The College Fix

Months after the University of South Carolina Upstate cancelled a staging of How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days Or Less from its Bodies of Knowledge symposium, following threats from state lawmakers, the controversial play will instead be presented tomorrow at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., the school says.

Performer Leigh Hendrix will start with

a master class for students in an experimental living-and-learning community called “Theatre of Justice” that will explore such issues as race, gender, sexuality and power. 

Hendrix also will perform her acclaimed work “How to be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less” that evening at 7 in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building, followed by a panel discussion on politicized performance and academic and artistic freedom. It is free and open to the public. 

Here’s the premise of the show:

Motivational speaker and expert lesbian Butchy McDyke deftly guides her captive audience in an exploration of self-discovery and first love, coming out, lesbian sex, queer politics, and a really important Reba McEntire song as they learn to confidently shout, ‘I’m a big ‘ol’ dyke!’” 

Hendrix’s evening performance will be followed by a panel discussion about academic and artistic freedom. The panel will include faculty from Wofford, the University of South Carolina Upstate and elsewhere. 

Academic and artistic freedom aside, I have a few questions for Ms. Hendrix.

First, how do you teach someone to “be” a lesbian? Is it a just matter of clothing and vocal register? Aren’t we told that homosexual people know from an early age they aren’t straight, casting into doubt the 10-day transition period? Does she believe that sexuality may be more fluid than her allies, who have based an entire cultural and legal agenda on a view of sexuality as rigid and predetermined?

And isn’t it a tad hypocritical to give an audience guilt-free permission to use a litany of gay slurs and celebrate a highly stereotypical view of lesbians? Sex columnist Dan Savage couldn’t even talk about reclaiming slurs as a form of empowerment, using “tranny” as an example, without sparking a backlash at the University of Chicago this spring (this incident is also mentioned in the new book Freedom From Speech).

h/t Campus Reform

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