The London queer scene has a kaleidoscopically diverse range of LGBTQ+ parties and events if you know where to look, but there are still some groups who are underrepresented, overlooked and misunderstood.
Performance platform WOOF aims to champion these groups, while simultaneously drawing attention to the LGBTQ+ scene’s still very disproportionate representation of cis white men. In a wider sense, WOOF’s goal is also to rewire the fibres of our notion of “sexy” – basically, stop watching Love Island and get an imagination.
Dylan B Jones spoke to WOOF’s producer Chiyo about the relationship between queerness and society’s idea of what constitutes “sexy”, AND how all that relates to our city’s nuanced sociopolitical structures. Carrie Bradshaw could never.
Hey Chiyo! Tell us about WOOF.
As someone who is a QTPOC [queer trans person of colour], but also an immigrant, a drag prinx (as opposed to queen), and someone who faces everyday misogyny, I’m forced to really think about how much space cis white gay men take up in a “community” that claims to be for all. Inspired by platforms like The Cocoa Butter Club, LADS, and Artists who were paving their own way, I decided it was time to have a cabaret night that vowed to platform identities who, in our mere existence, are redefining what it means to be sexy. The folk on our stages are never the forms plastered as desirable all over the media growing up – especially queer media.
One of WOOF’s goals is to “redefine sexy” – what do you think society views as “sexy”?
In the LGBTQIA+ community, you need to be palatable. Even as a gender non-conforming transboy, I have been made aware on multiple occasions that sometimes I am only the token trans person because I am thin and toned. Sometimes it doesn’t matter that I have a toned physique, because I’m too dark. Or I don’t pass enough. Sometime being pre-surgery and not fitting their mould of transitioning is what ruins it. Sometimes I’m not masc enough. The point is, to be desirable and to be trans, or to be desirable and to be a POC, or disabled, or femme, or a womxn, or an immigrant, you need to be palatable to those who still hold powerful space in this community – the cis gay white man. At WOOF, we do not condone that shit. We only platform bodies who have never fit the cookie-cutter mould of what it meant to be sexy. We control our own desirability. Our lineups have included icons like Travis Alabanza, Rhys’ Pieces, Sadie Sinner, Lily Snatchdragon, and Rubyyy Jones. We put the marginalised to the forefront and have sold out every single show.
What do you think of the queer and POC communities’ relationship to sex and sexiness?
I can’t really speak for the entirety of POC – we’re all from different cultures and backgrounds. Just like LGBTQIA+ folk, POC are not immune from being assholes and ignorant towards sex or what it means to be sexy just because we’re POC. However, I do feel many POC are more sexually open due to resonating with the experience of knowing you may be a crossed out preference to white folk. We know the “no blacks, no Asians” mentality within the gay community is alive and well. Usually when a POC follows the same toxic ideologies, it’s due to the internalised racism we’ve been taught by our white world. I don’t think the issue of orthodox gay desirability in Britain and beyond lies with POC, but rather with the Western standards of what it means to be a both queer and desirable. It all comes back to that idea of being palatable. Just watch trans pornography.
Have you ever watched trans porn?
I have. Why? Because I’m a trans man who likes to bottom. I have never seen a trans porno with a pre-op trans person. Show me a trans man with huge tits and a beard being fucked into oblivion. You can’t. Because the white cis men don’t want to platform that. It’s not what is deemed sexy to them. But you have huge muscular masc white folk like Buck Angel who are palatable, so they’re allowed to be seen. I want my cabaret like I want my porn. Because we are fucking sexy. I want fat black lesbians taking up space and non-binary people who blur gender lines beyond what is “just enough” for the cis gay white world. I want the idea of transition to be destroyed, and to bombard spaces full of gay white men snapping their fingers screaming “yaaaaaaas” with herds of queer immigrants creating drag illusions RPDR could never.
Finally – what’s next for WOOF?
WOOF pops up whenever I feel like it’s time for another WOOF. We’re all out here trying to hustle, and I’m really blessed to be navigating the cabaret community at a healthy pace. I like the idea of WOOF being a rare gem that pops up once every few months. This year we’ve taken over DragWorld, the Southbank Terrace with Pecs, and I even did a special event with it in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Our independent shows, always at the RVT, have sold out every time. The people want diversity. It’s time we take up more space. Hopefully next year we are bigger and better. In the mean time, the UK Queer population needs to support the movement and follow me on social media (lol). If WOOF goes on hiatus for the beginning of 2020, it is actually a cause for celebration. It means I’ll be finally getting Top Surgery and will be in recovery!
Keep up with all WOOF’s upcoming events on Instagram at @woofcabaret or on the RVT’s official website. Follow Chiyo at @chiyogomes.
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