“Madonna, Lover, and Son” by Becki Jayne Harrelson, 1996. Oil on canvas, 80 x 68 inches. www.beckijayne.comSo, besides yelling,
"Ho, ho, ho!" at your exes, what are you doing to dyke the halls and have yourself a lesbo little Christmas? If you're lucky, you have some form of well-adjusted family and can integrate into the general Christmas spirit without feeling the need to make it too queer - it's not always that way though, is it? For some, Christmas ends up being one of those times when you're forced to remember rejections by various family members, social occasions that don't welcome you and all the other joys of being out. An
article
in the Advocate claimed that, "
80% of lesbian adults felt more stress
around the holidays, compared with 64% of heterosexual women. And while
51% of lesbians said they tend to feel more depressed around the
holidays, only 36% of straight women did." That kind of thing tends to drive one screeching into the safety of the queer ghetto - so here's a virtual guide to some stuff online that'll remind you that Christmas isn't just for heterosexuals.
Jeanette Winterson; my favourite
doesn't-solely-define-herself-as-a-lesbo author extraordinaire, did a lovely retelling of the nativity story, in
The Lion, the Unicorn and Me. She's also done some very pro-Christmas opinion pieces that you might enjoy - you'll find them
here and
here.
If you're in the mood for some amateur writing,
this play's a fast read and also lesbian and Christmas themed. There's also
The Lesbian Stick: A Christmas Story. After Ellen's
Naughty But Nice List for 2009 just might make you smile too. They also have a list of lesbian Christmas
songs. You can also take a trip back in time and get some
Venus Envy songs - I'll Be a Homo for Christmas, Lesbians We Have Heard on High,
Rhonda the Lesbo Reindeer and so forth.
South Africa's very own homegrown queer online bookstore offers you a novel with a Christmas theme, called
A Deeper Love.
The holiday season is, at least, the time when gay clubs and bars go all out to entertain, so if you live in or near a major city, you don't need to get too lonesome - it might even be a good time to find your very own Christmas Carol - or whatever her name is.
If your approach to the festering season is more of the Grinch variety, it's the perfect time to unleash diatribes about that patriarchal and oppressive Father Christmas stuff and demand stronger roles for women in the Nativity Play. Oh wait ...
