Sharon Jill Bear Bergman is a wild-hearted, genderfucking butchgrrl from Northampton, Mass., where she was expensively overeducated and now lives with her wife, a woman of extraordinary talents and surpassing beauty. Bear (as she's called) is a contributing writer to lesbianation.com and music.com, the owner of doesitquack.com (a queer jaunt in the world of words), and a poet. Also employed as a writer and editor, she revels in taking breaks from wordsmithing at the ocean and being with her wonderful friends. Bergman's uncle is the gay Bear poet David Bergman (see chapter 3), and this is causing her to rethink some of her positions on the influence of genetics.
Photo: Nicole Bergman

Drew Campbell was born in New York and educated at Bennington College, the University of Hamburg, and Washington University, St. Louis. He began gender transition from female to male in December 1995, and has since spoken about gender at colleges and social groups across the country. Drew is the pseudonymous author of several bestselling books on erotic dominance and submission, and has published a book on alternative sexual etiquette, The Bride Wore Black Leather . . . and He Looked Fabulous: An Etiquette Guide for the Rest of Us. He is the co-editor, with Pat Califia, of the anthology Bitch Goddess: The Spiritual Path of the Dominant Woman. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Anne, and is currently studying for ordination as a pagan priest.
Photo: Anne Campbell

Michael "Mike" Hernandez is a rather twisted, gender-variant imp who, at age three, emigrated from Cuba to the United States with his family. Mike is a public speaker on gender, sex, and sexuality. Writing credits include a sex column in the FTM Newsletter, "The Art of Cruising Men" in Forge (May 2000), and contributions in The Academy: Tales of the Marketplace, Transliberation: Beyond Pink And Blue, Looking Queer, Dagger: On Butch Women, and The Second Coming. He also appears in Transmen & FTMs; Identities, Bodies, Genders & Sexualities. Mike has a penchant for Bears (particularly polar Bears) and fishnet stockings, but definitely prefers to keep these separate. He currently resides in the high desert of Southern California with his partner of eight years, Sky Renfro.
Photo: James Loewen

Matt Rice is an activist and educator for queer health and transgender issues. Born and raised a girl in rural Ohio, he went to college in West Virginia and lived in Chicago before ending up in San Francisco and transitioning to the guy he is now. He worked on an HIV-prevalence study of trans communities for the SF Transgender Community Health Project. He has worked to increase visibility of FTMs from behind the bar at the Lone Star Saloon for five years, and by teaching at Harvey Milk Institute. He has conducted numerous magazine, newspaper, film, and video interviews, including two pieces by the BBC and two by Annette Kennerly shown in queer film festivals. His photograph is in Loren Cameron's book, Body Alchemy. His boyfriend is the author, therapist, and activist Pat Califia. Matt created a huge scandal by getting pregnant, and then giving birth to Blake in October, 1999. Currently Matt lives in San Francisco with Patrick and Blake, and their pets, and works as a computer geek by trade. He's pagan, and a great flirt.
Photo: Jeff Spangenberg

Steve Dyer has played a role since the early 1980s in the formation of electronic communities for lesbians and gay men. In 1983, in the early days of the Internet, he successfully argued for and created the first USENET newsgroup for the discussion of gay issues, now known as soc.motss. In 1988, with Brian Gollum, he started an electronic mail digest for the then-nascent electronic Bear community known as the Bears Mailing List, or BML, which was distributed over the Internet and other electronic mail systems. He handed over responsibility for the digest in late 1994 and gave an interview about the BML for The Bear Book. Steve has served on the Board of Directors for Boston's Gay Community News and on the steering committee of the New England Bears. He and his partner, Tony, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Photo: A. J. Hartman

Jeff Glover grew up in a large Baptist family on a big dairy farm in a small town in Wisconsin. After high school, he tried college, but hated it and quit before the semester was out. Then in February 1986 at the Cloud Nine bar in Minneapolis, he met his first partner. In 1987, after subscribing to Bear magazine, Jeff was chatting with other Bears on the local Internet bulletin board services (BBS). Eventually the group organized gatherings, becoming the precursor to their local Bearclub, "The North Country Bears." He and his husbear, Philip, moved in 1998 from Minneapolis, where they had met in 1986, to San Francisco, where Jeff now works as a webmaster.
Photo: courtesy of J. Glover

Michael Ramsey received his Ph.D. in 1996 from Arizona State University, and worked as a Visiting Professor there from 1996 to 2000. In May 2000 he relocated to the University of Pittsburgh to take a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Geology. Having an extensive computer background and online experience for more than fifteen years, he has seen the beginning and explosive growth of the online Bear presence. Mike is a founding member of the Phoenix Bears and a member of the Northwest Bears, Burgh Bears, and the Human Rights Campaign. Since 1996, Mike has served as volunteer coordinator for the Resources for Bears (RFB) Website (www.resourcesforbears.com). His essay, "The Bear Clan: North American Totemic Mythology, Belief, and Legend," appeared in The Bear Book. Mike has also contributed to American Bear magazine and served twice as a judge for the International Mr. Bear contest at IBR.
Photo: Lynn S. Ludwig <www.ludwigphotos.com>

Alex Schell grew up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, where he attended Pennsylvania State University. He has lived for the past twenty years in New York City, where he works as a caterer and freelance culinary writer. In October 1998, after one of the moderators stepped down from his duties at the Bears Mailing List, Alex joined as moderator/administrator. When not busy moderating the BML, Alex enjoys music, reading sci-fi, flea markets, and cuddling with his two ferrets, Barnabus and Akira.
Photo: Joe Kelemen