When asked for Purple Prose, my suggestion for some bit of activism in five minutes was 'write something'.
Sometimes you can see it have an effect..
Yesterday, I saw the EuroBiCon Twitter account had retweeted something from Diva's:
4 ways to meet #lesbians and #bisexual women – here's where you just might meet the girl of your dreams 💞
https://t.co/49dgTxHsOM pic.twitter.com/ymRopWOomw— DIVA Magazine (@DIVAmagazine) August 28, 2017
"4 ways to meet #lesbians and #bisexual women – here's where you just might meet the girl of your dreams" and a link to an article on their site from 2014.
I read the article and, as I do, made a note of the language in an article that's said to be for lesbian and bi women:
4 Ways to meet lesbians and bi women
Aside from the title..
Gay: 6 uses
Lesbian: 8 uses
Straight: 1 use
Bisexual: nowhere
Biphopic 'jokes': 1 use.#BiErasure https://t.co/Fpn2T7ZCbV— Bi Furiosa – ver!fed pissed-off bisexual (@BiFuriosa) August 31, 2017
"Gay: 6 uses
Lesbian: 8 uses
Straight: 1 use
Bisexual: nowhere
Biphopic 'jokes': 1 use.
#BiErasure"
Someone – thank you Natalya – pointed Diva at this and they responded:
Very sorry about this. It's an old article that doesn't reflect our values and commitment to bi inclusion and has since been edited.
— DIVA Magazine (@DIVAmagazine) September 1, 2017
"Very sorry about this. It's an old article that doesn't reflect our values and commitment to bi inclusion and has since been edited."
I can forgive the way that sounds like it was edited before they were pointed at the problems with it, because of the editing that was done:
Before: 'I've become very adept at spotting lesbians in the wild (as in, not in gay bars)'
After: 'I've become very adept at spotting lesbians and bi women in the wild (as in, not in LGBT bars)'
Before: 'another gay woman'
After: 'another gay/bi woman'
Before: 'a lot of lesbians are athletic (or at least the best ones are) and .. a few gay gamers on the team.'
After: 'a lot of lady-loving women are athletic and .. a few gay and bi gamers on the team.'
Before: 'When I came out, I thought my days of playing with balls were over (sorry, I had to) but never fear!'
After: (bi/transphobic 'joke' gone)
Before: 'a lot of the best gay women'
After: 'a lot of the best women'
Before: 'A certain breed of lesbian'
After: 'A certain breed of queer woman'
Before: 'meeting a lot of lesbians this way.'
After: 'meeting a lot of women this way.'
Before: 'a lot of gay women.'
After: 'a lot of queer women.'
Before: '(I have an also lesbian twin sister)'
After: '(I have an also queer twin sister)'
Diva erases lesbians' identity shock! 🙂
Before: 'Your friends know gay women.'
After: 'Your friends know gay and bi women.'
Before: 'handfuls of lesbians just dying to meet you.'
After: 'handfuls of women just dying to meet you.'
Before: 'know any other gay women'
After: 'know anyone'
Before: 'set up a lesbian couple?'
After: 'set up a new same-sex couple?'
Before: 'stalk down those lesbian ladies in your area.'
After: 'stalk down the sapphic women in your area.'
.. so this is what erasing erasure looks like 🙂
Oh, my tip? Well doing bi activism has worked for me in more ways than one, even if that's not why I started doing it.
