Page 18

HIGH GEAR

June 1976

SOMETHING DIFFERENT 1/2 HOUR EAST OF DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND

Rt 2

Rt 20

THE

TAVERN

792 Mentor Avenue Painesville, Ohio

10pm 2:30am Sunday Thursday

10pm ? Friday and Saturday

THE TAVERN

Rt 84

«Chestnut St

1-90

SERVING BREAKFAST FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FROM 2am

ESTABLISHED 1812

Master Charge & Bank Americard Accepted

JAN PRESENTS

Gaynell's Birthday Party Gayla Strip Show

featuring Scarlet Rose, Shana Moore, Betty Boo,

Peaches, and Nancy Lee with free buffet PUTTY CAT LOUNGE DENISON at W. 65TH

BEL CLUB

there's plenty at six-twenty 620 Frankfort Ave. Cleveland

Downtown between W. 6th and W. 9th Just steps West of Public Square and the Mall

Phone 241-9719

Free Parking Sunday Thru Thursday Attendant at All Times

SEXUAL POLITICS

On May 17 two Cleveland area Lesbian/Feminists, Rita Coriell and Mary Ann Huckabay addressed a CSU class on sexual politics. The two women emphasized the views they expressed were their own and not intended as a representation of any organization.

Ms. Hubkabay made the following introductory comments: "Lesbianism seen as a sexual preference is not what lesbianism is all about. A sexual definition of lesbians is only a product of a sexualized society, one that is based on heterosexual male supremacist notions. Given such a social structure, one of the major taboos is giving primary energies to women. Lesbians, by their very existence, are in a position to challenge the heterosexual institution of men on top, women on the bottom."

"If we were not in a sexist society, the beauty of women loving other women could be talked about freely and openly with no hang-ups."

The subject was then opened to the floor and a dialogue with the class ensued. Asked how politically active they were, Ms. Coriell responded. "Our efforts focus on building women's organizations and creating cultural alternatives for women. The lesbian women who acts out that lifestyle makes a threatening political statement."

"We live in a cultural heterosexual society where everyone's raised to be straight under the auspices of male dominance, since men hold all the power. To be overt about your lesbianism is thus very political."

A straight male in the class queried, "What do you consider acceptable behavior for a straight male? How could you and I ever become friends?"

To which came the response: "I have both women and men friends, though recently most of my time has been spent exclusively with women. If you are willing to deal with the male privilege given you by society that I don't have, and if you were to deal with men rapists as I and other women who walk the streets must do, then we would have some basis for constructive communication. You, in essence, would be a feminist."

"Once you're willing to examine your own attitudes in terms of equalized respect toward women that you would show men, then you can assess your own condition of societal behavior."

"Men and women must go through a deconditioning process for either of them to change their consciousness. Men have no motivation to change their roles because they define reality through their firm control of society's institutions.

Mary Ann Huckabay

If women were to withdraw their primary energies from men, men would then be forced to reassess their means of oppression. Women are taking care of themselves now and directly confronting the caste consciousness we're all raised with."

Do gay males lend support to lesbians? "Some gay men have extended their support to us and I think it's great. There, of course, is some friction between gay men and women, as the men have an access to privileges that we don't have."

How do gay people view themselves as cultural units? Said Ms. Huckabay: "Presently, gay sub-groups are sub-cultures headed toward alternative cultures."

Ms. Coriell: "In the feminist movement there is a need for women straight and gay to give all their energies to other women. Lesbians support straight women's issues abortion, the right to birth control, protection against rape and so on. I would estimate that at the recent picketing of Ellen McCormack's speech which called for the addition of a constitutional amendment to prevent the right to abortion, 50% of those protesting were lesbians, 40% straight women, and 10% gay men. The central challenge to the Women's Movement is to expand and go beyond class, race, and sexual preference. The Movement is just now beginning to understand and support lesbians and our issues."

One student observed that in large part many women were perpetuating heterosexual supremacist notions through the family. Ms. Huckabay agreed: "One of the biggest paradoxes is that the primary socializer of sex roles we have today is the mother who passes on her inferior sexual identification."

Ms. Huckabay concluded the dialogue by drawing a diagram illustrating how men and women fall into their respective

dominance-submissive patterns: "The dominant male suffers under the illusion that he is autonomous and doesn't need any other to exist. His attitude is, "I can do it all myself" which perpetuates male supremacy. In a way this is very tragic for men, for when they fall, it's a bad fall."

"The submissive woman is characterized as a wife and mother who takes her husband's name. She is always seen in relation to a dominant man and nurtures a support system Heterosexual male depictions of lesbians are always seen in

...

Rita Coriell and M.A. Huckabay relation to men a diesel truck driver, a man in a woman's body, a man hater, etc."

"Again, if women take their primary energy away from men, men will be forced to see the existent oppression. We live in a highly patriarchal society. If a matriarchal social structure simply reverses the dominantsubmissive patterns, then we've learned nothing. If, however, there is an equalizing of relationships, such a structure would be a desirable alternative."