Being Genderqueer

What is genderqueer? And what does it mean to identify as such in 2015? This week Jason Reid spoke to the Family Fierce’s punky princess Ruby Wednesday about living and performing as a genderqueer person, how that fluidity evolved, and those who have inspired Ruby, including the late, great David Bowie. 

 


How would you explain the term genderqueer to those who are unaware of it?

The easiest way to describe genderqueer is a person who doesn’t fit in a specific form of gender binary; it’s the fluidity between genders.

When did you consciously become aware that you wanted to define as such? 

It was only recently whilst living and performing in London did I discover that there was actually a name for it. When I first started performing, I luckily met some incredible people with a very liberal way of approaching gender and sexuality and have continued to meet likeminded people whom have continued broadening my horizons.

Can you explain the feeling of your gender fluidity and how it changes? 

Gender is super personal; I think that’s the most important thing about genderqueer. I don’t believe that people can tell you that you’re queer enough or not so. It’s a very fluid concept, similar to the ebbs and flows of a tidal river, because there’s more than one particular direction. A river travels from source to mouth yet meanders through the landscape, and the tidal element creates movement in other ways making it deeper or more shallow whilst creating the illusion the water is flowing backwards almost.

For you personally, how do you adapt that into everyday life? 

From a young age, I started wearing ‘female assigned’ clothing. I was an emo kid and it was before skinny jeans were deemed ‘cool’ by the masses, so the only way I could get them was from from ‘girls’ section’; that and I used to wear eye make up and nail varnish to seal the deal. I still wear eye make up occasionally when I’m not performing and I always wear nail polish.

“Gender is super personal; I think that’s the most important thing about genderqueer”

And as a performer? 

As a performer, I like to play with people’s perceptions of gender and sexuality. My make-up I do has an androgynous element to it and I don’t wear wigs, neither do I pad my body or feature breasts often. Usually, when I do wear breasts I tend to remove them as part of the act to emphasise the fluidity of gender and to highlight that breasts don’t necessarily make you a ‘woman’. Plus, I refuse to remove my body hair so there are many ‘masculine’ elements to my drag. My physicality blends between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ also, so audience members are looking at a ‘masculine’ body in elements of ‘feminine’ clothing like skirts or dresses in stilettos, huge eyelashes and big ol’ lips with occasional fluid movements and sometimes not. It’s a tad difficult to describe.

How important to you is it to come across that way on stage? 

I firmly believe that drag should be transgressive. It’s important to me to push these boundaries because it’s one of the things that I want to do with my drag. I think audiences are aware of it, mainly because some of the feedback I get is from people saying they’re attracted to the character and they don’t know how to process it.

Do you want them to be able to process it? 

In truth, people don’t need to, whether they identify as gay, straight, male, female, whatever, if you’re attracted to it you’re attracted to it and it isn’t necessarily just gender that people can be attracted to, sometimes it’s confidence, intellect, movement or other stimuli.

Exploring ones gender is of course something that’s not new, there have been numerous notable artists over the years who have been pushing the boundaries. 

Absolutely. I’m heavily influenced by genderqueer performers in music more than the drag scene: Marilyn Manson, Brian Molko and Amanda Palmer in her own little way but there’s one Star Man who ascends most influences. David Bowie really pushed me to be honest to myself. He went against the grain in almost all walks of life, he always was the diamond underdog and I identify with that more than anything: sticking to your guns and being passionate and dedicated in what you believe in.

 

• Star Man: A Tribute to David Bowie is at Bloc Bar Camden on Sunday 17th January from 8pm.

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