Orange is the New Black: Season 3

[dykeumentary]

Originally Posted by HoldMeSteady

boo has a chip on her shoulder and she regretted not seeing her mother. she also isn't that well adjusted. I'm curious how you play with your gender expression in different situations?

I'll be brief so I don't derail the thread too much-
I really am a working class manual laborer (in construction). So I dress in jeans and boots and often a layer of flannel in the morning. Because sexism determines that construction is "male" job, when I dress for my job, people read that I'm dressing male. (And I really am a butch dyke, and becuase of second-hand heteronormativity, when I am dressed for my job people think I must be a self-hating woman who is trying to emulate men's clothing and jobs so they I can get with a woman.)

Isn't that hilarious people make assumptions about me and assume I have some motive behind my gender expression besides- "I'm on my way to work."

So sometimes I like to tart myself up a bit - with sequins and glitter. And sometimes I like to go all-out-mini skirt/make-up/heels. And I like to play with the intersections of class and gender- when I did drag I would sometimes dress up as a superRich man, or super-exaggerated working class guy. (I was always resentful when a drag shows the kings would perform "class" in an unexamibwd way. I express gender in whatever way I think would be most fun for me.

I prefer thoughtfulness to rigidity in every area!