Pat Califia  (1954 - )

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Sex Changes : The Politics of Transgenderism by Pat Califia

Common sense has dictated that there are two genders -- female and male. But this perspective is becoming less accepted and making less sense for many people. Pat Califia's Sex Changes is a frank, forthright, and sometimes funny challenge to the traditional ideas about gender and sexuality. Transgenderism is the term used to describe people who feel they belong to both, or neither, traditional genders. Califia--a vocal sex radical as well as a therapist--explores the worlds of biology, sociology, psychology, and politics and comes to the conclusion that life and personal experience is far more complicated than most people believe and that the simple two-gender system most people accept is more harmful that helpful. Clear-headed writing and enormous empathy for everyone who exists outside of "the norm" make Sex Changes challenging and vital reading.

Public Sex : The Culture of Radical Sex by Pat Califia

Among the beacons of sex radicalism--alongside Susie Bright, Carol Queen, Kate Bornstein, and very few others--Pat Califia has been writing angry, sex-positive essays and politically charged erotica since the late 1970s. The bulk of her many nonfiction pieces is collected in this reprint of a book first published in 1994, providing a lively, informal history of the sex wars of the '80s and '90s--from the absurd, puritanical Meese Commission Report to the antiporn feminists to the unexamined attitudes behind the popular Re/Search book Modern Primitives. The chief apologist for the S/M community and one of the strongest voices in the anticensorship fight, Califia is at her best when the subject is closest to home. Her peevish reflections on the stupidity and political shortsightedness of anti-S/M feminists and lesbians are a joy to read; you can hear the swish of her whip and the stamp of her boot heel. With its excellent introduction, this book should be on the shelf of every feminist, every lesbian, every sexual adventurer, and anyone who hopes to understand sexual politics in America. --Regina Marler

No Mercy by Pat Califia

This long-awaited collection of short fiction by world-renowned leatherdyke author and activist Pat Califia author and activist Pat Califia combines pornography, science fiction, romance, fantasy, fairy tale, and horror into a potent cocktail for queer grown-ups who have been very, very bad and aren't one bit sorry. When Califia opens the doors to her imagination, there is no predicting what might spill out: A submissive female android turns the tables on her abusive master in the very funny and nasty "Dolly"; Little Red Riding Hood gets a millennial makeover; and two 1950s teens discover the front seat of the car is a lot more fun than Your Hit Parade. Continuing the boundary smashing tradition of Macho Sluts and Melting Point, No Mercy is leather-flavored fiction without a safeword-smart, challenging, intellectual, funny, transgressive, and hotter than the gates of hell. For her legions of fans who have been panting for more, Pat Califia is back with a vengeance!

Pat Califia (1954- )

AUTHOR, ACTIVIST, JOURNALIST, SEX EDUCATOR

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Califia grew up in a working-class Mormon family. She attended the University of Utah where, during her freshman year, she came out and changed her last name to Califia after an Amazon queen. After leaving college she moved to California and volunteered at the San Francisco Sex Information Switchboard. In 1978 Califia co-founded Samois, a lesbian feminist S/M group. In 1979 she began working as a writer, editorial staffer and columnist with The Advocate.

Califia was a central figure in the lesbian sex wars and her popular manual Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality established her as an authority on lesbian sex and an advocate for the then-emerging lesbian S/M community.  In 1998 she published the acclaimed Sensuous Magic - A Guide for Adventurous Couples and helped edit Bitch Goddess - The Spiritual Path of the Dominant Woman.

Pat Califia Official Website

Excerpt:

Pat Califia is a feminist, a pornographer, a sadomasochist, a poet, a storyteller, an omnivore, a pagan, a social critic, a sex educator, a parent and an activist. (Pat also likes making really, really detailed grocery lists.) This Web page was created primarily to give you information about Pat's writing, personal appearances, pet causes, and other projects. It was not set up to provide you with comprehensive information about how to find the S/M community or answer questions about S/M technique and safety. It is not Pat's intention to tell anyone what kind of consenting adult behavior may be appropriate for them as an individual...

Forty-two Things You Can Do to Make the World Safe for Sex

By Pat Califia, from Public Sex : The Culture of Radical Sex 

Excerpt:

1. Defend an abortion clinic. Help women get through right-wing pickets and into the building.
2. Write a sex ad.
3. When your newspaper says police are cracking down on prostitution, call the police and tell them you don't like them spending your money to bust hookers. Then write a letter to the paper saying the same thing. Urge the government to decriminalize prostitution. Nobody should have to go to jail for trying to make a living.
4. Write a weekly letter to your congresspeople. Ask them to repeal RICO laws, vote against mandatory sentencing for drug offenses, allocate more money for addiction-treatment services and family planning, fund more research on breast cancer and AIDS, and shut down the Justice Department's antiporn campaign. Remind these rich enemies of the asshole that being poor is not a crime. The money we now spend on building new prisions should be spent to bring jobs to the inner city and to build better schools. The League of Women Voters can tell you who your representatives are and give you their addresses. Be sure to send a copy of your letter to the Presidential Bubba.
5. Study sex.
6. Write a weekly letter to your mayor, officials in city government, state representatives, and governor. Tell them you oppose sodomy lws, laws which make solicitation illegal, and laws that force sex offenders to register with the cops. Tell them you vote.
7. Vote.
8. Oppose attempts to get states to adopt a lower standard of obscenity (often known as the Miller standard).
9. Give away some pleasure...

Pat Califia -- A Three Part Interview

An interview with Patrick Califia about what it's like to be transitioning from female to male; the relationship between the virtual and real world SM communities; writing porn, censorship, and the Little Sisters Bookstore legal case.

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Scholars Index |