BiMate: Jo Eadie

Jo Eadie was a founder member of the Nottingham Bisexual
Group and helped organise the ninth national bisexual conference.

He has been involved in bi activism and training, and appeared in BBC2’s Open Space programme on bisexuality. He has been publishing work on bisexuality for almost ten years, including articles in Anti-Gay, The Bisexual Imaginary, and Bisexuality: A Critical Reader. He was the first editor of Bi Community News.

He doesn’t get out much and he’s always in a bad mood about something.

What is your favourite sexual memory?
Age seven, staring at a picture of Joseph being sold into slavery - in a skimpy loincloth and chains - in an illustrated book of Bible Stories, getting faint and tingly all over, and not knowing why.

What historical person would you most like to meet?
Oscar Wilde - for being arrogant and original at the same time as being an absolute angel.

What makes you angry?
Everything. Frequently.

What would your sixteen year old self be most surprised about if he met you know?
At 16 I was convinced that I had to kill myself - so the biggest surprise would be that I hadn’t topped myself by now.

What should people try?
Making sushi.

In which Olympic sport (current or wished for) could you best represent your country?
Absolutely nothing, not under any circumstances.

When did you know you were bisexual?
I still don’t know if I am.

What are you most proud/ashamed of?
Proud: My published work.
Ashamed: I’ll never tell.

What is your favourite sexual perversion?
I firmly believe that young boys should be introduced to the pleasure of lingerie at an early age in order to prevent the tragedy that is y-fronts from dominating their lives.

Most Prized Possession?
A soft toy mouse called Mousel who was given to me when I was 3 months old. Constant rubbing and chewing wore her away, but every couple of years my mother would mend her with new material, so that she regenerated like Dr Who: in one incarnation she was a green paisley mouse. One reason that I fell for my current lover, Maddy, was that she smelled like Mousel.

What makes you happy ?
Curling up with Maddy. Or, failing that, Mousel.

What are your passions?
Cooking, cinema, and comics.

What’s your favourite film?
Like sex acts and foods, I don’t think it makes sense to have less than 100 favourites. But for starters: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; The Searchers; The Wizard of Oz; Gilda; Dead Ringers; The Draughtsman’s Contract.

Who or what has inspired you the most?
Michel Foucault.

Who or what would you die for?
My daughter.

What would be a collective noun for bisexuals?
Something self-congratulatory and rather nauseating: a ‘smug’ - or maybe a ‘smirk’.

What is your greatest vice?
Verbosity and Curiousity. And not being able to choose.

Jo was interviewed by Judy