gregory's Dynamite Damsels. 
  

And because there appears to be a tag limit in Blogger: Wimmins Comix, Gay Comix, Tits N Clits, The 24 Group, Dianne DiMassa, Leanne Franson, Erica Smith, Girl Frenzy, Alison Bechdel, Erika Moen, Carrie McNinch, Arial Schrag, Michelle Tea, Laurenn McCubbin, the Hernandez Bros, Jennifer Camper, Nicole J Georges, Cristy C Road, Ross Campbell, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Gail Simone.

12 To Watch In 2012

Thanks to Ludi Valentine's blog Silicone Valley, I now have a new crush (oh hai Danni Daniels), and an improved knowledge of sex toys, and phthalates - eeek! Valentine is one of the rad queers featured in my article 12 To Watch In 2012 for DIVA magazine's January/Feb issue (on sale today), which includes protest singers, poly advocates, political activists, rockers, artists and awesome transdyke women. Glad I got to write/publish this; its my queer feminist answer to the deluge of fawning, malecentric best-of lists that happen round about this time each year. Here's hoping 2012 will be SASSY.

Romi Klinger interview

From strap-on scenes and lesbian reality TV to pin-up, role model and fashion entrepreneur: my interview with the Real L Word star Romi Klinger in the lush November edition of DIVA magazine, on shelves now.

Prove It On Me

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