I am thinking big. I am being prodded into thinking big. And as much as I was hoping for fast, sometimes big is worth slowing down for.
So here’s what we’re doing. (Here’s what we’ve done so far.)
Nominations for the Lesbian/Bisexual Woman of the Decade will be open until 11:59pm Sunday 10 January 2010. BUT! You’re going to give me not just names, but justifications. You’re going to tell me why you think that person deserves to be the Lesbian/Bisexual Woman of the Year, so that I have some prayer of narrowing this down to the Top 10 for you to vote on. If someone’s already nominated, you’re going to tell me why they need to be on the final list. And, if you want me to bless you forever, you’re going to give me your top 10 list, bearing in mind this:
The Lesbian/Bisexual Woman of the Decade needs to be iconic. She can be obscure, but should be a public figure of some kind (we’ve had nominations for poets and Prime Ministers, athletes and actresses, bloggers and authors and singers). She should represent something essential, if ineffable, about the 2000s (2000-2009). She should be openly, explicitly out as lesbian/bisexual/queer/woman-partnered, and she should have been for at least half of the decade.
And, we’re going to get publicity. You’re going to blog about the Lesbian/Bisexual Woman of the Decade contest. You’re going to email or Tweet your favorite bloggers, personalities, Twitter celebs and ask them who they think should be in the top 10 for you to vote on. Or, you’re going to give me names, and I’ll email/tweet/harass them. If you want me to bless you forever again, you’re going to contact the nominees to tell them about this, and have them come say why they should be on the short list!
Got that? Alright, go!
I’ll be adding to this list as nominations come in. The nominees thus far:
And some paired nominations:
Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone
Gypsey Teague and Marla Roberson
As always, trans lesbian/bisexual/queer women are explicitly welcome. Also particularly invited are nominees of color, with disabilities, non-English-speaking, and from outside the USA.
Arwyn
In my bathroom hangs a plaque with a picture of a yin yang and the word BALANCE. I can never get it to hang straight. This probably says something deep and meaningful about my life.
This is a great idea! The woman I was going to nominate is already on the list, so I won’t be sending one in, but thanks for doing this. Reading about the names I didn’t recognise is very interesting, too.
Ah, but who is it, and why do you think she should win, or be on the short list?
And yes, I love reading about all these new-to-me queer women!
I nominate as a pair Gypsey Teague and her wife of 15 years, Marla Roberson. Gypsey is a professor here at Clemson and is active in the Gay/Straight Alliance, teaches trans subjects for the Women’s Studies Dept, and publishes/lectures on the national level. Her email is: http://claire_daniels.tripod.com. Teague also counsels trans students at the university counseling center and has a degree in counseling. Her wife is also a faculty member at a local college, helps moderate trans significant wife websites, and is also a published author on transgender and Wiccan subjects. The two of them travel to other colleges and universities to speak of being transexual and being married to a transexual. I’ve know both of them for 5 years and find them both charming, informative, and helpful.
Added! Do you by chance have any links for Marla Roberson, or for the pair of them (say as speakers)? I’m not finding any on my quickie search.
Lindsey Lohan!!!! She’s very noughties.
All I’m finding on her sexuality is a tentative “Maybe, yeah” about being bisexual in 2008. I’m not sure that’s as open and out as should be expected of the Lesbian/Bisexual Woman of the Decade. Your thoughts?
She is very Noughties though.
She’s at least exploited the bi-angle, right? She used gender-neutral language in the ad she did for that dating site–I think it was match.com but I’m not sure, and didn’t she deny being not bisexual when she was dating a boy? I think her line’s always been “Don’t label me”–again, very noughties.
I nominated Canadian Sook-Yin Lee.
I nominated her initially because I love listening to her CBC Radio show Definitely Not the Opera: http://www.cbc.ca/dnto/ (podcast available)
I loved her even more when I learned that she almost lost her job at the CBC for performing non-simulated intercourse and masturbation on screen in the film Shortbus, where she is cast as a woman seeking her first orgasm. In an interview about the film, she said: “Everywhere where Sophia was faking it, I was faking it, because that was what the scene required. But when she had the real one, it was real. It was important for me, because I had been this character for two or three years – creating her.” http://www.tokyowrestling.com/articles_eg/2007/10/shortbus1.html
I’m so glad you nominated her! I hadn’t heard of her before, and she’s definitely one of my favorites. Thank you!
little light and Julia Serano both need to be in the final list.
why?
Serano for giving sensible structure to the inter-relations of oppressions around gender and sexuality that have been assumed by feminist/queer/trans/gender activists to exist for decades. She has made what has only been an intuitive joining of causes visible in a way that lets us serve the causes we choose without unintentionally impinging on the ability of others to make similar progress. (in Whipping Girl)
little light for… Fuck! I can’t even say. Read what she writes. It should be obvious. http://takingsteps.blogspot.com/
My only hesitation about little light is simply that she is (I’m believe?) pseudonymous. Otherwise, I concur wholeheartedly. But I’d love to hear from others about the pseudonymity question.
I don’t have any problems with pseudonyms. I think there are lots of reasons for using them and it isn’t always about hiding something.
Well, since I’m sort of pseudonymous (heh), I’m not about to disagree with that! I just don’t normally see the pseudonymous on lists like this, but I do think she’s absolutely worthy, and I’m also uncomfortable demanding anyone be not-pseudonymously named to be lauded, especially given all the reasons one might need or want to remain somewhat obscured.
I mean, if it’s terribly important, I could be un-pseudonymous. I’ve already been outed in a couple of places, and my real name’s not that hard to find these days.
That is, uh, hi.
I mean, I recognize that I’m the only pseud on there, and hell, Marlene’s seen me perform, she knows my actual name, so.
Hi!
It’s totally up to you whether to maintain pseudonymity; like I said, I’ve no desire to coerce anyone into abandoning it. (And just because some people know my last name doesn’t mean I’m ready to shout it in the blogosphere, y’know?)
So, basically, I think I’ve argued myself into saying a-ok to pseudonymity even on the short list if so desired.
I think it’s really a question of what name is she known by for the work we so appreciate.
I would like to nominate Jessica Janiuk to the list. Some of you may know her, some of you may not. She’s been a vocal member of the LGBT community. She’s an active speaker in Wisconsin on Transgender issues. She’s on the board of her local LGBT Community Center and she was one of the people behind getting the UW System to recognize and protect gender identity.
…and on a more national scale, through her blog, she provides a wealth of resources for people going through transition. She’s also run a website, http://www.translife.net, dedicated to helping transgender individuals, and educating everyone on gender identity and related issues.
So that’s why I nominate Jessica!
Find her here: http://www.jessicajaniuk.com/
I don’t understand how you can’t include Rosie O’Donnell on the list. I know that some people had a problem with her based on her asking her wife Kelli to wean early because she was jealous of her bond with the baby, but all that says to me is that she is a flawed human being like the rest of us. Where would be in 2010 in terms of gay rights if Rosie hadn’t come out? I don’t know, to me that was a huge moment, this woman who was so likable and so successful coming out of the closet. I know Ellen came out first, but I think it was a much bigger deal when Rosie came out because Ellen wasn’t the star that she is now at that time.
Anyway, Rosie has worked very hard to help change laws in Florida in order to allow gay people to adopt children. I don’t agree with everything she does, but I also don’t agree with everything many people on this list have done. If abrupt weaning is the criteria, then Rebecca Walker should be removed, too. She weaned her son at about 3 months so she could go back on her SSRI, even though her pediatrician and psychiatrist both told her the drugs were perfectly safe and compatible with breastfeeding.
Those are excellent points — I’d honestly just forgotten to put her back on after I decided not to limit the long list except for the basic qualifications (explicitly, openly out, at their own instigation, for at least a large portion of the decade). She’s on there now.
Ooh, got my panties in a bunch for no reason.
Sheryl Swoops.
amazingly fantastic and famous WNBA player.
just came out recently. i don’t follow basketball but those women are fierce and need our support!
Oops, sorry it took me so long, but she’s on there, thanks!
this is an awesome list. my only suggestion would be to remove Margaret Cho — she’s incredibly transphobic, and proud of it: http://nodesignation.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/cho-is-a-chaser-tranny-chasers-in-dyke-communities/
I struggled with this, and right now I’m not taking any nominees off the long list for being problematic (and I completely agree that she’s done and said some really messed up things). I’m not going to claim any high-fallutin’ morals for that: I simply do not want to take on the task of vetting everyone on the long list, because I am absolutely sure I would miss something important, and I don’t wish to misrepresent the list as a-ok anti-oppression-wise (which removal of someone for being transphobic would do, I believe) when it simply isn’t.
So, everyone who meets the basic queerness qualification and is suggested gets added, even the transphobes, even the lactophobes; for the creation of the final short list, Cho’s (and others’) transphobia and other problems will be taken into account, and I thank you for pointing it out explicitly.
I don’t have any nominees, but I have a few comments on a few of the nominees I’ve had the chance to look up. Angelina Jolie was a surprise, and I think should be eliminated from the short list for that reason: I followed the link and agree that she said then that she’s bi, but with all the publicity about her in the last few years, I’ve *never* heard anything that implies she might be anything but heterosexual. She’s had a lot of opportunity to use her fame to be more out.
I haven’t read anyone else support the cause of Johanna Sigurdardottir, but she sure sounds cool, and important, and non-American. Besides, I like her name
And then, just to make the list complete, we should add Arwyn@RaisingMyBoychick.com, in part for showing that one can be bisexual and monogamous, queer and male-partnered, and don’t have to give up thinking about these issues because one is involved in raising a child.
But is Jolie’s invisibility (and it is a relative invisibility, because I’ve heard about her sexuality, though usually more in a tittering than substantial way) entirely her fault? I’m inclined to cut her at least some slack, because I know how hard it is to have one’s bi/pan/queer sexuality recognized when it relationships with a man.
(You are sweet, but mum nominations don’t count.
)
I’m thrilled that Libby Davies has been nominated!
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