Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words and Gay Worlds by Judy Grahn

By Al Preston

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“In Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words and Gay Worlds I am suggesting parameters and characteristics of homosexual culture as I have experienced it and as others have spoken or written about it. In doing this I have often used stereotypes, even derogatory ones, very deliberately, as points of entry into the history, for something about stereotypes is usually true and therefore open to study.” (page XIV)

            Since the beginning of gay liberation in the 1970s and 1980s, queer folks, especially academics, have been searching for ‘proof’ of queerness throughout time. Especially places that welcomed queerness into their society.

            Many often found that queerness as we would define it (IE; a sexual or gender identity that does not follow or align with a strict male/female binary system) existed in all cultures at all times in all kinds of ways.

            Judy Grahn wanted to share what she had found in this search of the post for others like her. Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words and Gay Worlds, written 1984, covers a number of cultures and peoples I either haven’t heard of before or have heard of but have yet to dive into deeply before.

            In the 80s, as queer scholars were writing all about possible LGBT+ identities of the past, a lot of biases and assumptions were made about those cultures. Today, historians are very careful to not apply modern words and viewpoints onto people of the past where culture and society were so different that they may never have identified with our defined identities today.

            A lot of queer folks in the 80s were not so careful. In their defense, there weren’t nearly as many words or definitions or identities for them to talk about. Many of these scholars also weren’t historians. Grahn herself is a scholar, but her specialty is in poetry and literature. The goal also wasn’t to argue over nuances. They wanted to prove that being LGB (and often without the T, this is the 80s) is a fundamental part of human society from the beginning of time. So, of course they go to great lengths to define Two Spirit Indigenous Americans as lesbian or gay instead of a more specific definition that relates to those folks more.

            I will give Grahn that she acknowledges her biases and makes sure to specify that, unlike her contemporaries, she is not arguing that being LGB is superior or better or more powerful than being straight. Instead, she’s arguing that being queer is normal, human, historic.

            She wants to give light to the queer folks of yore who had functions and designated jobs within their societies. Those who had respect and love from their community just for being themselves. This angle, gives this particular telling of queer folks of the past a sense of grounded-ness.

            By this, I mean, it’s really easy for writers to research all about a queer group of people in time. Take, for example, the various gender and sexual identities of Indigenous Americans as previously mentioned. I’ve read a handful of books from the 80s about the different lesbian, gay, and transgender peoples of the Americas and how great and powerful and wonderful they were in comparison to straight Europeans.

            That’s a disingenuous, biased, and limited view of the reality. Yes, there were many peoples in pre-colonial Americas who were third genders or in same-sex relationships, but sometimes they were welcomed, other times they were viewed as ‘other’ or ‘evil’. Yes, some held positions of power or religious importance, others did not. They were people, which Grahn, with the same subject, handles with much more nuance.

            That’s something I really liked about this book. However, this is just one purpose of this book. Grahn isn’t just writing this to educate the reader about queer folks of the past. She interjects with personal stories about her experience as a lesbian. A lot of the social function of the LGBT+ people she talks about is mythical or religious in nature. She relates to that work in her stories, often talking about a mythical and magical things she has experienced in her many lesbian and personal experiences.

            So, this is not only about the past, but also her present. It’s about how she relates to these long dead queer folks and how she wants to carry on their legacy. Yet again, that is not all there is to this book.

            Throughout, in italic sections, Grahn talks directly to her former lover, Yvonne. As her first love and the person who encouraged her to be out of the closet, be a poet, and strive to always learn more things, Yvonne is also central to the story. These sections explain how much Yvonne would like some bits of information or how Grahn gathered that information.

            At first, I thought they were part of the more personal aspects of the book, the parts dedicated to Grahn relating her personal experience with queerness. About half-way through the book, I began to realize that there was more to these sections and that they were in the past tense. Then, finally, near the end, Grahn reveals to us that Yvonne died of a medical issue some time before the book was published.

            Altogether, this book does three jobs really well. It’s an educational romp through time where Grahn tells us about women led cultures of pre-Roman Europe. The mythic stories of pre-colonization America. The magic ascribed to being queer in many of these cultures, the ability to transcend gender lines and perhaps speak to the Gods.

            Meanwhile, it’s also a personal story about being a lesbian and finding these connections to the past. Enforcing the idea that being queer didn’t just come out of nowhere and that we’ve always been around and perhaps had our own roles in societies. It’s about coming out and finding oneself, sometimes by looking backwards at the people before us. This allows us to find our own identities and feel meaning in how some of the words we used to describe ourselves came to be.

            Finally, it is a piece of the grieving process. Yvonne inspired Grahn to write this book. She inspired Grahn to become who she is. In part, this book is also a part of the grief Grahn felt losing Yvonne too soon.

            I really liked this book. I am skeptical about some of Grahn’s sources and her theories, but I liked seeing her evidence and arguments. I also really enjoyed her making connections to people of the past as it’s something I’ve done myself.

            This has been a brief summary for a book doing a lot of heavy lifting. However, it’s an experience to read this book and I feel I can’t do that experience justice.

            I highly recommend reading this book. It does talk frankly about sex and bodies, but for the most part it is an easy read and an inspiring one.