Patrick Califia

Patrick Califia (born 1954), formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice, is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transitioning, Califia was a lesbian and wrote for many years a sex advice column for the gay men's leather magazine Drummer. His writings explore sexuality and gender identity, and have included lesbian erotica and works about BDSM subculture. Califia is a member of the third-wave feminism movement.

Early life Califia was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1954 and assigned female at birth. He grew up in Utah in a Latter Day Saint family, His father was a construction worker and his mother a housewife. Califia has stated he did not have a good childhood, saying that his father was an angry and violent man and his mother a pious woman.

Califia recalled one incident where he told his parents he wanted to be a train engineer, and they told him he couldn't because he was a girl. He replied that he wasn't a girl. Califia began to evade his parents, and became involved in the women's liberation and anti-war movements. After moving to San Francisco he began writing for a magazine and joined a lesbian separatist movement. In 1975 he spoke in favor of sadomasochism and found himself excluded from the lesbian feminist community.

Education Califia began attending the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1971. He has also said he has a master's degree.

Career and honors In 1980, Califia published his first book—Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality, a non-fiction work for lesbians which described, in a non-judgmental tone, butch-femme sexuality, and BDSM safety and practice. Subsequently, he published work in lesbian, gay and feminist magazines, including a long-running sex advice column in The Advocate.

Califia is "one of [the] earliest champions of lesbian sadomasochistic sex" whose "work has been taught on college campuses across the country and abroad."

Califia co-founded Samois, a lesbian-feminist BDSM organization based in San Francisco that existed from 1978 to 1983, and shifted his focus to the lesbian experience of BDSM. The Samois Collective produced, with Califia's contributions, the book Coming to Power, published by Alyson Publications. Coming To Power, according to Heather Findlay, editor-in-chief of lesbian magazine Girlfriends, was "one of the most transformative lesbian books, [foretelling] the end of a certain puritanism that had dominated the community. It was the first articulate defense of lesbian S/M, and that was the end of it."

In 1989, Califia and Geoff Mains received the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work from the National Leather Association International.

In 1992, Califia received the Woman of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

Also in 1992, Califia founded the leatherwomen's quarterly Venus Infers and published "Feminism, Paedophilia, and Children's Rights" in a special women's issue of Paidika, a journal focused on scholarly studies about pedophilia and specifically pederasty. Califia stated in 1991 that he 'support Paidika and enjoyed working with the editors of this special issue'. Califia . In 'Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex', Califia explained that he had criticized age of consent laws because they were inconsistent from state to state and applied disproportionately to gay men, and criticized 'the vague and far-reaching language of child pornography laws'; he stated that he had previously 'argued that the existing laws against sexual assault should be enforced whenever a minor complained of unwanted sexual attention or violence. I believed that if adults would listen, children were capable of telling us what kind of attention they wanted or when something harmful had happened to them.' Califia also stated in 2000 that he had previously supported the pedophilia advocacy organization North American Man/Boy Love Association, but clarified that 'I don't agree with NAMBLA, because their position is that age-of-consent laws should be repealed, and there are members of that organization who think it's OK for prepubescent children to have sexual relationships with adults, and I just cannot agree with that. I think it's developmentally inappropriate.' This was one of many ways that Califia had reconsidered his previous stances on the age of consent and adult / child sex: 'I was naive about the developmental issues that make sex between adults and prepubescent children unacceptable,'; 'I've become much more cynical about the ability of adults to listen to children'; 'Perhaps because I am a parent now, I am less idealistic about the possibilities for an equal adult / child relationship'. He also disclosed his own childhood experiences as a contributing factor to his previous views: 'Today, I believe that the libertarian position I took in these articles sprang from a painful family history that I was not ready or able to face. I grew up being terrorized by a violent father whose sexuality was an ongoing threat ... This history of child abuse, combined with my unconscious need to repress my own victimization, led me to normalize child/adult sex. The fantasy that such experiences could be loving or healthy protected me from feeling unloved, weak or violated.'

In 1996, he was co-editor, with Robin Sweeney, of The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader, a sequel to Coming to Power.

In 2000, Califia received the Forebear Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

Califia presented a paper for the American Academy of Religion conference in Montréal, November 19–22, 2009, on the gay marriage debate, and how arguments about monogamy and S/M have been used to try to control the argument.

When Califia would travel to Canada, his pornographic works were often seized by Canadian customs, until he fought a court case to allow them to be accepted. Afterwards, he wrote of his amusement at finding that anti-porn feminist Catherine Itzin's book Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties was seized under the very law he had helped to establish, while Califia's books were recognized as acceptable by that law. Califia fought against anti-pornography legislation co-authored by Catharine MacKinnon.

From 2001 to 2011, Califia was licensed in California as a marriage and family therapist (MFT).

Califia is an inductee of the Society of Janus Hall of Fame.

Personal life Califia has a son, Blake Califia-Rice (born October 1999), to whom his ex-partner, Matt Rice, a trans man, gave birth.

Califia has said that, since the 1990s, he has had fibromyalgia.

Califia has said he incorporates elements of Mormonism in his approach to life. One tenet of Mormonism he said he believes in is "if the truth has been revealed to you and you don't speak out, you are culpable for any wrongs that are committed in those realms of life."

Transition In 1999, Califia decided to begin hormone replacement therapy as a part of his transition. Califia had considered sex reassignment in his twenties, but had been hesitant as there were many dangers to the surgery at that time. He also hesitated because his career had been built around a reputation as a lesbian writer and activist. Califia had entered age-related perimenopause when he began his transition. He has stated that being a man or a woman was never a good fit for him but sex reassignment seemed to be the most reasonable option.

Selected bibliography

Non-fiction Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality (1980) Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex (1994) Feminism and Sadomasochism, a chapter/article in Feminism and Sexuality: A Reader (1996) (edited by Stevi Jackson and Sue Scott) Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism (1997) Speaking Sex to Power: The Politics of Queer Sex (2001) Sensuous Magic: A Guide to S/M for Adventurous Couples (1ed 1993, 2ed 2001)

Fiction Macho Sluts: Erotic Fiction (July 1994) (as editor) Doing It for Daddy: Short and Sexy Fiction about a Very Forbidden Fantasy (December 1994) Doc and Fluff: The Dystopian Tale of a Girl and Her Biker (May 2000) No Mercy: Short Stories (June 2000) Melting Point (November 2000)