In The Thick Of It

I want to pause for a minute and talk about queerness and clothing.

I want to talk about how often when folks talk about gender neutral clothing they’re talking about clothing that is traditionally seen as male clothing.  

I want to talk about how despite best efforts, masculinity and trans masculinity are still given great honor in queer spaces and that many things feminine and femme are given the stink-eye. 

Last night I was reminded of all of this when I was pointed to “Unbinding Binaries: A Panel Discussion on Clothing and Gender Identity” I was absolutely stoked by the topic and it’s being hosted by WORN journal, a favorite of mine.  But then I started reading more about who was on the panel and reading the critiques of the panel and it made me realize that there really is still such an emphasis placed on trans masculine folks who dress in a style that skews male (there are a number of problematic things with the panel - see the fb wall for some good discussion on the matter). 

To me, being Femme means a lot of things.  But it is especially a big glittery fist to the internalized misogyny in the queer community.  I explore Femme with the use of clothing and style but also by intentionally speaking about the role of femme and femininity within my community.  I specifically seek out other femme identified people to grow the community so we can make our presence.

All this being said, I’m excited by the amount of style I’m seeing in the local community - it’s the reason I’m writing about queer style (in all its facets) for The Qu and it’s the reason why I absolutely love having a fashion blog.

Femme Identified folks!!!  If you’d like to be a part of a photo collage I’m making for this blog - send me a photo of you in your favorite outfit by 3/15/12.  inthethickofitfashion @ gmail . com