Out in the Mountains

 

Gal on Work, Women, and What Makes Men Weird (frompageone)

me to go to London and live there for six
months because I know it isn't forever. It's
a kind of nutty life. And it would be very
difficult if I didn't have my home.

OITM: Let's talk about the political work
you do--how you see yourselfas a feminist
performer and the reactions you get to the
political content of your shows.

GAL: I think that people like it. A lot of
stuff that I talk about is stuff that I've
thought about a lot, and that most people
never really think about too much. And
why should they? Except that they should,
and that's why I'm talking about it.

I'm doing this thing with a penis now.
I had my friend Alice make it. She couldn't
remember what they look like, so I had to
draw a diagram. I'm using it to talk about
power. In the beginning I'm talking about
the Mapplethorpe photographs, and I put it
on this chest I use in one part of the show,
and I do the Mapplethorpe poses. “Now,
what's threatening about this? Or this? Or
this?"

Wearing it and making fun of it is the
most powerful of all. It's funny; the thing is
flapping around down there, and the
moment I put it on I understand that this is
why men are so weird. This is why they're
so frightened and unconnected. Well, of
course, mine is very large. But if I put it on
and walk around, and it's flopping around,
and I say, “No wonder men are so weird,"
that's all I need to say. And the men didn't
feel upset about me saying that. The men
went, “Oh yeah, that is why we're so
weird."

OITM: Is there anything that you've
wanted to do that you just haven't been
quite brave enough or bold enough to do on
stage at this point?

GAL: Well, I really wanted to read this

overt lesbian erotic story at midnight on my
birthday, butl wanted to do it for a woman-
only audience. I've done it a lot, but I do it
for women's space or for a mixed gay and
lesbian space. It's a really funny story, but
I just don't want some creepy person or
some homophobic woman going,
“yuck. . . " I just don't want someone getting
off on it. I mean, I do want people to get off
on it, but only who I want. So it's not really
that I was afraid to do it — it's a special
present for special people.

So, no, I think everything that I've
thought of doing that really scared me, I've
done.

What happens with a lot of my work is
people see me do something, or they hear
part of what I'm saying. They don't hear the
whole thing because I talk about stuff that's
forbidden as often as I can, and some kind
of gateway of perception snaps shut, and
they become very angry. In the '70s and
early '80s it was a lot worse because they
would come and attack me after my show.
That doesn't happen so much any more,
which is nice. You know, thought-police
kind of people. But I'm also much more
careful now. When I'm going to do some-
thing, I say, “Look, I don't know how you're
going to respond to this, but I'm going to try
it out, and let's see how it goes."

OITM: Do you feel a certain pressure to be
outrageous because people expect it of
you?

GAL: Well, I don't want to outrage people.
I want to surprise and shock them and
educate them. When I've done a piece that's
really good and really perfect that I really
love, it always frightens me that I'll never
do anything that good again. Then I do
something that's different. And I have to

OITM: Do you have any evidence that you
are changing people's lives or making a dif-
ference?

GAL: Well, no (laughs). A lot of people,
especially in England, have never seen a
woman who called herself a feminist do
something funny. They have only seen
feminist women doing this very heavy stuff
about, oh, “too many children, my life is
hell." Kind of like Anais Nin's autobiogra-
phy. You know, horrible, depressed, Joyce
Carol Oates on stage or something. So that
was an education for them, I think. Many,
many people said, “I've never seen a
woman do anything in this way. I've seen
women comedians, but I've never seen a
woman be funny." I

A lot of times when I first started, I
would make fun of Holly Near or someone
like that. I would see that people weren't
laughing. And then I'd see them looking
toward someone in the room, who I quickly
realized was the arbiter of political taste
and style. And if that person would laugh,
then everybody would laugh. And that
person would laugh.

So that has really changed. Because
you didn't make fun of this stuff in the early
'80s at all. I mean, you could, but you
weren't supposed to. It wasn't acceptable.
OITM: What did you say about Holly
Near?

GAL: I just made fun of her. I made fun of
how she had ten million causes in every
song, and how she would talk about pollu-
tion and things like that. And meanwhile,
she was making money and paying taxes.
And my attitude at that time was that if
you're paying taxes, you're part of the prob-
lem.

OITM: Would you sing?

Member National
Lesbian and
Gay Law
Association

ROBERT W. ZEUNER

 

14

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