SpunqDaddy's Beard

Bi Media Summit audio highlights

2009-06-27T13:53:31Z

Bi Summit Audio Highlights Broadcast Online

Highlights from the National Summit on Putting the "B" in LGBT in April at the NYC LGBT Center were broadcast Mon June 15 by the Out FM program on WBAI. You can listen to excerpts from the "Exploding the Myths About Bisexuality" panel with Ron Suresha, Dennis Slade, and Ignacio Rivera by clicking here: http://archive.wbai.org/files/xml/outfm.xml then click on June 15th. The bisexual segment starts about halfway through the broadcast. More segments will be broadcast on following Mondays 11am.

More pix and info here at: http://biwriters.livejournal.com/81598.html. Thanks to Brad Taylor of Out FM and Barbara Fortune who took the photos.

Ron on the TALL Show

2009-06-17T13:49:52Z

RJS on The T.A.L.L. Group Show

Posted By Ron Suresha on June 16, 2009

Ron had a great time last month as a guest on The TALL (Transitioning and Loving Life) Group Metrocast cable access show, and will be on again tonight at 8:00pm to talk about the Lammies, and Trans and Bi Lit! Check out the previous show: http://thetallgroup.org/archives/76.

nlcTrans May 20, 2009

We welcome local author, activist, and anthologist of books centering on gay and bisexual men’s subcultures, Ron Suresha, to the show. We talk about bear identity, gay and bisexual stereotypes, the Kinsey scale, and how Ron met his husbear, Rocco. Ron has been twice [sic] nominated for Lambda Literary Awards for Bisexual Literature including his forthcoming book Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey.
http://ronsuresha.com/

Ron with Lionel on DADT

2009-06-09T11:15:07Z

I called at the end of the 1st hour of Lionel about DADT:

"We train our soldiers to be killers in war, but they can't tolerate another man looking at them with desire: this is a true perversion of masculinity."

http://snurl.com/jreb4

The Lionel Show

Obama: Free the Gays

2009-06-08T18:15:46Z

Obama: Free the Gays

Dear President Obama,

According to some GLBTIQ historians, President Abraham Lincoln had a male companion, Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed for several years. Doubtless this extended male contact informed Lincoln’s understanding of the essential humanity of those persons whose only fault is to be hated by everyone.

You so greatly honored Lincoln during your inauguration by taking your oath holding his Bible. Consider what it would mean for your legacy as the first black President of the USA to repay the favor for his abolishing slavery of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, by enacting a nondiscrimination bill that would protect gender and sexual minorities and grant them full status as American taxpayers?

The full version of this letter to the whitehouse.gov comment line went out this afternoon. Thanks to Dr Jeff jnshaumeyer for his insightful comments on an early draft!

This letter was sent to President BHO, care of Whitehouse.gov. Join the Facebook group OBAMA, FREE THE GAYS at: http://snurl.com/k6020

Lammies, Bi advocacy conference

2009-06-01T15:08:18Z

Ron at Lammies, Bi Lines reading, NYC

Lambda Literary Awards

Roc and I had a grand time at the Lambda Literary Awards on Thursday in NYC. We rode in on Amtrak and stayed for a long weekend at the Lammies host hotel, the W Tuscany.

Just minutes before the ceremony, I was informed that a grant I’d applied for researching male triads went to someone else. So that was a disappointment going in.

At the cocktail hour before the event, while hanging out with Felice Picano and his sister, one of the judges in the Anthology category whom I happened to meet totally brightened my evening, telling me that she loved and had nominated Bi Perspectives on Kinsey as a finalist (presumably she was the only one of the four judges in that category who did so) and that she was keeping it for her personal library, rather than selling or donating as she planned to do for most of the other books.

We were supposedly assigned seats somewhere in the Proshansky Auditorium at CUNY, but wandered around looking for the chair signs until almost the start of the ceremony until Charles Flowers pointed to two seats and we sat down.

And the Lammy went to . . . not my book. It went to Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage, written by Jenny Block (whom I finally met at the Bi Lines reading). Oh well, third time wasn’t the charm in my case this time around, but let me just add my response to another finalist who asked me as we chatted after the ceremony, What do we do now after not winning the Lammy? “Go home and write a better book than the last one.”

National Bi Media Summit

In advance of the National Bi Media Summit held at the LGBT Center on Saturday, for which I served as a panelist, TimeOutNY asked several folks to debunk some bi myths. My response seems at this point somewhat off-topic as per the headline/myth they ended up using. Oh well.

Still, my parts on the panels on Bi Myths and Bi Community went quite well, and I got very positive feedback on my comments.

TimeOutNY RJS bi myth quote

Bi Lines

My “intriguing” reading on Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey at the Bi Lines performance on Saturday evening was kindly mentioned by the handsome & charming Father Tony of Bilerico blog.

Where's Gramma Roberta?

2009-04-16T14:41:16Z

Where's Gramma?

I've been squeezing in time between projects this past year for research on all sides of my family roots. Ancestry.com was quite helpful, I admit, up to a point.

They alerted me in January of a Social Security Death Index listing for my paternal grandmother, Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, whom I never met, and who apparently just died the month before in December. The SSDI listed her birth date as 31 May 1915 in Detroit, and death on 20 Dec 2008 in New Hampshire.

The 1920 US census from Detroit has Roberta Gunsaulus at 4 years and three months (born 1915 in Michigan).

My father's birth certificate states her residence as Houston and her birthplace as Detroit, Mich. Roberta was 19 as of 1/6/35, making her birth year 1915.

But Detroit Vital Statistics doesn't have her listed in their 1915 records, nor in their 10-year index, and suggested I try the state vital statistics bureau in Lansing.

They do have my birth certificate, however.

I'm the grandson of Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, born in Detroit, MI 12 May 1915 (or Oct?).

Roberta Esther married Lewis Calvin Gray of Terre Haute, IN.

They gave birth to my father in 1935, b. Jack Lewis Gray, adoptive name Jack Lee Gunsaulus, and in 1937 a sister Julia Ann Gray.

In January ancestry.com alerted me to the SSDI listing for my grandmother, Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, who just died the month before. I have requested her birth certificate from Detroit Vital Records, but it hasn't come back yet.

Does anyone have any information about either:
Roberta Esther Gunsaulus / Gray, or
Julia Ann Gray (likely adopted as Gunsaulus or Gonzales) ?

I would so appreciate any leads or suggestions where to turn in researching.

Amazon de-ranks several RJS books

2009-04-13T20:03:47Z

Amazon de-ranks several RJS books

Several of my books, including Bears on Bears, Bearotica, and Bear Lust, have been de-ranked on Amazon.

Amazon de-ranks so-called adult books, including National Book Award winner

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

This was posted on LJ (http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html)

I hope something good comes out of this. This has been all very confusing and sad. Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions is nonfiction – not erotica – but could easily be screened as adult material.

Update 4/14/09 7am EST:

The books are re-ranked. It’s majick!

Bears on Bears

#85,481 in Books

Popular in these categories:
#24 in     Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Ethnic Minorities
#29 in     Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Gay Men
#64 in     Books > Nonfiction > Education > Multicultural

Bearotica

#1,608,388 in Books

Bear Lust

#334,911 in Books

#47 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica > Gay & Lesbian > Anthologies

Is Michael Musto for Real?

2009-04-10T11:45:52Z

Is Michael Musto for Real?

What is this nonsense about Michael Musto saying he doesn't believe in bisexuals, based on his frustrated attempts at relationships with married men on Manhunt or Craig's List or wherever he meets these closet cases?

I know the Village Voice columnist, Michael Musto, or at least I thought I knew the dude. But how could it possibly be Michael Musto saying those horrible, ignorant, misleading things about bi men?

OK, I've seen Michael Musto on TV and read his column in the Voice, so I think I should know Michael Musto. But it couldn't really be the same Michael Musto I met at the Lammies two years ago. The kinda cute clean-shaven short Jewish guy to whom I introduced myself that evening? I thought I met the real Michael Musto there, but apparently it was someone else who looked and talked a whole lot like him.

Either that, or I made zero impression on the guy. Because the guy I chatted with was wearing a badge saying "Michael Musto," and he asked about my work, and I told him I was the editor of two books named as finalists for the first ever Lambda Literary Award given for Bisexual Literature. I know I was there, for sure — I still have my name badge from the event.

Because how could the smart, charming person I chatted with that memorable evening write such a thoughtless and hurtful diatribe against married bi men under Michael Musto's imprimateur?

I can only surmise that Michael Musto is not real. He's a fake.

This so-called Michael Musto has somehow replaced the real Michael Musto, and whoever is impersonating Michael Musto is doing an amazing job.

Perhaps the real Michael Musto was kidnapped by the Russian mafia, and replaced by an undercover operative who's a ringer, pretending to be a brilliant journalist.

Otherwise, I just can't believe that the real Michael Musto would know absolutely nothing about the existence of actual bisexual men, being a supporter of the Lambda Literary Foundation, which for the third year in a row now is presenting an award for excellence in the area of bisexual literature.

Or maybe more likely, aliens abducted the real Michael Musto, cloned him, and took the original back to their planet for further "research" (and he went willingly, anticipating one if not many of those thrilling anal probes he's heard so much about), leaving the duplicate in the real Michael Musto's place.

Let's set aside the conspiracy theories and the point that he offers no explanation for the existence of bi women and consider this serious matter for a moment.

Because you would think that the real Michael Musto would have the common sense to do some sort of actual research about the topic before he declared the complete nonexistence of bisexuals and bisexuality, based on his assertion to have never personally met a real bisexual man.

Wasn't that Michael Musto I met, who was at the awards ceremony in May 2007 in NYC? Because if the real Michael Musto had actually been there, he surely would have seen Mike Szymanski (who is a real bisexual man) and Nicole Kristal (a real bi woman) accept the Lammy for their delightful book, The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe.

I guess he could have gone out for a smoke or a drink or something and have missed that part of the awards ceremony, but what about the two years since then? Was Michael Musto living in a complete intellectual vacuum that whole time?

I find it impossible to believe that, given his exposure to bisexuality as part of the accepted fabric of queer literature, the genuine Michael Musto would question the existence of bisexuality.

I can't possibly accept that Michael Musto would be so shallow and stupid, and so that inevitably leads me to this conclusion: Michael Musto, or whoever wrote that column and signed it Michael Musto, can't be real.

And if Michael Musto isn't real, he cannot said to exist. Michael Musto must be, therefore, a nonbeing. Not only that, anyone named Michael Musto probably never is or ever has been for "real."

I feel sad for Michael Musto. He seemed like someone whom I could believe.

Or then again, maybe not so much.

Blogged on my site here.

Real benefits for real same-sex couple in DC

2009-04-08T15:03:42Z

Congratulations to Jim and Nick!

Last month, I conducted a same-sex marriage ceremony for Jim M and Nick A of Washington DC. We held it out on Ocean Beach boardwalk, bounding out from the parking lot with their two dogs to perform the ceremony in view of Long Island Sound and the mouth of Thames (pronounced thaymz) River.

Yesterday the DC Council voted unanimously to offer benefits to same-sex couples with marriage licenses from other states.

The measure is not yet law - the mayor has to sign the bill and Congress has to pass it - but this will certainly affect couples such as these newlyweds, who have been together for more than 25 years.

Please join me in offering your blessings for their union.

Kinsey 60 named Lammy finalist

2009-03-15T21:13:59Z

Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey
has been named a finalist in the Bisexual Literature category of the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards!

Congrats to all the wonderful contributors to the Kinsey retrospective, and all the excellent nominees!

See the entire list of finalists: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_finalists.html#bisexual

WARbear on the rise and fall of bear culture

2009-02-23T22:00:07Z

In his penetrating new interview on emerging homomasculinities in Männer magazine, Warbear critiques bear culture.

WARBEAR on the Bear Cult
WABEAR über den Bärenkult
Courtesy of Männer & Bruno Gmünder Editor

Männer: Do you think the "bear" as fetish and role model gained more popularity with the gay scene recently, and if so why?

Warbear
WB: I think the bear community, defined as gay male subculture, had been part of the L.g.b.t. community development in the last 20 years, expanding it in a questioning process of identity proliferation toward the calcification of its own languages. This means that nowadays we can witness the end of its cycle if we think about the l.g.b.t. community as an expression of a normalised, gentrified, pacified, western-world universalised identities where power dynamics are not discussed anymore. ...

Warbear then proceeds to rip a large segment of biobears hyperidentified with gay/bi bear culture a new one for their dumb masculinist gynophobia.

There is even a worse dynamic in which bear identity as gay male expression is based on a dialectical process by the refusal of femininity. We can see a proliferation of expressions
of inner misogyny, homophobia and transphobia between the bear community as a need for a counter-identification. To me this just an expression of weakness and homofascism that has nothing to share with the experience of being a bear, especially because masculinity can be often performed in a much stronger way by biological women and transmen better than by a gay [man] with a flannel shirt.

And concluding with a thoughtful tip of the paw:

Researchers like Ron Suresha or writers like Jeff Mann are doing a strong critical work to open new spaces of thought and narrative. And I am personally working on all of these frontiers especially focusing on masculine representation inside netporn with a strong accent on Transbears and the evolution of the f-to-m culture.

Thank you, Warbear!

Nasruddin Turns 800

2009-02-16T12:37:48Z

The following piece was published in a somewhat different form in the Winter 2008-9 issue of Hearsay, the Connecticut Storytelling Center quarterly newsletter. Reprinted on the new ronblog here.

THE IMMORTAL MULLAH NASRUDDIN TURNS 800
by Ron Jackson Suresha

When the wise old fool Mullah Nasruddin was a child, he had the habit of distracting his classmates with antics, jokes, and stories, much to the dismay of his teacher. Once, when the young Nasruddin was being particularly troublesome, his irate teacher uttered a curse: “Wherever you go, people will laugh at you.”

Now, eight centuries later, people everywhere are still laughing at Nasruddin, one of the world’s most beloved folk characters.

Mullah (teacher, learned man) Nasruddin (”MULL-ah nas-rrh-DEEN”), whose hundreds of tales, anecdotes, and jokes are often told in the tradition of wisdom stories, may or may not be an actual historical figure born in the town of Ak-sehir, Turkey, but some sources believe Nasruddin’s birth year is 1208, which made 2008 his 800th birthday.

Regardless of origin or age, Nasruddin is known throughout the Middle East, indeed throughout the world, as a comic figure of endless exploits and a sage fool who always has some pearl of wisdom to teach everyone — even if the lesson is not to act like Nasruddin.

While many countries lay claim to Nasruddin, few go as far as the city of Ak-sehir in south-central Turkey, which boasts his gravesite and holds an annual Nasruddin festival in July, where folks dress in costumes and reenact the many exploits of the character. This year the town plans a Nasruddin symposium and many other events to celebrate his 800th birthday.

The oldest Nasruddin manuscript dates from 1571 CE. While Nasruddin is known mostly as a character through pithy anecdotes, whole novels and stories have been written about him, and an animated feature film in Turkish was almost made. In the 1980s, Sufi writer, Idries Shah, published three collections of Nasruddin stories by Octagon Press (now out of print), which have proved the most popular English-language editions.

The themes in Nasruddin anecdotes are woven into the oral tradition and folklore of a number of nations and express the national imaginations of a variety of cultures. While there are dozens of published collections of the many jokes attributed to him, today most people encounter his tales in the context of their daily lives. In many regions across the Far and Middle East and the Turkish diaspora, the tales of Nasruddin are told and retold endlessly in the teahouses and caravanserais, can be heard in every home and on the radio, and are still quoted or alluded to frequently in daily conversation, whenever a quick injection of humor and/or wisdom is necessary.

In Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel of modern Afghani life, The Kite Runner, we find two allusions to Nasruddin. “There wasn’t an Afghan in the world who didn’t know a few jokes about the bumbling mullah,” the main character observes. Then a tale is told:

Did you hear about the time the Mullah had placed a heavy bag on his shoulders and was riding his donkey? Someone on the street said, “Why don’t you put the bag on the donkey?” And he said, “That would be cruel, I’m heavy enough already for the poor thing.”

Although most Nasruddin stories depict an early small-village setting, the tales (like Aesop’s Fables) deal with timeless concepts of the human condition. They purvey a pithy folk wisdom that triumphs over all trials and tribulations. The anecdotes attributed to Nasruddin reveal a satirical personality with a sharp tongue that spared no one, not even the most tyrannical Sultan of his time. He is the symbol of Middle-Eastern satirical comedy and the rebellious feelings of people against the dynasties that once ruled that part of the world.

Superficially, many Nasruddin tales are presented as jokes or humorous anecdotes told by one party when another party makes the kind of boneheaded error that Nasruddin parodies. Inherent in a Nasruddin story, however, is its purpose of pointing out the way not to act, the way not to think and behave and treat others. Its moral, played out in literary form, could be portrayed as a man riding his little gray donkey only facing his donkey’s rear end, literally ass-backwards. One should, of course, know better than to ride backwards, or to do the many foolish things that Nasruddin does, but in real life often one does not always “know better.”

While it is true that most people who tell Nasruddin stories in bazaars and around dinner tables use them for the pleasure of an enjoyable tale, many Nasruddin jokes and anecdotes are also used as teaching stories in the Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern and Western mystic traditions. Often the humor of a Nasruddin tale contains a paradox or conundrum whose illogic occupies the rational mind with its surface meaning while more spiritual concepts – the intuitive, gestalt mentality that the mystic is attempting to engage – are awakened in the subconscious. Contemplation of the enigma propels the consciousness of the student, and the mystic, a little further along the long, dusty road to spiritual realization. And by opening the listener’s heart with laughter, the tales create a space for a wise thought to enter.

Because of his teacher’s “curse,” tradition dictates that at least seven Nasruddin tales be told at one sitting so that his humor can infect one properly, thus allowing the listeners enough time to relax and see the humor even in an otherwise extremely stressful situation. Thus paradox, unexpectedness, and unconventional wisdom are all expressed in the irrepressible humor and inspirational humanity of the immortal Mullah Nasruddin, who at the venerable age of 800, proves himself a timeless literary character.

Ron Suresha, author or editor of seven books, is a new member of the CSC, and lives in New London. www.suresha.com

Kinsey Zero though Sixty nominated for Lammies

2009-01-26T06:18:57Z

The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the nominees for their 21st annual awards "for excellence in literature" — commonly known as the Lammies.

Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey, edited by Ron Jackson Suresha, published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Journals, was nominated in two categories: Bisexual Literature, and GLBTQ Anthologies.

According to the LLF website, "A shortlist of finalists will be chosen for their achievement," most likely by the end of March. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in NYC in May.

Journal of Bisexuality (8:3-4): Kinsey Zero through Sixty

2009-01-13T22:33:14Z

Cover for Kinsey Zero through Sixty

You might be interested in checking out my written contributions to the Journal of Bisexuality special Kinsey retrospective, now available individually from Informaworld:

Kinsey Zero through Sixty, Journal of Bisexuality 8:3-4
	*Commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred C. Kinsey, et al.* 169 – 172 Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501355

	Bisexuality in the Kinsey-Klein Continuum: An Interview with Kinsey Institute Scholar Dr. John Bancroft 191 – 195 Authors: Jonathan Alexander; Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501488
	Kinsey and the Case for Bisexual Civil Rights: An Interview with Yale Legal Scholar Kenji Yoshino 197 – 202 Authors: Ron Jackson Suresha; Jonathan Alexander DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501496
	“Properly Placed before the Public”: Publication and Translation of the Kinsey Reports 203 – 228 Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501520

Let's Read about (Bi)Sex: A Kinsey Bisexuality Reading/Viewing List

333 – 336

Author: Ron Jackson Suresha

DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501983

Bear of the Year

2009-01-06T14:17:51Z

Ron was voted
Bear of the Year
in The Complete Bear's 2008 "Best of the Bears" contest!

No, this is not an illustration of Ron, though there is a resemblance.

Thanks to Jeff for the nomination and to everyone who voted!

Check out the complete list of other categories here.

Check out The Complete Bear's interview with Ron!

IU researchers revisit male bisexuality

2008-12-18T17:17:50Z

The Journal of Bisexuality edition of Kinsey Zero through Sixty is out and available online.

Researchers collaborate with last living member of the original Kinsey team, 92-year-old Paul Gebhard, to revisit The Kinsey Report and studies of bisexuality 60 years later. Gebhard: "'Overall, Kinsey would be disappointed.'...Gebhard said Kinsey and his research team avoided looking for causes for sexual orientation out of concern that the findings could be used against people. Through sexual history interviews, they instead sought to capture snapshots of human sexual experience, which proved to be fluid, according to their research, with individual sexual preferences or orientation often moving along the heterosexual-homosexual scale during one's lifetime."

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9468.html?emailID=9

News Release

IU researchers revisit male bisexuality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 16, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The landmark Sexual Behavior in the Human Male report revealed major insights into bisexual behavior and orientation -- without even using the word "bisexual" -- when it was published 60 years ago by pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey and his research team at Indiana University.

Brian Dodge, Center for Sexual Health Promotion

The iconic "Kinsey Report" unveiled the seven-point Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale, commonly known as the Kinsey Scale, as a tool to gauge a person's sexual orientation or experiences with both sexes.

While the Kinsey Scale has become a fixture in sexuality textbooks and even popular culture, the rating system and Kinsey's findings regarding male bisexuality, and cultural influences on male sexuality in general, have largely been overlooked by today's sex researchers, according to an article in the December issue of the Journal of Bisexuality.

For this article, which is part of a special issue recognizing the 60th anniversary of the first "Kinsey Report," sex researchers from the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at IU collaborated with Paul H. Gebhard, an original member of Kinsey's research team and later a long-time director of The Kinsey Institute at IU, to reflect on research involving male bisexuality since the "Kinsey Report" and potential directions for future research.

"Overall, Kinsey would be disappointed," Gebhard told the researchers, Michael Reece and Brian Dodge, director and associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

Kinsey believed that culture plays a key role in a person's sexual behavior. Gebhard said Kinsey and his research team avoided looking for causes for sexual orientation out of concern that the findings could be used against people. Through sexual history interviews, they instead sought to capture snapshots of human sexual experience, which proved to be fluid, according to their research, with individual sexual preferences or orientation often moving along the heterosexual-homosexual scale during one's lifetime.

Since Kinsey's day, Gebhard noted that many researchers have moved to a medical model of sex research -- looking for genetic causes of homosexuality, often conducting research solely in the context of sexually transmitted disease transmissions or in an attempt to define what is "normal," usually using heterosexuality as the reference point. The place for bisexual individuals in sexuality research is vague, with research generally categorizing people either "homosexual" or "heterosexual," giving scant recognition to the continuum described by the sexual orientation scale.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing that research is evolving," Dodge said. "Biology and genetics, of course, are part of the picture. But we seem to be swinging in the direction where some scientists are using these as universal explanatory constructs and trying to minimize, or even negate, the role of an individual's culture and environment, aspects that Kinsey thought were most important."

Gebhard, 92, is the last living member of the original Kinsey research team. He is professor-emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at IU and served as director of the Kinsey Institute from 1956-1982, when it was called the Institute for Sex Research. He lives in southern Indiana.

He and his co-authors offered the following suggestions for future research focusing on male bisexuality:

Move away from a disease-focused lens. Dodge said the medical model of sexuality research has established heterosexuality as the norm even though Kinsey's findings indicated it was natural for people to move across the Kinsey Scale throughout their lives.
Improve sampling methods for bisexuality research. Dodge acknowledged that finding "bisexual" participants for studies is often challenging but important, requiring innovative techniques. All too often, however, researchers recruit participants from predominantly "gay-identified" venues, like bars, which are considered convenient yet lack the bisexual individuals that researchers seek.
Revive the concept of the Kinsey continuum. Dodge suggested the need for a revival of the discussion surrounding this concept in research circles, as well as popular culture. "The implications of Kinsey's findings with regard to this scale are significant," Dodge said. "People should not be pigeon-holed into social categories, such as homosexual, heterosexual or even bisexual. This scale comes as close as anything I've seen to help with an understanding of where people are currently and across the lifespan." For more information about the scale, visit http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-hhscale.html.

NL People's Forum Holiday Soiree!

2008-12-11T11:16:15Z

NL Peoples Forum HOLIDAY SOIREE!

Please join the New London Peoples Forum for a Holiday Potluck Party!

With special guest, local author and editor, Ron Suresha, who will speak about his latest article in the Journal of Bisexuality honoring the sexagennial (60th) of the publication of the Kinsey Report.

For book details: http://suresha.com/writing/books/kinsey/index.php

Monday, December 15, 2008
6:00 - 8:00pm
All Souls Unitarian Church
19 Jay Street
New London, CT
(http://www.allsoulsnewlondon.org)

Please bring your favorite dish, dessert, or beverage.

http://newlondonpf.blogspot.com/2008/12/nl-peoples-forum-holiday-soiree.html

Kinsey Sexagennial Release Party!

2008-12-07T07:58:36Z

Kinsey Sexagennial Release Party!

Sunday, December 21, 2008
2:00pm - 3:30pm
Golden Street Gallery
New London, CT 06320
8604440659
goldenst@goldenstreetgallery.com

Join us for a literary reception to celebrate the Kinsey Sexagennial - the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Kinsey Report!

Presenting a special double issue of the Journal of Bisexuality:
Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey
Ron Jackson Suresha, guest editor

In honor of Alfred C. Kinsey's monumental scientific publishing achievement, the Journal of Bisexuality is presenting a double issue focusing on Alfred C. Kinsey's work, life, and legacy, and his effect on and relationship with bisexuality and all aspects of bisexual culture.

Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey is scheduled for December 15, 2008 publication by Taylor & Francis Journals.

Contributors to this stellar collection of outstanding writing include the last surviving member of Kinsey's original research team, Dr Paul H. Gebhard, as well as leading names in the fields of sex research, GLBTIQA activism, and bisexual writing.

This double issue of Journal of Bisexuality (8:3-4), Jonathan Alexander, editor, is being published with the independent sponsorship of the American Institute of Bisexuality, a nonprofit organization unaffiliated with The Kinsey Institute or Indiana University.

Complete book details at:
http://suresha.com/writing/books/kinsey/index.php

Complete event details at:
http://suresha.com/events/events.php

RJS nominated for "Bear of the Year"

2008-11-17T11:15:28Z

No sash, no stuffed toy, no engraved plaque, no acceptance speech, no sexual favors — just glory and honor everlasting?

Guess I could live with that.

Thanks to the ever-delightful Jeff of Bearcastle Blog for nominating me in the "Bear of da Year" category of the Best of da Bears' contest conducted (three years now?) by the fine folks at The Complete Bear, who recently interviewed me here.

There's no Best Bear Book category this year, as in past, and it seems that musicians and visual artists have been clumped together.

So trip on over right now to the 2008 Best of the Bears nomination pages, and don't forget while you're there voting for your own Wolfbear to also cast your votes for:

Best Bear Blog: SpunkDaddy’s Beard

Best Bear Film: Bear Run – The Movie

Best Bear Club: Northeast Ursamen

Best Bear Accommodations: Auld Sweet Olive B&B, New Orleans, LA

Voting will run through 12/31/08. Send your votes to info@thecompletebear.com

And thanks for voting — early and often!

New Yorker cartoon caption also-ran

2008-11-16T21:26:02Z

New Yorker cartoon caption also-ran:
http://www.newyorker.com/images/2008/10/27/p233/081027_contest_p233.jpg

"Honey, I don't think this is what Bill O'Reilly means by saying 'Preserve traditional marriage'."

Daddyhunt Blogs

2008-11-14T16:57:48Z

We have noticed the advent on several male connection websites of some wonderful new advice columns and blogs.

There's Michael Alvear's fabulous sex advice column on Manhunt.com.

And there are my pals M. Christian, Frank Strona, Kirk Read, and R. Jackson,, who are writing for Daddyhunt.

Nice to see these sites have some smart, fun, free content . . . if you're not already a member, join up and check them out.

Here's a Google gadget with a DH blog feed:
http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=http://www.daddyhunt.com/blog/feed&source=imag

"Wedding bells are ringing ... for me and my same-sex partner. . ."

2008-11-13T00:01:22Z

Connecticut is the new marriage equality state!

Wednesday, November 12th, New Haven
Photos by Ron Suresha

Wedding celebrants gather outside New Haven City Hall

"I do!"

Peg Oliveira, Jen Vickery, and their 3-month old, Willow, following their wedding ceremony held outside New Haven City Hall.

Connecticut Marriage Day activities

2008-11-11T13:08:52Z

I'll be there with my bubbles and cameras.

Where should I go to be part of the celebrations on November 12th?
Love Makes a Family and GLAD will be coordinating festivities at two locations in Connecticut--New Haven and West Hartford. Bring your cameras, balloons, bubbles and flowers to New Haven City Hall (we'll gather on the sidewalk at 165 Church Street) at 10am on Wednesday, November 12th to celebrate with the first same-sex couples getting their marriage licenses!

Then, at 2:30pm at West Hartford Town Hall (gather outside at 50 South Main Street), the celebration continues as plaintiff couple Beth Kerrigan and Jody Mock get their marriage license there. We expect both of these locations to be major media events--be part of the crowd that witneses history! You won't want to miss it--plan on taking the day off!

Media release: Bear Bones Books to publish works for Bear community

2008-10-09T11:11:51Z

Bear Bones Books
Media queries contact: Ron Suresha
POB 2278, New London, CT 06320 — bearsoup*gmail.com (replace * with @ before mailing)
For release October 8, 2008

Bear Bones Books to publish works for Bear community

Lethe Press is pleased to announce that the first book-publishing imprint intended for readers in the gay and bisexual “Bear” community has been initiated and will produce its first title by year’s end.

Ron Jackson Suresha will serve as the acquisitions and developmental editor for the Bear Bones Books line. Suresha has been a member of the Bear community since its mid-1980s inception, and has written, published, and broadcasted extensively on emergent queer masculinities. Suresha stated, “I’m excited to be working with Lethe Press, which has published important gay books since 2001. Together we can now offer gay and bi Bears and other readers the best literature on the subject.”

The imprint will initially re-release editions of classic titles by stellar names in the Bear literary community, and eventually issue new works. The inaugural title by Bear Bones Books will be Lambda Literary Award-winning writer Jeff Mann’s collection of essays, Edge: Travels of an Appalachian Leatherbear, published in 2003 by the now-defunct Harrington Park Press. A revised edition of Suresha’s nonfiction book, Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions, originally published 2002 by Alyson Publications, acclaimed in the Village Voice as “required reading for anyone interested in gender studies,” is scheduled for release in Winter 2009. The imprint will also publish new works for the ursine adult male reader. The first front-list title will be an anthology of Bear-themed fiction, planned for release in Fall 2009.

The national quarterly magazine, A Bear’s Life, conducted a survey indicating more than 1.4 million Bear-identified men in the United States alone. Bear Bones Books looks forward to meeting the needs of Bears and others hungry for thoughtful, exciting writing about their unique homomasculine lifestyle.

The imprint and other Lethe Press titles are available through both brick-and-mortar and online booksellers.

Partial transcript of Warbear interview

2008-10-02T20:35:30Z

Partial transcript of Warbear's interview for "Sex City" on Saturday, Sept. 20th, on CIUT-FM in Toronto, Canada.

Download Part 1 audio here.
Download Part 2 audio here.
The section on Bears on Bears begins about 3:30 into Part 2.

I was listening to a concert and [afterward] I was hanging around a little bit. So I touched base with the merchandising desk point. I saw this tough man at the back who had all the stereotypical Bear coordinates: baseball hat, flannel shirt, 501 Levis, with even a red handkerchief on the left. He even had fat hairy hands. He was moving T-shirts from one part to another. I was very involved with this kind of imagery. And so I was thinking how I could hook up with him. What happened was that he turned, and I saw that he had breasts like in Fight Club. "Omigod!" So now I questioned what was exciting me. Because I was really excited. I was already doing like transfers [fantasies], like asking for a T-shirt to try to get myself naked and stupid shit like that. But what had happened was that it was not a he. So that produced a destabilization and even an uncanny experience. I started to question myself, what I was feeling a Bear is, and what was exciting me.

I found the answer in a very nice book that was produced by a friend of mine – his name is Ron Suresha - a long time ago, he wrote and published this book called Bears on Bears. And in the last chapter of this book, there is an interview in which he tries to define new scenarios of bears, namely, the transbear identity. He organized it like a [round]table - a cross-interview and a dialogue with a lot of different people that were experiencing the transgender perspective on bears. He interviewed a FTM bartender of the Lone Star Saloon.

The Lone Star Saloon is perceived as the Bear Mecca. Actually it's quite boring to go there since everything is so structured and identified and nothing ever really happens, but it had a very important role during the '90s for the Bear socialization. If you were a Bear and you knew what was going on, and how all the thing developed, you had to go there to touch the Mecca.

The interesting thing that happened in that place is that they took an FTM [female-to-male transgender] to work at the bar as a bartender who identified himself as a bear. The interesting thing was that he did not have a cock. Not having a penis means that being a Bear is a gender mediation, it's a cultural construction that filters your relationship with other Bears.

So what happens when Bears understand that you are not biologically a Bear? That was the main question. And the main question defined Bearness as social mediation through the representation of masculinity that was not tied to the representation of a genital masculinity. So the gender issues start to be quite important in the Bear scenario and created a lot of conflict because most of the Bears identify themselves in a very traditional, genderphobic way, but at the same time there is a new wave of FTMs who are identifying more and more as Bears. Once you bring down identity barriers, everything can happen — it can even happen that you can identify as a gay man. I know a lot of FTMs who identify themselves as Bears, as gay men, and as bottoms.

So going back to our focus, the concept of Bear is expressed through this Bearness. You don’t have to show a big penis, and a big belly, and a big tempest of hair, and a big beard, to be a Bear. But it depends how you symbolically mediate your masculinity in terms of social relationships. Coming back, the point is the transbear phenomenon ... has had a lot of development, even if they are invisible.