Monday 28 May 2007

The Joy of Interviews

A while ago I was interviewed about bi activism for the British Psychological Society Lesbian & Gay Journal. It was a rollicking long thing, about seven pages of their magazine got filled with it.

Then today I got interviewed again, this time by a student journalist doing coursework which may yet get into print somewhere.

Those encounters reminded me somewhat of when I was first coming out. Back then I started - somewhat sarkily - to compile a mental checklist of replies to the usual questions. The idea being you could tell someone you were bi and hand them a crib sheet with the answers to the inevitable questions pre-prepared, possibly even in order.

Yes.
No, I don't fancy you.
Yes, you are attractive, but no, I don't fancy you.
Since I was about eleven.
Slightly more into girls right now but that's not what it's about, and it kind of varies over time.
Cider, thanks.
He might be, but I hope he isn't.
I don't know.

The thing is, behind the sarky plan for a reply, something rather useful was going on. The first few people I told, I was actually telling myself as well as them. They would ask questions which I had edged around inside my own head but could always duck away from, but confronted with someone else asking, had to come to an answer. Even if later I worked out that answer had been wrong, it pushed me to stop faffing about and act like I had some kind of idea.

Interviews now are a bit like that. Why did you get involved, what motivated you, what keeps you doing it now. When you've been doing something long enough it's easy to get so close up to the cliff face that you forget to step back and remind yourself what it is all about.

Hopefully the act of stepping back and blogging about it will help to throw some of the "why" into relief. Heck, that might prove interesting for the reader, too.

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