Member-only story
One of our spokespeople last year… Self-appointed. One of our spokespeople approached me straight after one of my shows to give me a bit of feedback, and that’s my favorite time for feedback. Straight after a show? Yes, please! That is when my skin is at its thickest. The feedback? Apparently, she said, “I was very disappointed in your show this year, Hannah. I just don’t think there was enough lesbian content.” I’d been on stage the whole time. I didn’t… even straighten up halfway through, you know?
Hannah Gadsby, Nanette
I get this. Oh, do I get this. I get comments, email, whispers, tweets, even AMPLIFY responses that tell me my blog is not lesbian enough. As if I’ve tricked your typical lesbian blog reader into clicking to read about Pittsburgh lesbians and discovering – racial justice content.Or Q&A’s with LGBTQ people who do not identify as lesbians. Or a cat food drive. Well maybe that one can slide a little bit. But why so many posts about municipal government?
“I thought this was for lesbians” they write to me.
Nope, sorry, we are corresponding AS lesbians not solely TO lesbians and so sorry you won’t get that 30 seconds of your life back. BECAUSE WE HAVE OTHER THOUGHTS than just lezzing all day long.
I don’t think I’ve even used the term ‘lezzing’ before. Chalk that up to Nanette, I guess.
Beyond just being irritated that someone takes the time to interfere with my life to inform me that I’m not lesbian enough for their taste … there’s the fact that they are invalidating and erasing, rendering invisible, the truth that a lesbian owns, edits, and controls the blog. I don’t write all of the content, but this lesbian oversees guest and contributor posts. This lesbian deliberately seeks out marginalized voices and signal boosts them via our various Q&A projects. This lesbian handles the tech work, pays for everything, and deals with the problems.
At no point in any of that work do I step away from my lesbian identity. I don’t unzip the lezbo suit and drape it over the sofa while I sit down to blog about billboards. Or cats. Or the Mayor. Nope, the lesbo suit along with my other multi-dimensional identity is right there when I’m blogging.
Just like I don’t hide my identity when people start screaming at me about…
