The audience present for the 55 Upitty launch at the Red Rattler Theatre last week ranged widely in terms of age, but the usual situation of the old being there to cheer on the young was totally reversed. Mystery Carnage, the former lead singer of Eighties feminist punk band Stray Dags got the evening going with a few of her stick-it-to-the man songs.
55upitty.com is a new website dedicated to empowering queer women over the age of 55, by encouraging them to tell their own stories. The site is an ongoing ‘living archive’, as Teresa Savage, one of its co-creators, calls it. So far there are seven profiles live, each deeply individual – a fact which is apparent both in the frank interviews, and stunning photo shoots by Viv McGregor, who is the other half of the brains behind the site.
At the launch, each of the seven women profiled on the site to date (last names are not used on the website, nor were they given on the night, so they will not be used in this review either) were present to participate in a structured panel discussion, moderated by Teresa Savage. The second it started – perhaps even beforehand, thanks to Jude, sitting in the middle, comfortably reclined in her seat, wearing a shirt with enormous lettering that stated ‘THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE’ – it was obvious these women were not to be messed with.
Kaye, who was one of the original ‘78ers’ – one of the people who proudly marched at the very first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978 – said that particular event isn’t prominent in her mind, because she remembers so many of the other demonstrations she went to around that time more strongly. Some of them were ‘blood baths’ she said.
When homosexuality was illegal, people like her – and all the other women on the panel – spent much time and energy fighting for equal rights. They were at the 55 Upitty launch to share some of their memories for the younger generations, and this reviewer was blown away by every speaker, no matter how prepared I thought I was for the occasion.
Gail, another 78er, shared her memories of being arrested and shoved in an overcrowded jail cell at the original Sydney Mardi Gras demonstration. She has been a queer feminist all her life, and until just a few years ago ran a bookshop in Lilyfield which she said people would refer to as ‘the world wide web, before the internet existed’.
Liz, who published the first anthology of lesbian art (and possibly the only one, she said, since postmodernism ‘swept in behind lesbian art and took over’ so soon after she’d written her book) took the intriguing yet very positive view that queers tend to be very creative people, as a direct symptom of the fact they live on the ‘outer’. She talked about the fact that because gay women don’t have the same ‘guidelines’ by which to live their lives as heterosexuals do, they can ultimately live their lives in whatever way they find is right and comfortable for them – not that it comes without its challenges.
Proving also that her age was no barrier to fitness or living life to the fullest, Teresa coaxed Liz into talking about her recent entry in the sport of body building. She has travelled to the Gay Games twice, and told an amazed audience of other competitors she had met there who were over the age of 90. She won a gold medal herself. ‘Why do we think our bodies will disintegrate as we get older?’ she asked with a warm smile. She is living proof that if a body is in good condition, it can be kept that way regardless of age.
Lyn, who didn’t even look 50, also had a lot to say about how capable the body is, and that age is not a reason to think life is over. A doctor, she said that often there are ‘life prescriptions’ which are much more important than any drugs a person can take. Also the only non-Caucasian face on the panel, Lyn made the excellent point that we mustn’t think of the queer community as all white. Racism still exists in Australia, she said, even though it has changed somewhat over the years. She felt it was something below the surface which could be inflamed easily at any moment.
Ludo, a thoughtful woman with lots to say about the housing crisis for older single women, who also questioned how queers will be treated at death (as she considered being sent off to the underworld by a religious group a fate ‘worse than death!’) also revealed her wonderfully liberated feelings about relationships. Quite simply, she’s had enough of them. She reserves the right for herself to have a ‘self-defined sexuality’ – a concept that feminist groups claimed for themselves many years ago, and a major picket in the fence protecting women from patriarchal male ways.
Maree Cunnington, the wild star of the Seventies known as Dada Mama, took to the stage to finish the night off with some excellent entertainment. Under her thundering, sexy, velvety voice, the room was buzzing with excitement and energy; a powerful discussion had begun.
Women over 55 are often individuals of great experience and wisdom. Queer women over 55 have these traits and more; they have a great many brave feats under their belt too, and they notch up more of them every day. They are warriors who have every right to retire and relax, but from what this reviewer saw, not many of them are too interested in resting on their laurels!
55 Upitty launch
Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville
21 February
55upitty.com
Sydney Mardi Gras
www.mardigras.org.au
8 February – 3 March
