Loving Girls: Who Am I? Jesi’s Story
By Emily Bowen
In this third installment of a four-part audio series by Emily Bowen, Jesi unpacks feelings about a parent’s misconceptions about sexuality versus gender.
“I’m mad at my mom for being like ‘uh, you look like a butch dyke.’ and I haven’t come out to my mom yet,” Jesi says in the clip. “So it’s like, ‘really? You’re interpretating the clothes I wear and the way that I look as my sexuality, and that’s really insulting.’”
Jesi, who identifies as a girl attracted to women, feels that her sexuality has a lot to do with her understanding of gender.
“I just don’t really know how to define myself, or where I fall,” Jesi says. “I never realized it was so much a choice.”
The audio was originally shared as the cornerstone piece to the Tucson Gender Identity Project that took place in June of 2011 at the Fluxx Studio and Gallery in Tucson. The intent was to provide the audience with no way to categorize these individuals except their voice and definition of gender and how said definition applied to their own identity, said Bowen.
The Tucson Gender Identity Project itself was a collaborative event that brought together local spoken word and visual artists to Tucson’s first queer art space to engage in open dialogue about gender: both its external societal implications and the role it plays on the internal identity. The audience was invited to view and interact with art pieces as well as discuss their own reactions at a post show open mic.
About the Author
Wild Gender is an online magazine and creative hub born out of gratitude for the gift of full expression. We are dedicated to creative practices that celebrate gender fluidity, identity and expression. Wild Gender prioritizes visual art, creative writing, and journalistic work by trans/gender-variant individuals who have never before been published in a public venue. Run entirely by volunteers,we are always in search of writers, thinkers, and creators hoping to participate in our growing community.
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