Guest post: Iranian LGBT Movement Without the B

by Zeynab Alsadat Peyghambarzadeh (originally published here)

Zeynab Alsadat Peyghambarzadeh started her voluntary activities in the field of gender and sexuality in 2003. She also worked as a researcher, social activist, and journalist. In 2011, Peyghambarzadeh relocated to Sweden and continued her activities. She is one of the co-founders of the Persian website “Dojensgara” (which means bisexual in Persian). Peyghambarzadeh holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Tehran University, and a master’s degree in gender studies from the Lund University in Sweden.

Credit: dojensgara.com
[Image: a rainbow-colored infinity sign, superimposed with a bisexual flag with a bisexual infinity symbol in the middle of it, and writing in Persian in white.]

Bisexuality has received minimal attention from the Persian media and journals on LGBT human rights in recent years. Iranian bisexuals have no voice of their own and have been judged based on homosexuals’ stereotypes. This paper aims to present and examine these stereotypes and judgmental thoughts about Iranian bisexuals and also the critical reactions that bisexuals and even a group of homosexuals have had to these stereotypes.

Help me get to NYC!

I’ve been nominated for two literary awards, and I’d really like to go to NYC to attend the ceremonies. I’m fundraising now in hopes that I would manage to get there. Please share widely, and if you can – donate!

Visit my GoFundMe page for all the details:
http://www.gofundme.com/85hpos

How to be an ally to your straight friends [satire]

This is a translation of a post in Hebrew, written by my friend/lover Dan Veg (who can be found and followed on tumblr: anarchapansexual).

This post on Tumblr.

The ever increasing trend of oppression against straight people in LGBT and queer communities has been worrying any person with a fragment of a conscious left unharmed by extreme heterophobic propaganda. It’s time for us to stop it! It’s time that we learn how to stop insulting straight people, how not to question their heterosexuality, how to learn to love their privileges (Because hating is bad! And it gives you ulcers!), and in short: how to be their allies.

Credit: superqueerartsyblog.tumblr.com

Tiny update

I was profiled on the wonderful genderqueer blog Genderfork. Feel free to check it out :)

Also: this week I’ll be starting to write my book chapter about bisexuality and feminism, so expect new snippets soon.

My annual WordPress review for 2011 – OMG!

WordPress sends bloggers a little summary report every new year. I just received mine, and I am deeply, deeply humbled.

In particular, I looked at the list of countries that my readers came from, and was amazed. Apparently, this blog is read world-wide, with readers on every continent! (With an unfortunate, but unsurprising, bias towards white, English-speaking countries).

So I want to take this opportunity to thank my readers – whoever you are, wherever you are (and whether or not you celebrate the Gregorian new year). Thank you! I am deeply touched. I hope I can write more things that you would like, that would challenge, excite, infuriate and make those tiny steps into the revolution, in this coming year as well :)

<3

Click here to see the complete report.

New comments policy

Since I’ve had the chance to delete a few comments lately, I felt like I needed one. So there :)

Read all about it here, and enjoy.

Biphobia: The Gay Side

I found this on change.org, and it is very heartening, especially in light of some backlash responses to the monosexual privilege checklist. This isn’t perfect, of course, but it’s a wonderful start. Credit goes to Daniel Vivacqua. Link to origin is here.

So I’m going to come right out and admit it — I’m biphobic. It’s not something to be proud of and it’s something I know I need to work on, which is the reason I decided to write this piece. The more I read about bisexuality, the more I realize that I’m wrong and the more I come to terms with the reasons why I might feel the way I do.

I picked up this book, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, and started reading parts of it. I realized that biphobia comes from two populations — us queers and them there straights. I know that my biphobia comes from this idea that bisexual people can, at any time, shed the weight of being queer and live a heterosexual life. It’s as if they get the benefits when they want them but don’t have to bear the burden if they don’t want to.