Mr. Kate and Maggie talk about gender (what else is there to talk about?) Part 3
April 21st, 2008 maggieIn this installment: Why sometimes I want to cry, body image, being seen, the performativity question, “queering” femme as value judgment, stories from the gay marriage office. Â
Maggie to Mr. Kate
I totally agree that there is a lot of shared experience here. Gender became emotional to me when I figured out how performative my gender was, learning that getting up and getting dressed was always going to be some kind of drag. That is such a beautiful way to put it. Maybe the emotional connection to gender comes from making those choices, being connected to what you want or don’t want each day because each day you have to figure out what drag fits at that moment.
I explain away all these “feelings†by blaming them on what my mom would say is my over-sensitivity, or on the fact that I have to talk about my gender all the time because it’s my art and my (non-paying) job. But I think the real root of all this is that femininity feels at some deep subconscious level dangerous, weak, and wrong. And to answer your question, it is hard to talk about. When I started the show it wasn’t so hard, it was just a theme for a show - one that I cared a lot about and thought was important for our community, but it was still just a show. Now, it’s everything. Read the rest of this entry »
