Tattoo Sue

About me:

Do you remember the first time you ever did anything "lesbian" in public? When you came out to the whole world? My first time was buying The Canadian Women's Studies' Lesbian issue, from Toronto's This Ain't The Rosedale Library. It was the very early 80s (or maybe the late 1970s, it was so long ago...) The bookstore was located on the very unhip Queen Street East. I remember seeing this academic feminist magazine, with this amazing dyke sweatshirt on the cover, and I had to have it. That magazine still sits on my bookcase. And it represents much of what I still believe in: political analysis, social commentary, calls to action... and cool dyke t-shirts and sweatshirts.

It started a love affair with t-shirts that has never ended. I have very few of those t-shirts left, having, um, grown out of them. I had the pink triangle/feather t-shirt of the Toronto Gay Street Patrol, more than a few university women's centre t-shirts (swapping t-shirts was so in vogue!), and a ton of punk and music t-shirts. I found them in used clothing stores in Kensington Market (what a thrill that is! You are not alone when you find a dyke t-shirt in a store!), Goodwill, and the infamous Queen of Hearts (I remember catching my high school math teacher there looking at the Tom of Finland t-shirts). When it's time for a t-shirt to leave me, if it's still wearable it goes to Goodwill so some other lucky lesbian can find it.

I still have tons of t-shirts, some rarely worn, while others are sagging and holey and incredibly comfortable. It's not unusual for me to spend 20 minutes looking for the right t-shirt to wear, with either the right slogan or colour or feel. Some women obsess about shoes, I have t-shirts.

Opening up a t-shirt shop seems like a good fit for me. LOL! Okay, bad joke. But a great idea. It gives me a chance to live my passion, and share politics, academics, feminism, and so much more, with you.

Wearing a lesbian-themed, lesbian-positive t-shirt is a lot like buying that first magazine or book, or attending your first rally. You're making a statement, you're coming out to the world, your are refusing to hide. It's bold, it's brash, it's a privilege, and it's part of my lesbian world.

Welcome.