This fear is what will end up bringing us down, what future civilizations will look at as the destruction of our society.
Fear and miseducation are the banes of our society. Fear of those with a different skin colour, fear of those who talk differently, look different, worship a different god or gods, fear of those who choose to love someone other than who society says they should, fear of those who identify as a gender other than that given them at birth.
This fear is what will end up bringing us down, what future civilizations will look at as the destruction of our society.
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It’s 2:30am Friday night, and I’m supposed to be at the Pride Parade by 10:30am. I’m finishing up costumes, watching ‘Call Me Madam’ and thinking I’m not going to get much sleep. I was right. Finally falling asleep around 3:30, I was up at 6:30, beating my alarm by a good 45 minutes. And I still wasn’t completely finished with all the costumes I needed, but I was pretty close thanks to the help of my girlfriend and my BFF.
At the Parade start, armed with beef jerky, an energy drink and a Gatorade I managed to find a shady spot to sit and wait for things to get going. It started to hit me then that this was going to be the first time I’d made an appearance like this in a long time. The adrenaline was pumping. I had people coming up and talking to me, congratulating me, taking my picture. It was kind of silly, but it was fun. For some reason, my previous post that had the ABCs of Drag only showed the first 3. I'm creating a new entry to see if it will fix the issue.
A – Accountability. Take responsibility for your actions, both on and off the stage. B – Back-Up Plan. Always have a back-up plan. You never know when you’ll forget a costume or music or tape or whatever. Make it work with what you’ve got. C – Confidence. Be confident in who you are. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. Your drag persona is YOUR drag persona, take pride in it! I came across a project called The Gender Book a couple weeks ago. It’s an interesting project put together by a “blend of female-born persons in varying degrees of masculine gender expression” in Houston, TX. Part of the project is an E-book (that will also be offered in hard cover) that is essentially a compilation of questionnaires/interviews completed by people from all walks of life, with any and all types of gender identity. The other part is an online wiki (similar to Wikipedia) where anyone can contribute information, links to sources, etc that have to do with gender and everything that encompasses. They call it the GENDERpedia. Topics range from gender vs sex, to transitioning, to drag kings and queens, androgyny, intersexed individuals, transgender history and more.
The goal is to help spread awareness and to educate. How better to do that than to have a site and a book put together by the type of individuals it talks about. Yes, the wiki will have links to experts in the fields, but who better to really explain what it’s like to be genderqueer or intersexed than someone who identifies as that? The GENDERpedia can be edited by anyone, and they’re always looking for people to contribute. Be considerate, be professional, and be an adult, but please contribute! Or send them an email for a questionnaire to put in the book. The creators of the Gender Book are all fantastic and really easy to approach. This is very much their baby, and it shows by the effort they’re putting into it. So go check out the site. Find a way to contribute. Help spread the word and help educate those who need educating, both in the LGBTQ community and those outside of it. And when the book becomes available later this year, buy a copy and share it with people! Take it to your school’s GSA. Give a copy to your therapist, your cousin, your dad, your kid, your neighbor, your boss. www.thegenderbook.com http://www.thegenderbook.com/genderpedia.html |