I have always known what shape I wanted my life to take, but I didn't always know what it was called. Like a hazy view of the distance that's slowly coming into focus as you move closer. Sometimes I knew it because I was clear about what I wanted, but other times I knew it... Continue Reading →
I follow a lot of journalists on Twitter. If I like their writing style, their 'voice', I follow with an aim to read every piece of work that they share. Blog posts, articles in magazines, columns in newspapers, I absorb it all to the point where they start to feel like a friend. (Apologies to... Continue Reading →
This weekend just gone should have been the annual Pride in London and UK Black Pride events, but the current situation means that things have taken a different shape this year with Pride returning to its protest roots. Online events have sprung up too; last weekend I attended Bi Pride UK's excellent online Bi-Fi Festival... Continue Reading →
I don't often mention books on Rarely Wears Lipstick, as I don't have much time for reading these days, but when I received an email from publisher Cassava Republic Press about their upcoming title She Called Me Woman I knew I had to share it with you. This collection of narratives from Nigerian queer women... Continue Reading →
When the Museum of Transology launched, it was announced as the largest and boldest collection of trans artefacts and photographic portraiture ever displayed in the UK. A highly intimate exhibition which challenges the idea that gender is fixed, binary and biologically determined, it explores how these artefacts have helped to fashion self-shaped gender identities. Curator... Continue Reading →
1999. I am going to a job interview at a lesbian bar. The manager, a butch, opens the door: 'What are you doing here? Are you in the right place?' 'I am here for the interview' She looks at me up and down with suspicion. 'You don't look gay!' 'I am here, for the same... Continue Reading →
I recently attended a lecture by Professor Amy de la Haye on interpreting gender in the context of the museum, specifically when exhibiting fashion/clothing. The pre-reading was a chapter on female masculinities in the 1920s - in a book called Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture by Laura Doan - and... Continue Reading →
This morning, Irreverent Dance founder Amanda Leon-Joyce announced the closure of the dance community's home, IDHQ, as the spectre of redevelopment rears its ugly head. This sad news was a shock to this close knit community of people who, before discovering ID, mostly thought they would never identify as a dancer. But the support that... Continue Reading →
Yesterday saw the opening of Europe's first gender-neutral community dance studio. After Irreverent Dance's successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of last year, followed by months and months of legal wranglings, property searches, stress, tears and tireless work from many wonderful people, Amanda and the ID Board made the formal announcement on 29th May that... Continue Reading →
Last week, I visited Selfridges' much talked about Agender concept space. When I walked into the Oxford Street department store, I had no idea where I was headed and so I sought the advice of a friendly customer service assistant who explained that there were three of the concept spaces throughout the store - one... Continue Reading →