Against Me! and Laura Jane Grace

Against Me! is my best friend's favorite band, and I had heard of them before, but had never given the band much thought until the aforementioned friend starred in a short film, the background music being Against Me!'s "Teenage Anarchist". Immediately I was interested in what else the band had to offer, so I asked my friend if he recommended for me to listen to them, and he said "absolutely"!

Against Me!

Against Me! is a punk band formed in 1997. Much of the band's songs are about social justice, equality, and destroying the status quo, which are all things that I am very interested in.

In 2012, the band's singer and guitarist, Laura Jane Grace, publicly came out as transgender. Laura destroys the idea that trans women have to be soft, petite, and delicate to pass as women. Laura is a trans lesbian in a punk scene that is currently dominated by aggressive cis, straight white men- and she's rocking it. Grace has written songs about her gender and how it's affecter her life, including "True Trans Soul Rebel", "Transgender Dysphoria Blues" (also the name of Against Me!'s 2012 album), and more.

Laura Jane Grace

In 2016, Grace burned her birth certificate onstage in North Carolina- the home state of HB2 (aka the Anti-transgender bathroom law)- saying "Goodbye, gender!"
I think that Grace embodies everything the punk scene is supposed to - defying the status quo, not being afraid of what others think, being your true self, and fighting for what you believe in. Laura Jane Grace is, honestly, a true trans soul rebel.

Creep it real!

Vocabulary: Drag Queen Fashion

The term "drag" has been thought to mean "dressed resembling a girl". 

RuPaul; famous drag queen and host of RuPaul's Drag Race

Drag is any clothing that has a strong association with one gender, usually worn by the opposite gender.

 Drag has been a very important mode of self expression for those in the LGBT community throughout history.

Drag queens are usually gay men - but people of all genders and sexualities can and have dressed in drag - dressing in exaggerated feminine clothing, makeup, and oftentimes wigs.
Drag can be performative or casual, from people who star in films, to people who wear drag as self-expression, to people who have tried it once. Many well known drag queens perform at gay bars, theaters, or on television for drag shows.

Kim Chi, a contestant on season eight of RuPaul's drag race

Drag has historically had close ties to the transgender community, the two women most credited with sparking the Stonewall Riots were Marsha P. Johsnon and Silvia Rivera, who were both drag queens as well as trans women.



Marsha P. Johnson

Silvia Rivera



Drag has many historical roots, men and transgender women have been dressing in feminine clothing since before the 1800's. Those who dressed in drag were often arrested for "buggery" (lying) or prostitution.

 

"Fanny and Stella" Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton, who shocked London and
 sparked a huge criminal investigation by walking the streets in feminine clothing.

 

Drag is thought to be inspired by Shakespearian English plays, wherein women were not allowed to perform onstage, so all the actors were male; some dressed in drag to play female characters.

Many films and television shows dress men in feminine clothes for comedic effect but this is considered transphobic, particularly transmisogynistic by today's standards.

The video below shows the evolution of drag queen fashion throughout history.

 

More photos of historical drag queens

 

 

Creep it real!

 



PWR BTTM concert in Portsmouth!

PWR BTTM

This is a more personal post than my other ones have been, about my concert experience this past weekend.

So, this past weekend I went to a concert for one of my favorite bands, PWR BTTM!
PWR BTTM's members are Liv Bruce and Ben Hopkins, and they identify the band as "queer punk", which is exactly what I need in my life. Both Hopkins and Bruce are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, and write about gender identity and being gay.
I went with my friend Katie and my date-people to Portsmouth, NH; decked out in glitter, emulating Hopkins' signature look.


I still can't get the glitter out of my hair.

My friends and I somehow found our way to the front of the crowd, big X's marking our hands.
Then, Q turned to me and said "Oh, my god, Liv is running the merch table!"
I immediately started hyperventilating, because I may or may not have the biggest celebrity crush on Liv Bruce that the world has ever known.

who wouldn't have a crush on Liv, honestly. Just look at them.

After I stopped hyperventilating (actually, that's a lie, I just was hyperventilating less) we went in groups of two (to keep our spot in the front claimed) to buy things... And to see the ethereal being that is Liv Bruce, in the flesh.
After fumbling to buy things and just generally making a fool of myself in front of Liv - who somehow looks better in real life- they asked us if we wanted to take a selfie.


You can tell Katie was REALLY excited to see Ben.

They took the picture, and Ben jumped in last second, wearing no makeup (a shock), and told us we all looked cute and gave us hugs. Which was amazing. I'm still excited about it.
I then applied glitter to complete strangers, which was fun.

Then, the actual concert happened. There were 4 bands playing, PWR BTTM was on last, preceded by Tancred, Lisa Prank, and Bellows, who were all really great musicians (as well as sweet people- we got to meet them as well). Ben came onstage to play with Lisa Prank, and she gave Ben their very own rainbow tiara. It was adorable.

The image says it all.

Then, it was the moment of truth. PWR BTTM was onstage.
"As you can see," Ben said, decked out in blue glitter and greasepaint "I'm not wearing any makeup to the show".
Both members were such good performers, as well as musicians, with their back and forth banter and stories.
My friends and I were super pumped, yelling quips back to their comments. Basically, we were obnoxious and loud. It was great.
"Serenade me!" I yelled at one point.
"I am!!!" Ben shouted back at me.
The bassist, Nicholas (who was not part of the band, but played with them for the show) said, "That's like, the whole thing. You paid us money for us to serenade you."

About halfway through their section of the show, Ben stopped to appreciate a girl's light-up flower crown. I felt a sigh of relief that Ben didn't talk about how obnoxious my group was being. Except that they totally did.
"And to this group in the front, who has been tweeting about the show nonstop."
Called out. Oops.
After the show, Ben and Nicholas came up to our group and thanked us for being so into the show. It was the most amazing thing. ever.

 

And Ben took another selfie with us. With no makeup, clearly.

Ben parted and left us with this final nugget of knowledge:
"You can never tweet too much, and if you ever run out of things to say, jut tweet 'egg'."
Truly iconic.

We got home at 2:30 AM, completely exhausted, and collapsed, still covered in glitter, into bed.
(My pillow looked like a unicorn was massacred in the morning...)

So that was that! I had a really great time with my friends, the music was amazing, and the band members were super nice!

Creep it real y'all!

 

Gender and Alternative Dress

Gender is a really hot topic (no pun intended- I swear!) going on in the world right now. With transgender presence being portrayed more and more in television, Hillary Clinton being the first female presidential candidate for the upcoming US election, and transgender bathroom rights being fought for in the supreme court, people all over the world are talking about gender. How does gender relate to alternative dress?

Being nonbinary and being part of the goth subculture, I have a decent amount of experience with gender expression and gender identity in the subculture, but we're going to discuss punk and lolita fashion here as well (just because these were the three I felt were the most accessible for research)! Feel free to correct me if I have something incorrect or left something out, I'm not an expert, just passionate!

PUNK

A punk woman posing

In the punk scene, the whole idea is to reject mainstream and socially accepted ideas, so the concept of gender and gender expression are often toyed with to make others question their views on gender and its expression. In the height of the scene, people would often crossdress or present androgynously, and gender was seen as insignificant in regards to expression. Relevant in the 70's, and perhaps even more so today.

Women in the punk subculture are seen as equal to men, and women historically have this as a way to parody masculinity and toy with societal expectations of what "man" and "woman" truly mean. Women in the punk subculture can be openly and unadulteratedly  feminine, in a way that isn't "soft" or fetishized.

One issue with this expression of femininity was that women were expected to be "shocking" and this often involved women's nudity and sexuality being used to do so. Some believe that this was not progressive or a form of equality, but that this was just another method to objectify women's bodies.

GOTH

Goth & nonbinary Instagram and Youtube user VforVoid

Connected with punk (somewhat), In the goth community, makeup is essentially expected to be worn by people of all genders. Men wear makeup and skirts, as do the women, and the nonbinary people.  The gender boundaries are also blurred as they were in punk, as people in the goth subculture are encouraged to experiment and play with their clothing, hair, and makeup. In my own personal experience, the community as a whole is very accepting of transgender and nonbinary people. I have never viewed any sexism in the goth subculture, and I think this is due to goth originally branching off from the post-punk scene, where men and women were seen as equal.

One "issue" with goth is that femininity is more coveted than masculinity- everyone is expected to be feminine, but it's rarely heard of when a goth woman dresses in a masculine fashion. Men are to be feminine, nonbinary people are to be feminine, and women are often expected to be, perhaps, hyperfeminine.

(I, personally take little issue with this, I feel as though femininity is something that everyone should embrace, despite their gender, but I can see the issues with the expectations and harm in women having to subscribe to traditional gender roles when others are free to play with their expression more. But, I feel as though many women don't feel a pressure to be "feminine" in the goth subculture; it is due to a personal expression and a want to dress in more elaborate dress, rather than being pressured.)

LOLITA

a woman in "princess lolita" fashion

In Lolita fashion the gender roles are more rigid- but the floofy skirts and lace aren't only for girls in Lolita. Men in Lolita oftentimes are crossdressing  and as far as I know, men crossdressing and wearing makeup is accepted in the community.

I haven't seen many male Lolitas online, or at any sort of conventions, which makes me feel as though it's less accessible to men. (But perhaps it's just because I don't personally look at Lolita fashion online very often.)

I feel as though Lolita raises the same problem as goth did involving femininity, but perhaps to an even greater extent. Lolitas are expected to be and act cute and doll-like, common and ideal "feminine" traits, so there is an even greater pressure to conform to gender roles and be hyperfeminine, but again, I feel as though this is an issue of personal taste rather than an issue of being pressured to do something. But, I do feel as though Lolita's expectations for behavior may be harmful to women. (thoughts?)

Due to Lolita's enforcement of traditional gender roles being more so than other subcultures I've looked at, I was concerned that transgender people may be less accepted in the community, so I dug around and did some research. I was pleasantly surprised! I found this article about an older transgender Lolita, and she said that many people in her Lolita group are very accepting! Great!

CONCLUSION

All in all, I feel as though alternative people are more accepting of playing with gender expression and gender roles than "normal" people. Of course, each subculture involves issues, but they are leagues ahead of where mainstream society is with gender expression, equality, and identity.

Thanks for reading, and as always, creep it real!

Si