THE bADBER APRIL/MAY, 1972 $1-25 THE LADDER, pubEshdd by Lesbians and directed to ALL women seeking full VOLUME 16 No. 7 and 8 human dignity, had its beginning in 1956. It was then the only Lesbian THE publication in the U.S. It is now the only women’s magazine openly supporting APRIL/MAY, 1972 Lesbians, a forceful minority within the women’s liberation movement. LADDER Initially THE LADDER’S goal was limited to achieving the rights accorded THE LADDER STAFF heterosexual women, that is, full second-class citizenship. In the 1950’s women as a whole were as yet unaware of their oppression. The Lesbian knew. And she Editor ...................................................................................................Gene Damon wondered silently when her sisters would realize that they too share many of the Production Editor ...................................................................... Hope Thompson Lesbian’s handicaps, íhose that pertained to being a woman. Circulation Manager .............................................................................Ann P. Buck Production Assistants ................................................Lyn Collins, Kim Stabinski, THE l a d d e r ’s purpose today is to raise all women to full human status, with Jan Watson, King Kelly, Ann Brady, all of the rights and responsibilities this entails; to include ALL women, whether Phyllis Eakin, Robin Jordan Lesbian or heterosexual. Staff C artoonist..................................................................................................... Ev Künstler Art C olum nist..............................................................................Sarah Whitworth OCCUPATIONS have no sex and must be opened to all qualified Cross Currents Editor ...........................................................................Gail Hanson persons for the benefit of all. CONTENTS: Some Shards. Vignettes by Karen Sn o w ,....................................................... 4 LIFE STYLES must be as numerous as human beings require for their Illustration by Kate McColl personal happiness and fulfillment. In the Basement of the House hy Jane R ule ....................................................... 8 Atrocities at Home! Who Speaks for Women? by Clue D ennis......................... 12 ABILITY, AMBITION, TALENT - “Love, Beyond Men and Women . ’’ by Carol Lynk ......................................13 THESE ARE HUMAN QUALITIES. Illustration by Diane Gordon Take a Lesbian to Lunch by Rita Mae Brow n.....................................................17 Gay and Straight in the Movement by Christine M imichild.............................. 23 THE LA D D E R is by subscription only Lesbiana by Gene Damon ....................................................................................26 NO BULK RATES Tangled Hair, Review by Elsa G idlow................................................................. 29 Lesbian Literature in 1971, This policy is necessitated by economics. Annual Report by Gene D am on....................................................................... 31 (Sample copies are available at $1.25 each) Poetry by Rochelle Holt, Alicia Langtree, Susan Staff, Mickie Burns, Elise Kirk, Ann Sheldon, and Jane Chambers......................... 33 BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE. WRITE FOR COST The Cat and the King, Story by Jennette L ee .....................................................37 Drawing by Jane Kogan ADVERTISING RATES Wildflower Woman by Susan S ta ff....................................................................... 45 Cross Currents with photos by Lyn J o n e s ...........................................................47 Half Page ................................. $45 Back Cover $100 Practical Self-Defense ........................................................................................... 53 Quarter Page ............................ $25 Full Page . S 80 Readers R espond................................................................................................... 54 Repeated Advertisements at Reduced Rates COVER; Untitled Photograph by Lyn Jones Unless otherwise credited all cartoons are by staff cartoonist Ev Künstler Published bi-monthly at Box 5025, Washington Station, Reno, Nevada, 89503. THIRD CLASS MAIL IS NOT FORWARDABLE. All rights reserved. No part o f this periodical may be reproduced without the When moving send us your old address and ZIP as well as new address and ZIP. written consent o f THE LADDER. 2 SO M E SH-A.ROS By KAREN SNOW He doesn’t tell her stories anymore. He tree angel.” Vignettes from coughs. He stinks. He snores. Daddy states into his oatmeal. HELLO, BRIGHT BIRD, GOODBYE She w h irrs , “Daddy? I can’t sleep. Mamma huffs a kiss on top of Mina’s Daddy.” head. “Yet breath,” she whispers. I. He says, “Pray. ‘Pray without ceasing’.” Mina starts to cry. “Seeds” He knows. “Stop it!” Mamma says. “I’ll be praying for you.” September, 1927 April: After Dena and Daddy have left, Mina Blowing dandelion seeds from the Uncle Klaus has had D.T.’s again. He says, “Is it still in my eyes?” swayed stoop of an abandoned shanty are comes to the house right after Daddy has “Just a trace.” two four-year-olds. She, with an aura of gone to work and Dena has gone to school “I don’t want to go to kindergarten.” pearl hair and eyes more silver than gray “ You have to. Else I go to jail.” and a lullaby voice, known among the social Mina has been sent to her room. Down in the kitchen. Mamma cries. Uncle Klaus “Will you pray hard?” workers, as **Fairy’*, is Mina. He, with a lid cries, too. The house fills up with his odor: ■’You can be sure of that. As long as I of brown-thrasher hair and amber eyes and live, you can be sure I’m praying for you.” a chirping chuckle, known among the social sour. Then the washing machine chugs. He, “Oh, Mamma, thank you!” workers as “Cherub”, is Nicky. staggering about in her father’s clothes, “Now, go.” He blows a seed onto her arm. She So she goes . The teacher, glancing blows a seed onto his arm. She blows a seed pu^es open her door. He grins, musses her hair, wrings it in his shakey hands. He across the thirty bobbing heads, secs the to his cheek. He blows a seed to her cheek. one pastel enter, alone, and glide to a chair His big brother and her big sister have shoves her to the bed, buzzes a hornet- in the far corner . a Sunday smile in the gone to school Their fathers have gone finger at her skirt, which she squeezes shut with hands stronger than his. shadow, less like a girl than a trillium. down into the coal mine. Her mother is at home tending a sick uncle. His mother is After he has left the house, with a big bag of lunch under his coat, Mina says, II. dusting the church. “Virago” He puffs a seed to her knee. She puffs “Mamma, Uncle Klaus tried to pull up my In the high school locker room, Willo one to his knee. She lifts her dress. He puffs dress.” stands on the scales, her breasts two timid one to her stomach. Yes. He lifts his shirt. “I’ll never do it again.” “When?” touches against her slip, her face closed She puffs one to his stomach. “You’d better not.” “While you were washing his clothes.” tightly as a lady’s compact against the She glances towards the door . “I know 1 won’t. 1 can’t.” “Are you making that up?” shrieking and the shrill scents of sneakers which he squeaks opea Indoors, they “Bah!” “No. He came to my bed and pushed me and cologne; a bamboo figure, with ivory stand, displaying bellies, fair and smooth as In and out, up and down, ’round and down and— ” hair falling watersmooth over sharp two loaves of bread. His is fatter. Her belly ’round, like a yoyo in her mother’s hand. “ Klaus is my brother. He’s got no home but this.” scapulae. button is round. It gazes. His is a wink. “Eighty-four pounds. My God!” says a She blows his a seed. He blows hers a December: “Will you tell Daddy?” Silence. sweat-beaded stallion of a girl, cedar- seed . which spills to the edge of her In the kitchen beneath Mina’s bedroom, “Shall 1 tell Daddy?” colored, in a man’s shirt taut at the shoul­ pants. She eases the pants down a bit. He Nicky’s mother tells Mina’s mother Nicky “Don’t you dare.” She shakes her head. der seams. The stallion records the weight blows her a fluff. Her pelvis tastes it, has been very sick. “His tonsils are full of “I can’t put an old head on your shoulders. on the teacher’s clipboard, slicks back her stinging sweet as a lemon drop. poison and must be cut out in the hos­ Before the booze got Klaus, you wouldn’t brief hair, elastically, and her indigo gaze He eases his pants down. His pelvis likes pital” believe it but it’s true, he was such a narrows on the fairy-girl like shears. the fluff, loo. A wriggle urges her pants to Tonsils? The thumb-thing in the throat? gentleman - so smart and strong and her knees. A ditto wriggle: his pants obey. It will bleed. good-lookin’, Ha. Yer father couldn’t hold a On the woodland path, standing un­ She feels herself pucker at the sight of him. By evening, she, too, is sick. Her aware on the Indian pipe, the big girl blocks “Yours is like a thumb,” she says. mother, standing over her bed, making a candle to him.” the way. She shoves the zipper of her “Look. It’s hitch-hiking.” witch-shadow on the wall, that mother, whose face is the color of buttermilk, September: leather jacket up and down, slicks back that “Sure.” short hair, and says, “Hey, Willo, want me She blows a fluff onto his. Yes. He whose eyes ate big bruises, says, “You’ve Will you tell my teacher?” been thinking nasty thoughts. It shows in Silence. to carry your books?” blows a fluff to hers. “No thanks.” A black pounce. Her mother is yanking, your eyes. I can smell it on your breath.” “Please! Will you tell my teacher. Mamma?” The big girl picks up a gray rock and snatching, spanking. “Wilhelmina! Nich­ hurls it against a boulder. The ruck drops, February: “I’ll think about it.” olas!” - like a spider that jabs and stabs gashed, into halves, glowing salmon-pink. “I and bundles its prey into two paralyzed “Does Daddy know?” “I’ll be good.” “Let’s hope so.” don’t want to go home today.