“Butch to butch: A love song” by Leslie Feinberg
This short story did a great job highlighting how you never know information that may be fleeting in the moment, might have significant effects in your life or identity development later on. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Al and Jackie were “grooming” the author on ways to successfully perform sex within a Butch role. First, Al tells the author more about the physical aspects of sex and the mechanics of the performance. Jackie’s conversation with the author presented a more nuanced viewpoint touching on the various emotions and perspectives one must navigate in order to be a conscious and aware lover. Jackie’s commentary on how to love femme women specifically offered insight, or advice, on ways not to cause further emotional harm to your lover by use of aggressive/masculine energy they may have encountered before.
Even in heteronormative spaces, comprehensive discussions of sexual education are something many communities have a hard time tackling, but this representation seemed very authentic and relatable. It almost seemed to be a reflection of a heteronormative, traditional family dynamic where a child receives sex ed “lessons” from a mom and dad. Mirroring two gendered points of view, here Al serves as the more masculine lens and Jackie as the feminine. I also like how this short story provided the club scene where the author states “the weight of sex was pressing in on me from without and within, and everyone at the bar knew it.” This just reiterates that universally awkward experience of identity development where you feel as if you’re operating under heightened forms of surveillance from peers when beginning to explore sensitive topics (whether the pressure is accurate to reality or not).
-Katie