purplerabbits

I have decided to start posting a lot of my writing from my early days as a 'bi activist' and pretend they are a bi blog. This is mainly cos I have them lying around and want them to go somewhere, and cos I secretly think I used to be quite funny.

So here is a Bi Mate of the Month Interview I did for BCN back in 1999 (I did briefly think of sorting this stuff into date order and then I thought sod it)

Alison Rowan - Bi Mate of the Month October 1999
(Now subtitled, this is what we did before we had online meme kids)

Which Olympic sport (current or wished for) could you represent your country in?

Hmm. Sport? I seem to remember something called sport, but only in a very vague way because I've walled up all the more horrific memories in a distant part of my mind.

I could definitely bunk off P.E. for my country, though, no problem, specialising in arcane excuses (I got out of it entirely for a year because a horse trod on my toe) and hiding in plain sight (I avoided playing tennis by hiding behind a tree...)


What's the best collective noun for bisexuals?
A faff, in my experience.

What's your favourite film?
I don't know about favourite, but The Pillow Book gets my nomination for most bisexual film, cos Vivian Wu and Ewan McGregor are both gorgeous and both get their kit off. The Phantom Menace is shite, by the way, I don't think even Ewan McGregor getting his kit off would have saved it, though it would certainly have been interesting.

When did you know you were bisexual?
From the age of nine, when I got in trouble for sending Valentine cards to a boy and a girl in my class, but I was only really convinced after my first threesome.

What's your favourite sexual memory?
None of your bleedin' business.

What's your favourite thing about being bi?
It made it more fun watching The Pillow Book.

What's your favourite sex accessory?
I hardly ever take handbags to bed with me.

Who do you respect most in the world?
People who are prepared to use their brains for more than 30 seconds at a time.

What/who has inspired you the most?
I often ask myself that. Or at least, I often ask myself, "How the hell did I talk myself into volunteering for this?" which is probably the same thing. The answer, I think, is that I keep thinking that I can do things better than other people, and then, having foolishly said so out loud, I have to go ahead and do them or else look a bit of a prat.

Which historical person would you most like to meet?
I don't really go in for historical personages, but Peter Kropotkin would be nice to have round for tea.

What makes you smile?
Little kids saying, "Look Mummy, that lady's got pink hair".

What is your most unlikely-to-be-fulfilled sexual fantasy?
Shagging G'kar out of Babylon 5. Unlikely because he is alien, fictional, and 260 years in the future.

What should people try?
LSD. And Aldous Huxley said it, so it must be true.

What are you most proud/ashamed of?
Proud of: Some of my writing, passing exams again at the age of 30, being organised, the BiCon guidelines.
Ashamed of: Well I'm quite embarrassed by some of my more outrageous lies, and there were a couple of occasions when I read someone else's letters...

What about your life would most surprise your 16 year old self?
The sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and pink hair would probably pale into insignificance beside the fact that I can now actually like spinach.

Please write a mini autobiog, things you'd like BCN readers to know about you, eg you might give your age, location, bi community stuff, current/past relationships etc. Say about 50-150 words.
I'm 32 (probably 33 by the time this come out), have been doing bi community stuff for the last 13 years and living in Edinburgh for the last six and a half. I helped organise BiCons 10 and 12 and did far too much work (i.e. most of it) on BiCon 17. I ran Bifrost from '91 to '95, and have also worked on two other zines and a fetish club, all of them called Permission. I've just moved house and am working on building a housing co-operative, since I want to live like this for the foreseeable future.

Who would you like to see as a Bi-Mate?
Dave Stone, that'd be a laugh.

So there you go. That was me at 33. The Housing Cooperative never got off the ground, and my hair is now more respectable red than pink, but the principles still stand...