(continued)
V.C.: I heard you say you get flak for flaunting your sexuality and calling yourself a feminist, but have you experienced people not taking your talent seriously or discriminating against you or your work beforehand?
Well, I think before they see it they always do. It’s pretty funny but a lot of times people don’t know what sex my name is. I wrote a lot in the past year for this gay mens magazine called Genre, and I think people just assumed I was a man until one day in the contributors section there was a picture (laughter) and then a bunch of men were like up in arms, “How can she write about that, she’s not a gay man!” you know what I mean? A lot of people, I don’t know they just get the wrong impression I guess, in all different ways, but I mean it doesn’t really bother me. I think it’s kind of funny because you know, you can look any way and what you look like doesn’t have to do with how your brain is functioning. My book was taught at Cal State SF last year, it was part of the curriculum of the class and they all had to write term papers on it. Before their finals I came up and did a reading. The teacher of the class sent me all the term papers back and that was pretty fucking eye-opening hysterical! (laughter) It was weird because I thought it was supposed to be really academic, and a lot of the papers were academic but some of them the people just brought their own crazy issues into it. One of them was so sick that I wanted to use it as a quote for the cover of my next book. It said that I had “tempting eyes and a body built for sin.” and if there was cheerleaders at the gates of hell that Id be at the top of the pyramid! (laughter) I was like, “Okay! That sounds pretty cool!” but then someone else said, “I felt ripped off by Pleasant Gehman’s book in the same way that I feel ripped off when some pretty girl walks off with my bindle at a club.” (laughter) The teacher’s comment on that paper was, “Let’s just stick to analyzation of writing here.” (laughter) It’s weird because a lot of people think that most of my writing is fiction.
V.C.: That’s exactly the next question I was going to ask you! I read your stuff and I don’t know if it’s because I’m also a writer but it all sounds completely autobiographical to me, even though it's labeled as Fiction.
Well, it says Fiction on Houdini Mountain because that was a decision on the publisher’s part because Memoirs doesn’t sell as well as Fiction. And you know, names have been changed, some of them not all of them. None of that book is Fiction, none of any of the three books--Señorita Sin, Princess of Hollywood, Houdini Mountain. They’re all completely one-hundred percent true!
V.C.: I thought so! But going back to the sexuality question, is that just the most lethal and powerful combination for a woman to have? Sexual confidence and intelligence?
Yeah, I guess it is. I’ve been really lucky that way I’ve got to say. I mean it’s never been any kind of a hindrance. It’s just weird to me that some people can’t see beyond certain societal signals, but I mean I used to have that problem in punk rock. You know like when you’re younger and adults will like totally misconstrue something you’re doing, like something really important will be going on and they’ll think, “Oh, you’re just going through a phase.” or you’ll be wearing all black and they’ll say, “What are you trying to prove?!” and you’ll be like, “I’m not trying to prove anything, I just like the color black!” Or they’ll go, “What kind of political statement are you trying to make by dressing like that and wearing that makeup?” -- “I’m not. I just think it looks cool.” No one says that if you’re a writer you have to wear like a Brooks Brothers shirt. At least I don’t think that you have to look or act any certain way. I mean I like to try to be polite to people and stuff and I like to dress appropriately, like I certainly wouldn’t wear something that I would wear to a club to someone’s afternoon wedding or something. If I feel like wearing a t-shirt and jeans to a reading of mine I will but if I feel like showing up at one in lime green feathers and sparkly eye makeup I will do that too, you know.
V.C.: Who else do you think has this combo?
I don’t know, I think there’s a lot of people that have that, and not even necessarily writers. I mean there’s a lot of really intelligent women that have that, maybe not literary writers but feminist writers, like Germaine Greer or Susan Faludi are really beautiful women, you know? No one says you have to look like Betty Friedan or Doctor Ruth Westheimer to be able to write about gender issues or sexuality. Madonna has always been really pretty and really sexy and maybe she doesn’t make the most intelligent music on Earth but she’s a really intelligent woman. Look at RuPaul! RuPaul is a guy and looks like a black version of Zsa Zsa Gabor and anytime you read an interview with him it’s completely cerebral and spiritual. Dolly Parton, you know? There’s tons of examples of people that look completely over the top and that are really talented and intelligent.
V.C.: Since you’re an experienced journalist, what would you ask yourself if you were interviewing Pleasant Gehman?
What the fuck were you thinking? (laughter) I don’t know, probably just what I’ve learned from all of this. I’m still finding out what I’ve learned from it. I’m still amazed that I can have sort of an innocence but I actually do.
V.C.: You know we’re getting close to the end when the questions start getting silly. If you had to choose only one of your talents to keep, which one would you keep? Writing, music, dancing, what?
Oh, my god! I don’t know, that’s like a grayish area. Well if I could only keep one it would be the ability to make people see things differently. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious.
V.C.: I read an interview you did with Pamela DesBarres and I’m going to blatantly ask you the same last 4 questions that you asked her:
1. Do you keep a diary or a journal?
Hell yeah! Since I was 13.
2. Do you still get high?
Yes.
3. Are you seeing anyone right now?
Yes.
4. Have you started a new book yet?
Yes.