Creativity and Community in Femme-inism

This is a SYTYCB entry.

This past weekend I attended the 2012 Femme Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Time and time again, I heard femmes discussing how wonderful it was to be able to express freely and build community in such a safe space. Often, the discussion centered around the power of creativity and play. As queer femmes, the process of identity formation can be very powerful, and a chance to engage our playful sides that aren’t necessarily valued in mainstream culture. Every sort of femme expression was on display this weekend, from high designer femme fatales in patent leather stilettos and mini dresses to fat leather femmes in corsetry and clunky boots to diesel femmes with punk haircuts and button-downs. As a trans femme, I found it particularly freeing to be in a space where gender was rarely assumed, as so many people present were presenting in a way that wasn’t necessarily a clue as to their gender identity. With our pronouns clearly displayed on our name badges, we had the ability to both play with our gender expression and avoid misgendering (for the most part).

It’s not hard to see the connection here with feminist discourse that centers around individual choice and building communities of affiliation. If feminism is about breaking down patriarchal structures that require gender to be narrowly defined, expression and identity to be tightly bound so that everyone’s identity is legible and narrowly construed, then those of us in attendance at FemmeCon were definitely showing our feminist spirit. Some of the feminist ideas I heard being discussed in this vein included:

At the same time, there was a lot of acknowledgment at the conference that we need to also engage with the structural problems that third-wave feminism, womanism, trans feminism, and PWD feminism, in particular, are trying to fight.  We discussed labor and the fashion industry, the cultural specificity of femme presentation, exclusion of certain femmes in certain circles, and how sex work can be used to reclaim femininity that was used against us in childhood.  At a session on disability, a lot of us expressed frustration and rage around how difficult it is to build the communities we would like in a world that makes it difficult to simply meet, access care, and communicate.

I was particularly struck by one performance at Saturday night’s FemmesWERQ cabaret, put on by queer brown crip performer and activist Masti Khor.  In her burlesque performance, centered around an elementary school Valentine’s Day, Masti expressed rage at getting no Valentines as the only person of color at “queer elementary school,” and then proceeded to stomp on her classmates’ Valentines as a crowd of hundreds of femmes cheered uproariously.  With the word “FUCK” written on her stomach, Masti stripped off layers of skirt, each emblazoned with an end to the sentence.  “Fuck beauty standards,” “Fuck capitalism,” etc.  Smearing Valentine’s chocolates on her bare stomach, Masti held up a final skirt reading “queer brown femmes are adorable” as the audience howled with support.  The performance culminated in a self-love theme with Masti caressing her own cartoon image in her underwear and pasties, and the need for that healing emphasis in the room was palpable.

I found that performance to be the true expression of femme-inism–a recognition that the structures around us fucking suck, that they are weighty and oppressive and sometimes too heavy to bear, but at the same time a celebration of our power to heal, to love our bodies and our expressions, and to survive and thrive by letting our community’s energy bear us up.

You can learn more about the conference, and soon see video footage of the keynotes, at the Femme Collective website.

Avory Faucette is a queer trans femme-inist writer and activist.  Zie is particularly interested in identity formation, trans feminism, and intersections between our myriad identities.  Zie celebrates the word “radical” and reclaims it regularly at hir personal blog, Radically Queer.