Patrick Califia

This article is part of 'The Legends Project'

As part of the "Legends Project", Patrick Califia has been recognized as an BDSM Icon
for the work they have done to make the BDSM/LGBT/Leather communities what they are today and awarded a
Certificate of Appreciation

Patrick Califia (formerly known as Pat Califia; born 1954 near Corpus Christi, Texas) is an author of women's sexuality and erotic fiction. He is also a bisexual transman and prolific author of essays and poetry.

Califia was born female, into a Mormon family. She came out as a lesbian in 1971 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and changed her name to Pat Califia, taking the surname Califia after the mythical Amazon. After getting involved in consciousness-raising work in the area she bought herself a one-way ticket to San Francisco in 1973, bringing an interest in sex education to work on the San Francisco Sex Information switchboard.

Her first book was Sapphistry, a non-fiction work that described butch-femme sexuality and BDSM safety and practice without being judgmental. Further work was published in lesbian, gay and feminist magazines. Research work she did while taking a degree in psychology at San Francisco State University was published in the Journal of Homosexuality in 1979.

With the founding of Samois, Califia's interests moved into the lesbian experience of BDSM and contributions to the book Coming to Power. In 1996 Califia was co-editor (with Robin Sweeney) of the sequel The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader. Califia founded the leatherwomen's quarterly Venus Infers in 1992.

During this period Califia was also writing on queer studies and gender identity, coming to terms with personal issues. It was at this time that Califia made the decision to transition to a male gender role. Califia undertook testosterone hormone therapy and changed his name to Patrick.

Since the 1990s, Califia has suffered from fibromyalgia, which has caused nerve damage in his legs and hands and reduced his ability to type or write. He is currently (2006) in private practice as a therapist (he is a licensed marriage therapist and family therapist in the state of California). He continues to publish his work and attend leather community events. He also has a son with former partner Matt Rice.

Califia's most recent book is Boy in the Middle, a collection of erotic stories. He is currently working on a number of other projects including a book on FTM sexuality.

His pornographic works were often seized by Canadian customs until he fought a court case to allow them to be accepted. Afterwards he was amused to find anti-porn feminist Catherine Itzin's book "Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties" was seized by the very law she had helped to establish, even while Califia's books were now recognised as acceptable by that law. [Public Sex]

Booklist

Non-Fiction

Coming to Power - Writing and graphics on Lesbian S/M was a 1981 book edited by members of the lesbian/feminist S/M organisation Samois. It reached a world-wide audience the following year when it was reprinted by Alyson Publications. The book alternates short stories with advice on techniques, a model that has been used by various other BDSM books since then. < ISBN:0932870287 Buy it from Amazon.com >
Sapphistry: The book of lesbian sexuality
Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
Public Sex (essays)
Sensuous Magic
Speaking Sex to Power (essays)
Forbidden Passages: Writings Banned in Canada (editor, with Janine Fuller)