Patrick Califia

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Patrick Califia (formerly known as Pat Califia; born 1954 near Corpus Christi, Texas) is a writer about women's sexuality and of erotic fiction, nonfiction essays, and poetry. Califia is a bisexual transman.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Califia was born female, into a Mormon family. She came out as a lesbian in 1971 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and changed her name to Pat Califia, taking the surname Califia after the mythical Amazon. After getting involved in consciousness-raising work in the area she bought herself a one-way ticket to San Francisco in 1973, bringing an interest in sex education to work on the San Francisco Sex Information switchboard.

Her first book was Sapphistry, a non-fiction work in which she described butch-femme sexuality and BDSM safety and practice in a non-judgmental tone. Subsequently, she published work in lesbian, gay and feminist magazines. In 1979, during her time as a student in psychology at San Francisco State University, her research was published in the Journal of Homosexuality.

With the founding of SAMOIS, Califia shifted focus to the lesbian experience of BDSM. She contributed to the book Coming to Power published by Alyson Publications. In 1996 Califia was co-editor (with Robin Sweeney) of the sequel The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader. Califia founded the leatherwomen's quarterly Venus Infers in 1992.

During this period Califia was both writing about queer studies and gender identity and coming to terms with these issues on a personal level. During the mid-1990s, Califia decided to transition to a male gender role. Califia undertook testosterone hormone therapy and changed his name to Patrick.

Since the 1990s, Califia has had fibromyalgia, which has caused nerve damage in his legs and hands and reduced his ability to type or write. He is currently in private practice as a therapist (he is a licensed marriage therapist and family therapist in the state of California). He continues to publish his work and attend leather community events.

Califia's most recent book is Boy in the Middle, a collection of erotic stories. He is currently working on a number of other projects including a book on FTM sexuality.

His pornographic works were often seized by Canadian customs until he fought a court case to allow them to be accepted. Afterwards he wrote of his amusement at finding that anti-porn feminist Catherine Itzin's book "Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties" was seized under the very law she had helped to establish, while Califia's books were recognised as acceptable by that law. [Public Sex]

[edit] Booklist

[edit] Non-Fiction

  • Pat Califia: "A Personal View of the History of the Lesbian S/M Community and Movement in San Francisco". in: Coming to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M. Alyson Publications, Boston, 3rd ed Oktober 1987, ISBN 0-932870-28-7
  • Sapphistry: The book of lesbian sexuality, Naiad Press, 1988, ISBN 0-941483-24-X
  • Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism, Cleis Press, 1997, ISBN 1-57344-072-8
  • Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex , Cleis Press, 2000, ISBN 1-57344-096-5
  • Sensuous Magic: A Guide for Adventurous Lovers, Masquerade Books, 1998, ISBN 1-56333-610-3
  • Speaking Sex to Power: The Politics of Queer Sex, Cleis Press, 2001, ISBN 1-57344-132-5
  • Forbidden Passages: Writings Banned in Canada, Cleis Press, 1995, ISBN 1-57344-019-1

[edit] Fiction

  • Macho Sluts, Alyson Publications, 1989, ASIN B000J0UPMY
  • No Mercy, Alyson Publications, 2000, ISBN 1-55583-542-2
  • Doc and Fluff: The Dystopian Tale of a Girl and Her Biker, Alyson Publications, 1996, ISBN 1-55583-369-1
  • Doing It for Daddy: Short Sexy Fiction About a Very Forbidden Fantasy, Alyson Publications, 1994, ISBN 1-55583-227-X
  • Melting Point: A Collection of Erotic Short Stories, Alyson Publications, 1996, ISBN 1-55583-380-2
  • The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader, Alyson Publications, 1996, ISBN 1-55583-281-4
  • Mortal Companion, Suspect Thoughts Press, May 2004, ISBN 0-9710846-9-6
  • Boy in the Middle: Erotic Fiction, Cleis Press, 2005, ISBN 1-57344-218-6

[edit] External links

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