REVIEW
Bringing Dad to book
My Father and Myself by J.R. Ackerley. (Harvest pb., 1975) 219 pgs., $3.95. by M. David Stein
While it would be easy for those who like to think of themselves as "liberated" gays to be irritated beyond endurance by this book, it would be a mistake. After all, it isn't the author's fault if fools like Diana Trilling (quoted in the cover blurbs) take it to be a "report of what it is like to be a homosexual," as if homosexuality is any more standardized an experience than heterosexuality.
Certainly Ackerley's homosexuality was of a peculiarly self-defeating kind-as suggested by his own description, "search for the Ideal Friend"-and it is no inducement to the view that "gay is good" to learn that the only completely satisfactory emotional relation of his life was with an Alsatian bitch ("Tulip", dedicatee of this book and subject of two others). But he makes no claim that his own sex/love life is typical or even representative. In so far as this
fascinating and superbly written book is a "case study" at all, it is of another matter entirely: the failure, of father and son to meet each other on common ground as complete per-
sons.
Ackerley himself calls it "a stupid story, which "germinated. . out of a sense of failure, of personal inadequancy, of waste and loss" following his father'ss death. The waste was "that two intelligent people. .should have gone along together, perfectly friendly, for so many years, without ever reaching the closeness of an intimate conversation, almost totally ignorant of each other's hearts and minds."
The fault was certainly not all on Joe Ackerley's side. Whatever the reticence produced in him by being gay in a hostile country and time was matched on his father's side by the need to conceal an equally unconventional sexual lifestyle. After his death, what Roger Ackerley privately called his "secret orchard" was at last laid bare to his surviving son: a mistress and three female
HQ 76.5
by Keith A. Kamm
Short notices this month: a non-fiction anthology, several periodicals, and a new bibliography.
The Gay Academic, edited by Louis Crew. is not yet in print; but according to the pre-publication brochure, it will bring together in print for the first time a goodly number of essays by leading gay academicians. The disciplines represented range through the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, and a random minisample reveals articles on gay genocide, homosexuality in the works of Proust and Gide, gay psychology, the linguistics of separatism, and a gay analysis of science and education. Well-known contributors include Barbara Gittings, Mark Freedman, James E. Brogan, and Karla Jay. The price is. a bit steep ($15), but from the contents listed, the volume should be worth it. The Gay Academic can be ordered from: ETC Publications, Department 1617A, Palm Springs, Calif. 92260.
Interchange is the newsletter of the National Gay Student Center (NGSC), a group very active in information-gathering in the national gay community. In examining the Fall 1975 issue, I found articles on the proposed National Gay Archives and on gay studies courses, book reviews, and listings of gay. organizations, events, and publications. NGSC has also published a book, Gays on Campus, under the editorship of its director, J. Lee Lehman. Interchange ($3 per year) and Gays on Campus ($3) can
be ordered from : National Gay Student Center, 2115 S St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008
Alternative to alienation, which is not a gay publication, is a humanistic, alternative lifestyle newspaper largely socialist in its editorial viewpoint published bimonthly out of Toronto. The issue I've looked at (No. 7, March-April 1976) includes pieces on working, psychoanalysis and socialism, Bob Dylan, and mysticism and fascism;
film and drama reviews; poetry; and two long articles on homophobia and on pedophilia and the sexual rights of children. Many of the ads are for Canadian and U.S. gay and feminist publications and organizations. Ant interesting and intelligent paper, Alternative to alienation is worth looking into. At $.35 per issue or $4.50 for a subscription (12 issues), it can be obtained by writing to Box 46, Station M, Toronto, Ontario M6S 4T2.
Albatross: the radical lesbianfeminist satire mag is published quarterly ("or bi-monthly if things go well") by The Albatross Collective (TAC). From an examination of one issue (Winter 1976), Albatross seems to contain more real, serious stuff than satire. Much emphasis is given to poetry and review of novels, poetry, comix, and music. (Particularly good were the four "Icepick Poems," about rape, by Barbara Lipschutz.) The satire, in various prose and cartoon forms, covers the field from crudely funny. to politically astute to just plain weird. A worthwhile investment for feminists of any gender, Albatross goes for $1 per issue or $7 per year, from 82 S. Harrison, East Orange, N. J. 07017.
And finally, for those into gay male literature particularly the study and collecting thereof there's The Male Homosexual in Literature: a Bibliography, by Ian Young (Scarecrow Press, 1975, hardback, $9). While non-fiction works on lesbians and gay men have been handled in a number of bibliographies, and lesbian literary works have been covered in Gene Damon's and Marie Kuda's lists, gay male literature has gone without a bibliography until now. Young, an impressive, youthful Canadian man. of (gay) letters, has provided about 3000 entries on works of fictions, poetry, drama, and autobiography. In addition, the book contains four criticial essays, and indexes. In all, a very worthwhile and long-needed contribution to gay male literature.
Page B10-GAY NEWS May 1976
children, whom he supported and visited at intervals for decades while keeping up a perfectly respectable facade. Yet that was hardly all. For one thing it was only by the repeated insistence of his mother's sister that it was just the girls and not Joe too who was bastard, since as he says in the first sentence of this most surprising work, "I was born in 1896 and my parents were married in 1919." For another, there is the strong possibility, indeed a likelihood, that Ackerley senior, as a penurious young Guardsman, was involved in several homosexual liaisons with older men, some of these lasting for several years and ultimately leading him to a financially secure position as England's "Banana King."
Joe, therefore, was scarcely the only one with things to hide, the irony being that what he and his father hid from each other may have been the very things they had most in common. It is not, after all, so very great a difference that the father chased women while allowing himself to be chased (and occasionally caught) by men, whereas the son chased only men: "several hundred young men," as he recalled, "mostly of the lower (social) orders and often clad in uniforms of one sort or another." (A letter to Joe from Lytton Strachey ended: "With best regards to The Army, The Navy, and The Police Force.")
Artfully spacing out in his narrative the various "shocks" he himself experienced in close series, Ackerley has given us not so much a biography (or autobiography) as a detective story. Instead of tracking down "who dun it," the quarry is the real character of a father who turned out not to be anything like what he seemed. Despite some inspired sleuthing, and some unexpected aid from coincidence, it is never quite run to earth, leaving Ackerley and t the reader in some bemusement as to the extent to which he really was his father's son after all.
But whoever said only a suc-:: cessful hunt is worthwhile?
REVIEW
IN THE SLAMMER
by Nicholas Cupo and Ron Girson
Questions still arise pertaining. to prison pen-pals. So the following are some guidelines for corresponding with people inside.
you
are
1. Your letter to a person will have a great meaning; remember, be a friend, not a judge and jury. 2. A time may come when the con feels that needed to solve a problem. Always ask him how he would like you to do it, as this will be a way of keeping the person aware that he is his own man and has to stand on his own twofeet.
3. Do not let the con become dependant on you. He/she has to be able to function when you are not around.
4. If a problem arises that you feel you are unable to answer, seek outside help, such as a minister, counselor, or legal advisor.
6.
en-
5. At all cost, avoid making commitments that you can't keep. Avoid romantic tanglements, at least until you see the person you are corresponding with. Do not lead a person on in any way, until you are very sure, both of yourself and him or her.
7. Don't feel that you are obligated to send money or presents. If asked for money, feel free to say "no." Many convicts throughout the country use the correspondence system to find suckers on the outside who will support them while they are incarcerated. Don't get me wrong, these people are only a small minority, but it is like a couple bad apples spoiling a bushel.
8. Don't be afraid to use your home address. The person is not about to come to your doorstep. (Unless, of course, you have said in your letters that you want him/her with you after release.)
9. Try to keep a reference file of your letters to the con, as he or she will not enjoy hearing the same things over and over again. You will be able to look back over the file if a question ever arises, such as not keeping a promise or saying something that may have been
misinterpreted.
Finally, remember that you may be the only contact on the outside that person has, as his family and friends might have given up on him/her.
Ron Girson
After talking and comparing notes with Ron, I too am beginning to feel that there are no gay women in prison. We have tried every method of finding out some names of such women, but with no luck. Here in Philly we have several women who would like to write to women prisoners. So if any of our readers out there know of any gay women in prison, please send their names to me or Ron. names
While we are on the subject of writing, if any Pennsylvania state prisoners are having any problems from administration sources, please let us know. It may be possible to deal with these from Harrisburg. The Committee on Corrections has the capability to be a moving force, but only if we get the input from you. If you have any cases of harassment, get the information to us as soon as possible. (We're tryingto find a reliable contact person in Ohio to help gay prisoners there.) Nick Cupo
PENPALS WANTED
Donna Weaver, Box 180, Muncy, Pa. 17756
Lowell R. Meachum, Jr., No... 141-156, P.O. Box 787, Luchasville, Ohio 45648
Thomas High, P-1004, Drawer R, Huntingdon, Pa. 16652 Eugene J. Pulsiqar, No. 039136, P.O. Box 747, Starke, Fla. 32091
Peter H. Dunham, No. A49040, P.O. Box 686, (F-111), Soledad City, Calif. 93960
Tony Fernandez, K-2313, Box A, Bellefonte, Pa. 16823
Donald Ringler, No. 79899, Box 779, Marquette, Mich. 49855
•
Lewis K. Tack, F-4305, Drawer K, Dallas, Pa. 18612.
Rape and male supremacy
Susan Brownmiller. (Simon and Schuster, 1975) 472 pgs. $10.95.
by Christine Potters
Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape is the most lucid and valid document to date on the question of how to contend with rape. The feminist perspective is the most realistic on this subject and Susan Brownmiller's statement should be heralded as a long step forward.
To be a woman is constantly to be aware that one is potentially a victim of rape. This awareness is not hysteria, it is not hypersentitivity, it is not over-reaction. It is, at its most basic, a consciousness of danger to one's person due to genital circumstance: anatomy, in the case of rape, is destiny. In her impassioned and scholarly book, Susan Brownmiller rivets our attention to rape as a feminist issue, not merely a legal question.
Objectivity in relation to rape is difficult. Brownmiller makes no attempt to remove herself from her topic. Her anger, tangible
throughout the book, is distilled into a force of reason that is shattering in its impact. With exquisite precision and detail she shows us exactly why and how rape has been used to subjugate women since the beginning of history, and how the legal approach to rape is used today to obfuscate its reality. She discusses rape as it has occurred in time of war and conquest (males taking possession of other males' property-land, money, and women). She discusses rape as it relates to racism and how the two have overlapped to manipulate not only women but also the "inferior" race. She discusses the myth of the heroic rapist-the idealization of the sexual outlaw-from Zeus through Jack the Ripper to James Bond and on to Eldridge Cleaver. She discusses the legalities that deny rape in marriage, the social stigma that serves to deny raped women access to the courts, and the radical idea that rape is yet another aspect of male bonding. Every word is written with the idea that what has happened to
women
throughout history could,
happen to Susan Brownmiller-or the reader-and every word is documented fact. It is not possible to remove oneself from such fact and Brownmiller's subjectivity only serves to heighten the importance of her thesis.
Against Our Will is not directed towards gays, although a portion of it is about homosexual rape (primarily in prison). It is, however, necessary for us to read and study this book for its lessons about male supremacy. For those of us who are lesbians rape by men is still a traumatizing threat. We must be aware of how deep a threat it is, not only to our individual persons but also to women as a class. For male gays, Against Our Will is a study in what to strive against-inclusion in a group bent on dominating another group by force. And we must understand that it is in fact a process of socialization that makes men rapists. Men are taught that rape is part and parcel of proprietary rights to women, but it is genital accident that makes women victims.