Anyways I just got an ad for trans penguins
it’s a very nice video about the difference between gender expression and identity and include ftm, mtf and nonbinary penguins??? I may have cried a bit when I watched it.
Do the gender variance penguin dance!
Until the early 20th century parents dressed up their kids with the same type of clothes: White dresses.
To the extent pink was a gendered color, it was understood as male. After all: Pink and red were the colors of fire and power. Blue, on the other hand reflected water and calm, and therefore better suited for gilrs.
The photo below is of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who grew up to become one of America’s greatest presidents. Basically all children were dressed as girls.
Popular children’s anime Pretty Cure (nicknamed Precure) has become a staple of the magical girl genre, but its latest episode may be a small sign of a new era. The show, which has over a 15-year run, follows a group of girls who transform into superpowered “magical girl” personas called Pretty Cures to defeat the baddies.
In an article published by The Asahi Shimbun on Dec. 3, the author details a surprising twist in Precure’s latest episode, where the Pretty Cures’ male classmate Anri Wakamiya overcame gender boundaries and transformed into a magical girl himself.
Surreal portraits of drag queens posing – with themselves
What began as an experiment between two friends has evolved into an ambitious photography project featuring dozens of drag queens from around the world. With the help of image editing software and body doubles, photographer Leon Hendrickx is able to show his subjects interacting with themselves in poignant and, often, humorous ways. […]
The Dutch photographer began “Kings & Queens” in 2015, and has since shot images for the series in Berlin, Madrid and New York. Over the course of the last three years, he has witnessed how his subjects’ transformation isn’t purely physical. […]
“Your alter ego is a built-up persona. The longer you do it, the more it means to you. So when you see these two images combined in one photo, it’s as if your mind opens to form a reality you could never (otherwise) see.”
Callahan is a non-binary make-up artist challenging the standards of masculinity that heteronormative society often holds trans masculine people to. And they’re the subject of a new short film by queer filmmaker Florence Strickland.
“If I want cis men to feel comfortable and confident in themselves, to be able to wear make-up, or wear long hair, or traditionally feminine presentations, then why shouldn’t I be able to?” they explained.
“I shouldn’t feel held to a higher standard of masculinity because I’m trans.
“I think everyone should be able to wear make-up. So why not me?
“I really love character make-up, theatrical make-up, and drag make-up—being able to transform in this very simple way.”
It is time to take another look at Albert Nobbs’ review of female to male crossdressing in movies.
Based on an fascinating article from the New York Times about gender variance in Japan before the Westernization, Crossdream Life members have been discussing different ways of approaching gender identity.
Again we see how our concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity are not obvious or given, and that they may vary from culture to culture and from epoch to epoch.
That does not necessarily mean that gender identities are “socially constructed”, but it does mean that gender variation is filtered through the language and mores of the local culture.
The CDL discussion also includes a report with photos from the Third Gender exhibition of The Japan Society by Jen.
Illustration: Samurai kiss (Wikimedia) Young kabuki actors who played female roles were known as onnagata or kagema and doubled as sex workers.
i-D presents the female to male drag king culture.
“There’s a whole gender spectrum out there and that spectrum contains performers who are drag artists,” says Benjamin Butch – my tour guide for the growing artistic landscape that is a King performance. “There are many different masculinities and femininities being performed on stage. Performances like ours can challenge audiences to do a certain amount of unlearning given that the gender binary has dominated perspectives on identity for so long.” …
“There are no rules. To be able to be exactly what I want to be on stage. Yes you could say I’m an activist, challenging perceptions of gender both in and out of drag. In drag I am a flamboyant male who enjoys expressing femininity. Out of drag my gender is often questioned out loud and I see faces scanning my body for clues as to whether I own a male or female shell.”
In the 1970s there was glam rock, which inspired the queer and transgender youth of the 1980s.
Boy George was one of those who violated the expected gender expressions of that age. In this video he talks about those who inspired him, including David Bowie.
And if you do not know what Boy George is about, here is the super hit that made him and his group Culture Club famous. It is a great pop song!
You can discuss this video and queer and transgender popular culture over at Crossdream Life.
Glamour covers an interesting UK/US poll, which shows that people are getting much more relaxed about masculinity and femininity.
Only 42 percent of guys considered themselves completely masculine. They also had roughly equal views of masculinity and femininity, with 77 percent viewing masculinity positively and 74 percent viewing femininity positively.
The results were similar for women: Only 46 percent said they were completely feminine, and 13 percent of men and 25 percent of women said they’d worn clothing designed for the opposite gender.
These liberal attitudes seem to be growing as time goes on, since there were some pretty big age differences. Among men ages 18 to 29, for example, only 30 percent considered themselves completely masculine, while 65 percent of men over 65 did.
See also: “Less than half of America’s youth are straight, new survey finds”
Photo: cobrusia
