Black and White Striped
June 2013
- men get into something not aimed at their gender: get special titles like "brony." recognition by creators. heralded for defying gender appeal. get documentary.
- women get into something not aimed at their gender: not real fans. probably secret friend zone warriors deadset on erasing men from the human race. get insulting demeaning memes and sexual harassment.
It’s been a weird week so I’m a bit behind on my TDR challenges…I’ll hopefully have time to catch up over the next few days, but for now I think I’ll use the “drag sister” challenge I did from c1 that I never posted as a placeholder!
So hey let's talk about clothing sizing for a minute...
Today I went to Forever 21 to look for shorts, and found 3 pairs that I liked.
The first style I tried on, the large was way too big, and the medium was so small that I couldn’t get the button on the fly closed.
The second style I tried on, the large (their biggest size) was a bit too small, but I could probably get away with wearing them if I wanted to.
The third style I tried on, the large was a bit too big, and the medium fit perfectly.
I understand different stores having different size standards, but what sense does it make for similar garments in the same store to have such varied sizes? It’s pretty off-putting to have to bring two, sometimes three sizes of each garment into the fitting room with no guarantee that any of them will fit based on what size you usually wear, especially since Forever 21 only allows 6 garments in the fitting room at a time.
Today was actually one of my better shorts/pants shopping experiences…at least I was able to walk away with something that fit me. In many stores (most recently Strawberry and Rainbow), I’m apparently too big to fit into even their size XL shorts, but on the other hand am way too small for their plus-size lines. I am 5’3, 125 pounds, with a 26” waist and 37” hips. By most industry standards, I am a solid medium, or a small if it’s something only fitted at the waist. If I can’t even squeeze into the largest sizes in some of these stores, who are they making these clothes for?
There’s something seriously wrong here.
“[D]rag queens can move freely within gay male settings as long as they abide by the implicit rules of such circulation. What would happen if a drag queen was not on the stage but rather cruised one of the many dark corridors of K.O.X. in search of a sexual partner? That gay men can accommodate the presence of drag queens on stage does not mean that gender liberation has arrived. Indeed, relegating gender performances to the stage implies that gay men do not “perform” their identities: they are just are. This containment of gender transgressions can, in turn, work against transgender people in a variety of ways. Drag queens are reduced to entertainment, coifed personalities whose only purpose is to titilate the gay male viewer. Framed as pure spectacle, this negates a variety of reasons why people might choose to cross-dress in a club: an exploration of one’s gender identity, a gesture of political intervention, a creative solution to border, and/or a way to the pay the rent.
A restriction of drag queens to the stage also suggests that drag is something you do; it is not something you are.” —
A restriction of drag queens to the stage also suggests that drag is something you do; it is not something you are.” —
Vivane K. Namaste in “Tragic Misreadings: Queer Theory’s Erasure of Transgender Subjectivity” from Invisible LIves: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgender People (via queerandpresentdanger)
GUUUUHH this is so important. love to everyone who has to leave their identity at home in order to get laid.
(via nemesissy)
I think its also really important to note that this distinction is made in primarily white gay male settings. In queer communities of color, the difference between a butch queen, a femme queen and a drag queen are much more blurred. It was only until the rise of cis white gays and Gay Inc that the distinction between trans* and cis was so ridged.
(via atriptothemorg)
^^^ important commentary
(via queerandpresentdanger)
All of the above.
(via qbits)
i think this is something i should reblog because there’s so much problematic shit that comes up with drag
between the fact that a lot of it’s based around cis gay males and all the wonderful cissexism and racism there’s just a clusterfuck of problems surrounding drag
BUT but but but i love that this commented on how drag is a part of one’s identity. every bit of makeup that goes on is just that much more of a thrill. drag colors my world in ways i wouldn’t have even imagined. i don’t “do drag”, i am a drag queen.
(via heterofauxbia)
