Promoting Dialogue about Gender and Queerness

I am privileged to be connected to so many different people, organizations, companies, news feeds, and ideas that I sometimes find myself overwhelmed and overstimulated. But these connections provide a unique opportunity to find intersections among diverse and independent movements happening the world over.

Take for example LYRIC's new campaign Gender Dialogue.

LYRIC worked with Intersection for the Arts to create posters that open up the dialogue around gender. The posters were the culmination of a multi-week workshop that "explored gender-based oppression, identity, and expression". These posters are now displayed in enclosed cases at the 16th Street BART Plaza in San Francisco to encourage others to think critically about what gender is and how it is expressed. It is a call to action for exploration and challenging assumptions and bias. And they are visually arresting thanks to support from a professional graphic designer.

I received notice of this new campaign in my email inbox from the Transitional Age Youth Task Force, and I immediately started thinking about my own assumptions. Sure, I identify as a queer so that does mean I am more predisposed to actually look at and reflect on the images. It is also not a given that I would. The reason I took pause and reflected was because I saw pieces of myself reflected within the graphics. I may be male identified but too often that gets conflated with masculinity and manliness. I am not manly. Nor am I particularly masculine. And it was wonderful to see something that acknowledges this complexity. Especially something that looks like pop culture. 

Then, while perusing Twitter, I came across this gem of a video Queerer Than Thou.

And I fell in love. This video brings the conversation of gender, sparked in me by the ad campaign, to a whole new level. It uses humor to delve into the constructed identities we build around ourselves. Who is queerer: The fembot dyke MTF who throws aside all gender conformity or the polyamorous lisping queen who loves boxes (albeit nontraditional ones)? Neither and both is the answer I found.

We all have unique characteristics that make us who we are and those characteristics are interpreted by others using their own cultural, familial, historical lenses. Often those lenses see us not as we see ourselves. And this is where conflict comes in.

What is important is that we have this dialogue; that we open up a conversation between our friends, family, loved ones, colleagues, co-workers, and those we pass by. We must be willing to be uncomfortable and take risks. And those of us that "look" stereotypically "gender normative" (I use quotes here because what really is gender normative?) need to support our brothers and sisters that are defy gender boxes. We have a burden to be their allies and support their struggle by being proactive.

I truly believe that we as queers will not be free until all people are free. Because after all what makes a queer? Nothing and everything.

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