Newspaper Page Text
THE NEWS May 28,1985 Eage 5
(continued from page 1)
perceptions and social expectations.
Their guilt lowers self-esteem and foster
self-oppression for all the fictional
youths. Self-oppression is portrayed by
accepting negative evaluations of
homosexuality (sin/sickness) and thus
failure to accept oneself, by fear of ex
posure and of parental and peer reac
tions, by avoidance of potentially gay
situations, and by sexual repression.
Fear, self-denial, and repression gradual
ly cripple these youths' other emotional
capacities and can mistakenly lead to il
lusory same-sex friendships (Reid), un
wise early marriages or celibacy (War
ren), or even suicide (Scoppettone). At
this point of crisis, the fictional youths
finally begin to recognize and to unders-
j. tand their own sexual development. For
* most of these youths, their isolation,
* sense of guilt, and repression have
delayed sexual experiences longer than
those of their heterosexual peers. Some
of the youths have also spent time un
successfully trying to imitate heterosex
ual dating and marriage patterns. The
resultant awkwardness and sense of in
adequacy force the youths to confront
their sexual needs. They then experience
a "second adolescence" or "second
puberty" of learning to experience sexual
longing and of learning to be sexual and
loving in ways authentic to their gay
nature. This "second adolescence" is
often portrayed as a condensed time of
emotional growth and of "catching up"
with gay peers. In this period before the
health crisis, the fiction portrayed "cat
ching up" as a period of sexual pro
miscuity and sexual release which
preceded emotional maturation.
Through their sexual experiences, these
youths re-learn the long suppressed
emotional capacities for affection,
tenderness, Vulnerability, and responsi
ble, caring interrelationship. They learn
to fall in love, to balance the needs for
privacy (isolation) and intimacy, and to ’
transcend the love/sex dichotomy. From
adolescent crisis and gay-sexual develop
ment, the fictional youths achieve a syn
thesis. In the pilgrimage from self-
awareness to openness, these youths ex
perience the anxiety and release of self
disclosure. While they may encounter re
jection as well as affirmation, they im
portantly come to like themselves.
Openness enhances health as the gay
youths discover their natural range of
emotional capacities and their own uni
que integrity, as gay people. They come
to experience whole-body sensitivity in
ward relief and happiness, and a cathar
tic cleansing of their earlier guilt. While
the fictional comings-out require
characters to learn new skills, values, ter
minology, signals, and meeting places,
they also require these youths to con
front both parents and society. They ex
perience familial rejection (Warren) as
well as acceptance (Reid, Warren). They
confront society's rejection and victimiza
tion (Scoppettone, Warren), and are still
able to take risks and to reckon with their
losses. Consistently the fiction shows
coming out as the initiatory passage into
.gay adulthood by which the gay youths
are tested, achieve maturity, and become
■ fully capable of loving.
(The foregoing is an abstract of an unpublish-
eit paper presented hi/ the author at the Third
Annual Conference on Approaches to Inter-
disciplinan/ Study, Emon/ Universih/, 1981.)
/. Michael Clark, Pli.D.
Kate Clinton...
Pissing Them Off With Humor
Okay. Who is your fovority fumerist? If you
answered Orkin, then you've never heard of
Kate Clinton. For Kate, zoith her thought pro
voking feminist/humor, has become America's
foremost openly lesbian humorist. Kate's
"whys<tucks" are aimed in all directions, but
the}/ are never at anyones expense or dignity:
On premenstrual tension: "/ have found that
the surest cure for PMT is to put on a pair Of
white pants.” On movies: “ET made me
realize just how lookist 1 really am. I never
thought he was cute and cuddly. I just can't
warm up to anything that looks like an
animated green scrotum. And a neck that
raises the head so it's closer to my mouth? No
thank you.” On religion: “A bom-again les
bian is a lesbian who believes in jesus, which
is like a vegetarian who believes in pot roast
and gravy” On feminist men: "What is a
feminist man? He plays Ms. PacMan?" The
list, and the comedy, goes on; onto albums
(tzm at present count arid one on the way),
onto concerts, personal appeamnees, and col
lege campuses around thecountri/. But with
all its diversity Kate's junior comes from a
serious place, the lesbian/forninist movement,
and this serious side comes through in our re
cent cpversation.
TN: You target your humor to a very
specific group: lesbian, feminist. Have
you ever though of trying to appeal to
a wider audience?
KC; 1 guess I am (thinking about it) more
recently. I feel like starting with les
bians and gays first. We are the best.
Talking to the other world is slumm
ing a bit, but I think it's good to bring
the messages to them.
TN: Do you think you humor can
change people's opinions about les
bians and gays?
KC: Absolutely. First of all, I think my
walking out there and looking the
way I do, they don't know how to take
it. 1 mean, college students look at me
and think "God, there are people on
my block that look like her.” I look
very much like their high school
English teacher.
TN: Which you taught for eight years.
How' did you make the transition
from high school English teacher to
stand up comic?
KC: It's not much of a transition really. At
least not the way 1 taught. I wanted to
take a leave from teaching and the on
ly way I could do it was to go back to
school. Sri I attended a writer's center,
.where I wrote very serious stuff for a
i while; 1 wrote a serious paper about
the uses of humor in the women's
. movement. A friend read it and said
"Great, but where are the jokes?" So I
wrote a routine and performed at a
friend's bar. That is how 1 got started.
TN: How did your family react when
they found out that you were a
lesbian?
KC: I remember when I told my oldest
brother, the lawyer. And we are just so
proud of him. He said "Don't tell Dad,
it could kill him!" So 1 started think
ing. .. I go to a press conference, 1 raise
mv hand, 1 say Mr. Reagan I'm a les
bian! KABOOM! The neutron lesbian
strikes again!" But they are mostly
very supportive now. My brothers
have come a long way. I've done a lot
of work and 1 also haven't done any
work at ail. I just let them figure it out.
At first mv brother didn't want me to
see his children, but now that the kids
are growing and are very demanding
and need all the time any possible
person could give them. Now it's all
right for me to see them. It's like
"Please take them!"
TN: Speaking of President Reagan. His
re-election indicates a growing conser
vative mood in the U.S. What can the
gay community do to combat this
attitude?
KC: Become more involved, become
more political, continue to enjoy
ourselves. I think that is the most
radical thing we do—is just have a
good time. I mean, that just pisses
them off? I say homophobia begins at
home. I think we have to take good
care of each other. That is one of the
real challenges, because it trickles. We
don't take care of each other... .and we
must do it NOW!
TN: Do you feel that lesbians are part of
the mainstream women's movement?
KC: From what I've seen lesbians are the
ones running it, because we have the
time. By and large, we don't have
children, or if we do we are in suppor
tive relationships where there are dif
ferent ideas about caring for a family.
TN: It seems that gay groups are scat
tered. How do you feel about the
separatism that exists in our
community?
KC: I do think there is a lot of separatism,
because there are so many deeply
held beliefs. We are very opinionated,
which I kind of like. There is a
thought fascism that exists in the
mainstream culture. We are told how
to think, what to think, how to
feel...we are patriotic now...we are
happy, about the Olympics: It is
discouraging, but exciting that there
are so many opinions in the gay com
munity. I think what we have to be
careful of is good leadership. There.is
another way we have to take care of
ourselves. Like the man who was
working so hard for AIDS funding in
San Francisco, he left. He was burned
out. We don't build enough structures
to teach people coming in, encourage
people to come in, encourage people
to get involved. I think that is one
thing the (conservative) right does
very well, of course they are very
funded too. I could not get burned out
if I were getting400,000 dollars a year.
I could fend it off.
(continued, page 7)
Di sjjifcy
RO. Bck 14342
Atlanta. Ga. 30324
(404) 874-1694
May 1, 1985
Sear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Dignity/Atlanta is planning a spiritual retreat the weekend of June 14-16 at
Lake Lanier. You are most cordially invited to join us on this occasion.
Application forms are enclosed for you to pass on to interested members of
your group.
Details of the retreat are as follows:
Cost: $30.00 per person
Time? Friday, June 14, G 8:00 p.m. - Sunday, June 16 (about noon).
Place: Lake Lanier (directions will be sent to those who register).
Theme: Ke, Myself and You, A Journey
Retreat Master: Father Henry Gracz
Details; All food provided; this will be an alcohol—free environment,
and please be prepared in Christian.charity to respect the
needs of those with whom you share accomodations concerning
smoking/non-smoking. Bring your own sheets and towels.
There are plenty of beds for those who register early, but
others can bring sleeping bags and will be so notified if
available beds are filled.
Deadline: Applications must be received by May 30, 1985 with payment
enclosed.
Join us for this enriching weekend. Kail applications to:
P.0. Box 14342
Atlanta, GA 30324
questions, call Ray at 892-7219* K« n *t 794-5259 or David at 233-0049•
A Catholic Organization for the Gay/Lesbian