It was a fun, sexy, and sometimes somber event. Great acts, hilarious and gorgeous MCs Starr 69 and Kentucky Fried Woman.
There were a lot of trans men and butches, femmes and lesbians and it was a little intimidating to ask the question. But I did. Some people said no, and then there were those that said yes. It's always a risk to ask someone how they identify, and possibly get it wrong. On the other hand, it's also a great to ask and meet people, have conversations, talk about who they are, discuss the project and build community.
Some of the people I asked were trans and did not identify as butch, others weren't trans and didn't identify as butch. There was a range of reactions and later I had a good conversation with a trans man in a bar about what it was like for him to be asked, and why it made his hackles rise a bit. There is, I think, work to be done to examine the dynamics that seem to be at play between butches, trans men and the larger queer community in which many of us exist. And what we call ourselves is as important as ever.
Here, a woman who wears mens clothes, but doesn't consider herself butch, "proud to be a woman," and her friends, from the back (the woman I asked is on the left, she liked my dress and all three were very nice).
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