All posts from Midwest GenderQueer
Tonight! 5th Annual Ginger’s Birthday Mystery Box will steam up Wall Street Nightclub in downtown Columbus. Pre-sale tickets are only $5, and proceeds will benefit the Equality Ohio Education Fund, a non-profit, state-wide organization focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy and education.
Check out new Midwest GenderQueer spoken word, dance, and drag videos!
Visit the YouTube page for more new spoken word, dance, and drag videos!
And now all MWGQ videos have a subtitled option, which I am very excited about. I have been working to find ways to make my online presence as accessible as possible, and the subtitling is a super addition to that. So, woot! I can’t speak any other languages fluently because I’m an ignorant American BUT Spanish subtitling will hopefully be coming at some point if I can find some way to coax some of my bilingual friends to do stuff for me via cooking and sewing favors.
If you have videos of your own, you should go to Universal Subtitles and add subtitles to your work. Its very easy to do, and doesn’t take as much time as you would think. Plus, making accessible work is always worth the extra time.
So I have a Midwest GenderQueer Facebook “fan page” now, or should I say I finally buckled to fellows’ suggestions for me to make one. So to label yourself as a “fan” of mine, which I suppose means you will keep me cool either by your electric spinning blades or by standing near me in adoration and waving a palm branch… or perhaps something in between… check it out! And check out my drag troupe The Black Mondays on facebook too!
I labored extensively through OCD and photo editing. Enjoy!!
I’d like to point out how ironic it is that the ‘advances in technology’ post somehow got double posted….
Ohio peoples!! TransOhio is putting on an assessment in order to take a snapshot of the needs & climate of Ohio for transgender, partner and allies in our state. The survey takes about 15 minutes and its for trans folk, partners of transfolk, and allies of transfolk. Please take the time to fill it out!
Friends,
Howard Brown Health Center, the ONLY sliding scale queer health clinic, is in dire need of funds. This Chicago based health center provides accessible health and community services for over 36,000 queer and trans folks from all over the Midwest every year, including trans health care WITHOUT Gender Identity Disorder. I started going to Howard Brown three years ago, driving a ten hour round trip to get health care where I was treated like a human being. Now they are in danger of closing. Please make whatever donation you can to this life-saving organization. Every little bit helps!!
If you’re in the area, come out and join in!
Come out to see some really amazing folks who I am not cool enough to perform beside, including my buddies Julia Serano, Ignacio Rivera, Athens Boys Choir, Dalice Malice, and me this weekend at Queer in Flux!\
A Convergence for Queer Liberation in Columbus November 12th-14th
Queer in Flux: A Radical Queer Convergence
The Ohio State student group Queer in Flux will host a convergence highlighting racism, gender presentation, feminism within the context queer and trans identities through a series of workshops, music performances, spoken word poetry, and film. A multitude of themes will be covered ranging from prison abolition and sex work, to writing and music as revolutionary acts of expression.
Come out to Case Western Reserve for a series of workshops. GenderQueer 101 on Thurs Nov 11, 6pm and The Art of Drag, Friday Nov 12th!
I just read an ‘article‘ of sorts discussing research on the ‘typical’ self-injurer. Result: this random, rushed and frustrated commentary before I dash to the airport:
While there are definitely many who fit some or all of the descriptors mentioned, this research data (from ONE source) most likely came from populations seeking help leaving no representation of people who are not self destructive or disempowered and also practice or cope with self harm. And, what is so horrible about having to pick yourself up now and then? The source website is called “secret shame: you are not the only one” yet wrapped in its attempts of empowerment are repeated points of “oh, we are so sad and self-harming. look at how pathetic we are.” Bullshit.
Speaking as someone in the field of mental health who also has a history with self harm, this is a load of privileged, oppressive crap that feeds the stigma and ‘pity factor’ of mental health conditions. What is being described in this article is depression, not self harm. Sometimes people who practice self-harm are depressed, but sometimes they are not. Many people with self-harm histories are perfectly empowered, many empowered about their self-harm to where it is a positive coping mechanism for them. I’ll be honest; I still struggle with the negative parts of self-harm, but I never tell anyone about it because of articles like this one, that paint people like me as impulsive people who are incapable of having their shit together, deserving pity and ‘help’ with traditional, conformative pathologization.
No one has their shit together all the time, and the expectation for everyone to be shiny and happy constantly is both oppressive and unrealistic. We aren’t robots. (at least I’m not one, no hate for robots). The concept that self-harm = bad feeds stigmas not just on self-harm and mental variance in the more “traditional” sense but also BDSM and related sexual variances, all listed in the DSM as a mental disorder or paraphilia. It is this social construct that is disempowering, that leaves us to feel ashamed. If we could recognize that this experience is part of many people’s realities then we would be getting somewhere. Either way, there is no lack of legitimacy of experience here, nor is there any reason for us to pity ourselves or others about it. Pity does not lead to empowerment.
(sorry if there are typos. no time to edit right now!)
