Hello —
I am the Programming Chair for the Butch Voices Conference, to be held in Oakland from August 20 to 23 of this year. Butch Voices is a grassroots organization dedicated to all self-identified butches, studs, aggressives, those of similar identities, and their allies. We can be found online at www.butchvoices.com.
It is extremely important to us that the POC community be heard and represented, and we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE QWOC’s members to submit ideas/proposals to the Programming Committee.
We really hope to see you in Oakland this August.
I thank you in advance for your time and attention, and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Nico Carbellano
Programming Chair
We invite you to join us for three days of workshops, panels, and performances intended to reflect the diversity and complexity of butch gender, identity, and action. On the one hand, butch, stud, and aggressive are hyper-visible identities; on the other, our voices too often go unheard or are misunderstood.
This conference is an opportunity for us to speak, both to one another and to our allies. To talk about why we identify in the ways we do; about how we can tell our stories when the words available to us simply don’t fit; about masculinity and maleness, femininity and femaleness, areas of overlap, and areas of none of the above; about sex and embodiment; about community and about placelessness; about homelessness and about the search for home.
Submissions of all kinds are welcome, though we especially welcome those that grapple with difficult questions:
• Desire and relationships
• Various “border wars” (and what we can do about them)
• Drag, passing, and failing to pass
• Misogyny
• Penis envy (or our lack thereof)
• Community-building
• Race
• Class
• Trans-generational dialogue
• Culture, faith, and nation.
We particularly encourage proposals by and for people of color, working-class people, and people with disabilities. We hope to draw participants from across disciplinary, social, and formal boundaries. Relevant proposals from non-butch, stud, or aggressive presenters and allies are also welcome.
Contributions may include, but are not limited to:
• Workshops
• Performances
• Presentations
• Skill shares
• Photography/ visual art
• Video
To apply to be a presenter, please submit your proposal (no more than 500-750 words) and a completed submissions form to us atprogramming@butchvoices.com.
Submission deadline is June 1, 2009.
To learn more about us and our mission, and to contact us with any questions, comments or concerns, please find us atwww.butchvoices.com.