Exile and Pride

Content Warning: The guide and source text reference rape and sexual abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, anti-gay bias, anti-trans bias, racism, ableism, classism, and medical abuse/neglect. The author also reclaims and utilizes a number of slurs and derogatory terms, which are referenced and quoted in context throughout this guide. These terms include: “cripple/crip,” “dyke,” “gimp,” “freak,” and “queer.”

Eli Clare is an American writer, activist, speaker, and educator. Born in 1963 in Coos Bay and raised in Port Orford, Oregon, Clare was initially diagnosed as “mentally retarded” before being diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Clare is an avid reader who grew up surrounded by books; his mother had a doctorate and taught composition at community college. Throughout much of his childhood, Clare was physically and sexually abused by his father and his father’s friends, as referenced in Exile and Pride. Trauma thus plays an important role in Clare’s conception of the body, identity formation, and conceptions of gender. After high school, Clare left Port Orford and enrolled in Reed College in Portland before transferring to Mills College in Oakland, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies followed by a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Goddard College.