Should Lesbians Read Work by Trans Men?

Arsenal Pulp Press (arsenalpulp.com) just re-released Macho Sluts, the seminal collection of lesbian erotica by Pat Califia. When it first came out, back in 1988, it was a pivotal book that helped create the very communities it described-the previously invisible lesbian leather and S/M populations-communities in which Califia was a central player. 

Macho Sluts is also notable for the role it played in the lesbian sex wars; and a Canadian censorship case.  Anti-pornography feminists, who viewed all pornography-especially those entailing S/M fantasies-as violence against women, condemned the book; and Canadian Customs officials confiscated Macho Sluts at the border, giving it a central role in the ensuing legal battle between that agency and Little Sister's, the pioneering lesbian and gay bookstore in Vancouver, Canada.

The new edition of Macho Sluts includes an introduction by the author-now known as Patrick-about his transition from female-to-male and why lesbians should consider reading pornographic work by a man.  He raises a question I've been pondering recently:  why should lesbians read authors who no longer identify as lesbians?

Of course this question is central to my own work:  I write for SheWired and co-author the lesbian-focused Blind Eye mystery series.  As one of the founders of the now-defunct lesbian magazine, Girlfriends, I also remember how Califia was taken to task when he came out as FTM in the advice column he penned for that publication.  Many readers were incredibly upset and there was an element of personal rejection and betrayal they expressed at his announcement. 

Just like when a dyke goes straight, many lesbians seem to feel personally wounded when one of their own renounces the female sex for trans male-hood.  The rejection is especially difficult when a high profile lesbian becomes a man-or marries one-and those making such transitions risk having their entire legacy discounted.

"I felt as if I were pouring gasoline on a lifetime of work and lighting it on fire," Califia acknowledges,  "I have grieved the loss of my dyke identity more bitterly than any of my readers or friends.  But feminism is no cure for transsexuality."

more on next page...