10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE January 4, 2002
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A textbook history of bisexuality, and an edgy novel
A History of Bisexuality
by Steven Angelides
University of Chicago, $50 or $20
Synthetic Bi Products by Sparrow L. Patterson Akashic Books, $15.95 paperback Reviewed by Anthony Glassman
In a world of black and white, good and evil, us and them, bisexuality is much maligned.
Neither gay nor straight, despite their nominal inclusion in the LGBT community, bisexuals face discrimination from both sides. The gay community is probably as bi-phobic as the heterosexual community.
Two new books probably will not really change the way people see bisexuality, but they are both fascinating looks, albeit from different angles, at another color on the rainbow.
The first is a scholarly text, A History of Bisexuality, authored by Steven Angelides and published by the University of Chicago Press.
By "scholarly," read “contains long words strung together in complex sentences that only an extremely well-educated person should attempt to wrap his or her mind around."
The book is not intended for casual readers; it is a far cry from something along the lines of Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet or the oeuvre of Leigh Rutledge. This is a serious book, intended for academic use at the university level.
That caveat out of the way, it is a fascinating look at the forces that have molded the way scientists, pseudo-scientists and society at large view the phenomenon of bisexuality, which has often been ignored for the more polarized model of human sexuality.
Deconstructing the contemporary paradigm of psychosexual politics, Angelides examines the psychological, sexological and sociological approaches to dealing with (or avoiding) the topic of bisexuality. It's heady stuff; if you understood the
last sentence, however, you should be able to understand the book as a whole. Maybe.
A great deal of the book also deals with the antipathy towards bisexuals generated by their ability to "pass" as heterosexual by being in relationships with the same sex, or animosity generated by the belief that since they aren't "gay," they do not understand the problems facing gays, two prime examples of infighting that have split more than one queer organization.
An interesting question not dealt with in the tome, however, is the "ex-gay" phenomenon and the possibility that gays who have been "cured" are simply bisexual, and having lived “gay” lives are now simply involved in another aspect of their sexual desires. It would be interesting to see what Angelides could have done with that argument; perhaps in his next book he will take it on.
The other book is a novel by a writer and slam poet from Chicago, Sparrow L. Patterson. Synthetic Bi Products is her first novel, and delves into the life of Orleigh, a bisexual teenager in the far suburbs of Chicago in the late 1980s or early '90s.
Everything one could hope for in a book about teenagers is there: drugs, drinking, sex, petty larceny, road trips, more sex, suicide.
It's pretty horrific at times, and those with delicate sensibilities might want to avoid it.
Those with sturdier psyches and a love of good fiction, on the other hand, might want to grab it.
Orleigh kind of has the hots for her friend Heather, who seems to return her feelings. Heather doesn't know about Orleigh's fling with Alyssia, which the reader learns more about in an extended flashback later in the book.
Orleigh, however, can't really maintain interest in anyone until the dark and sensitive Mark comes into the picture. Once Mark and Orleigh hook up, though, thinks go from strange to worse in a hurry, and schlepping around the country following the Grateful Dead on tour doesn't help anything. (Of course, that statement held
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true for so many people, but that's a discussion for another day.)
Has Orleigh found true love with Mark? What will go on when she visits Heather, who now lives with her aunt in the suburbs of Gary, Indiana? Since when does Gary have suburbs?
Patterson deftly answers these questions in this often-manic tale. The author seems poised to burst onto the literary
Prism Awards
Continued from page 9
precociously manipulative as Dani, a young boy who is in love with his best friend Nico, who seems to have eyes only for the girls. Ramallo captures the angst of teen gay love and heartbreak with a maturity far beyond his years.
Our Lady of the Assassins had two leads worthy of recognition. German Jarmillo plays Fernando, an elderly poet who comes home to Medellín, Colombia to die and finds himself falling in love with Alexis, a young gangster assassin played to brutal perfection by Anderson Ballesteros.
Here too the Prism is shared by two very different perforLI.E. mances. The first is Paul
Franklin Dano as the young Howie in L.I.E. Dano is moving and powerful as a gay teenager who slowly learns how to survive a broken family, a self-destructive best friend, and the Machiavellian manipulations of the town's potbellied pedophile.
The award is shared by John Cameron Mitchell as the inimitable and indomitable Hedwig. Mitchell's is a tour-de-force performance as he takes us into the world of a heartbroken transvestite who would so like to be a woman, except for the nagging, angry inch of manhood left behind.
Best Director
John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig, David Siegel and Scott McGhee for The Deep End, Michael Cuesta for L.I.E., Barbet Schroeder for Our Lady of the Assassins, and Lukas Moodysson for Together.
The Prism is tied between Mitchell and Moodysson, both who tackle their subject matter with total honesty, poignancy and humor, allowing the sheer humanity of their characters and the worlds they inhabit to shine through with luminosity and lucidity.
D SYNTHETIC BI PRODUCTS
a novel
SPARROW L PATTERSOn
scene in a major way, and her second novel, on which she is currently working. should be interesting, if only to see if she has fulfilled the promise of Synthetic Bi Products.
For those interested, her second novel will be called Diary of a Suicide Queen. No word on the subject, but if the first novel is any indication, it will make Less Than Zero look like a feel-good tale.
about LGBT folk and their struggles and accomplishments. They also celebrated the amazing diversity of the GLBT spectrum.
However, this year's Prism (drum roll please) goes to Together, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The former is an amazing
PIZZERIA
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return to the chaotic and contradictory 1970s where the aspirations towards freedom and equality for all were immensely noble and yet fraught with the vagaries of human folly and individual foibles. Together is unsentimentally honest and the story-telling is sharp and focused every minute of the way. Hedwig is an amazing celebration of life told through a very unusual lens and its cultlike status is well deserved. Hedwig also reinvents the musical and deserves kudos for that as well.
A couple of closing notes. Many of the awards this year were ties for two reasons. First, it was really impossible to narrow down some of the categories to one winner. Second, because we are not actually handing out trophies yet (they are being designed by one of the top firms on Madison Avenue) there is no real cost.
Finally the amazing Moulin Rouge, which also completely reinvents the musical film genre, is absent from the nominations. This is not really a gay film and yet, its entire sensibility is oh so gay! So I would like to give Moulin Rouge and director Baz Luhrman special Prisms for film and direction. In addition I would like to give its actors Nicole The nominees are The Closet, The Deep Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent End, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, L.I.E., Our ́and Richard Roxburgh special acting Prisms,
Best Film
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Lady of the Assassins, and Together. ́All these films, in their own unique ways, de ́ ́serve an' dward. 'They Each lad'a' lot to say
and a most special Prism for music and the overall mise-en-scene to the film as well. ✔