This piece is a version of an ongoing conversation between two cultural producers who are close, long?erm friends. Each is seeking to expose to the other something of his own understanding of his complicated and evolving sense of himself as a gendered, sexual, thinking human being. There is no attempt to solidify a position or come to agreement since the underlying proposition is that, while individual integrity is of utmost importance, there is no singularly solid position to take and no right way to be a person.
Jordy Jones (J.J.) What is a man?
Doran George (D.G.) Help!
I suppose the easiest way to answer this would be to say he is a highly contested phenomenon. I? like to say that what a man is depends entirely on self?dentity. Anyone who says, I am a man is one. Defining sex by individual choice would be the most democratic solution and, intuitively, would be the use of the term that would result in the greatest happiness.(pgs. 123-124)
Letterman, photography, (pg. 75)
Jordy Jones is a long-time San Francisco resident currently residing part-time in the California High Desert Arts Ghetto of Joshua Tree. He is a scholar, curator, multimedia artist, and community advocate. His work has included the investigation of issues of the human body and its relationship to economics, technology, culture, censorship, and the law. Jones has worked with cultural organizations as diverse as the San Francisco Art Institute; The GLBT Historical Society; The International Lesbian and Gay Association; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Intermedia Arts Minnesota; and The Guggenheim Soho, New York. He has served on the governing boards of The San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade Committee, The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, and The Lab. He is a past member of the LGBT Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. As male chair of the San Francisco Transgender Civil Rights Implementation Task Force, he was key in implementing trans inclusion in the health benefits package for city employees and for furthering trainings for the police and sheriff’s departments. He has a B.A. in Conceptual and InformationArts, an M.A. in Museum Studies and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Visual Studies and Critical Theory at the University of California, Irvine, where he is a UC Chancellor’s Fellow. His dissertation, due for completion in 2008, is entitled The Ambiguous I: Photography, Gender, Self. According to Mark Leno, member of the California State Assembly representing District 13: “Jordy Jones is San Francisco’s Secret Weapon!”