April 7, 2024
Micaela Camacho-Tenreiro
Micaela Camacho-Tenreiro is a Venezuelan-American poet, dancer, and translator. Her work appears in the American Poetry Review and has been featured by Brooklyn Poets. She received a 2023 Finalist award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and holds a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Brown University.
Am I the asshole
for hating straight women
who wish that they were gay? Or
a hypocrite who secretly knows
queerness is convenient, too.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, I felt very privileged to be bisexual and in a same-sex partnership — I got to have as much sex as I wanted without the fear of a non-consensual pregnancy. In this way, I feel like my queerness safeguarded my pleasure and autonomy, and I wanted to be as honest about that as I was about my resentment towards the straight women who were talking about converting to lesbianism or whatever. Which is to say, I think it’s cheap to challenge others if you’re not also challenging yourself.