Visible Queerness: The aesthetics of political resistance
- Episode 03- Transcript
Georgie Williams, in interview: As part two of our exploration of ‘visible queerness’, I am including trigger warnings for the following episode pertaining to discussions of murder and the HIV and AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s, as well as use of homophobic slurs.
What do we mean when we talk about aesthetics? Aesthetics are most specifically described as the philosophical study of beauty and taste. In more general terms, the term ‘aesthetic’ has come to represent the artistic and spiritual merits of an object, an individual, or a collective. So when we strip it down to its bare bones, applying the matter of aesthetics to the political resistance and activism of the queer community in the Western world over the last 40 to 50 years- what does that activism physically look like? What materials, visual styles has it utilised? When we think of the Stonewall riots and the subsequent first ever pride march, we think of brave drag queens and trans women, decked from head to toe in jewellery and stereotypically feminine attire which so beautifully juxtaposes, compliments the aggression with which they confronted the police who sought to arrest them for their gender or sexuality on that famous night. As Paul Preciado wrote in Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic, the real or imagined power of femininity and/or sexuality can be used to both excite and trouble an audience. So our question is, how has that which we have been an audience to, over these many years of queer activism, excited and troubled communities into action? What are the aesthetics of political resistance? Welcome to episode three of /Queer- you’re here with me, your host, Georgie Williams.
When art and political resistance intersect, we come to understand how visual mediums can be used to harness social power and politically disrupt spaces- and so much of queer history is inextricably tied to matters of social power and political disruption, with good reason. This was another subject which I had the good fortune to discuss with Gary Wasdin, the Executive Director of the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, who was one of the interviewees with whom I discussed queer kinship in Episode 2. Gary was more than happy to address one of the most well-known examples of queer resistance and activism- the response to the HIV and AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.
Georgie Williams, in interview: How were the leather and kink communities tied into political resistance in the 20th century and the turn of the 21st century?
Gary Wasdin, in interview: Well I think you’d probably find a somewhat different answer from different people, but I think at its essence the leather community, the kink community- and we often use leather as an umbrella term for leather, kink, BDSM- have always been associated with power and power dynamics, and especially in the late 20th century, during the AIDS crisis, that was probably one of the most visible moments of the leather community stepping forward and people in the leather community being more politically active and being among the first that stepped up to fight back, to push back but also to care for the community, to be the ones to step in and you know I think that comes from a lot of different places, and certainly they weren’t the only ones, certainly the trans community, drag queens- but I think that the common theme there of marginalized peoples, of those subsets of marginalized groups who found that voice in their community and for us really in the leather community to find the strength to push back and get involved- and I think a lot of that power comes from being marginalized, certainly not true for everyone but you do often find that people who are pressed who look for those sources of power and find ways to overcome and fight back, and that translates into political power in so many instances, but most especially in the leather and kink communities.
Georgie Williams, in interview: What do you personally feel explains this intersection of kink communities and political activism, aside from what you’ve already covered?
Gary Wasdin, in interview: I think the intersection that we see between leather, kink and political power is really that need for a voice, that need for space in the conversation. And I think for many of us, the realization that there was never going to be an invitation to join in that conversation was obvious really from the start and that if we wanted be there, we wanted things to change, we had to step up and make that change. And I should say, I’m using ‘we’, I’m part of that community but of course, the people who came out before me are the ones that did the heavy lifting in this but, I think it’s that realization that comes from feeling like there’s not a place for you that pushes people to carve out and create that space for themselves, a lot of that builds just from years of frustration, of anger and certainly I think if we look at what has come out of the tragedy of the AIDS crisis that for many people think was a motivator because in the past, what had just been feeling like being left out, having to hide turned into watching friends and family members die and seeing your population decimated really led people and in some instances, forced people to step up and fight back and certainly the leather and kink communities were hard hit by this, and it pushed people to a point of saying it’s no longer a choice, we have to speak up, we have to be involved, we have to push back or literally, we will not exist anymore.
Georgie Williams, voiceover: Given that we were in the Leather archives which, as I mentioned in episode 2, is an umbrella term that also includes the kink & BDSM community, I felt that if anyone could explain the role of materials in queer activism, it was Gary.
Georgie Williams, in interview: So how do you feel that aesthetics and physical materials such as leather play a role in social visibility and political resistance?
Gary Wasdin, in interview: When we talk about leather really in particular, I mean there is a real physicality to leather and while that’s not everything it is an important piece of the leather community- and there’s lots that’s sort of said about this, and I don’t think most of us really think about the physical nature of putting on leather; but If you think about why leather exists as clothing to begin with- I mean it’s durable, it’s strong, it’s tough, it was worn specifically because it provided that protection, that layer of protection, then yeah, that’s exactly how we describe ourselves as leather people, so you see that there is kind of represented in the physical artefact of leather in many ways a sort of summary of how we describe ourselves as leather people, and it is that sort of empowerment, it is that sort of donning something that provides a level of protection and even though the concept is different for many people, I think almost anyone who wears leather can describe that there is a distinct change in the way you feel when you put it on, you’re a different person when you’re wearing leather, you behave differently, you carry yourself differently, you feel differently, your self confidence is different, and it’s just that sending a message to others who see you and how they respond and react to you that feeds into how you see yourself and what it means to you personally so, I think that connection with the actual leather that we wear really does translate into how we describe the whole reason why leather as a community exists specifically I think in the LGBT population, you know most of what we do when we talk about we built culture and traditions around the leather for many people it’s less true I think today and you’ll find arguments about to whether or not how important some of these traditions are but being gifted your first piece of leather was always kind of a rite of passage, of coming into the community for many and for myself it was being gifted my first cover and that sort of moment where a piece has a greater meaning behind just the sort of, again, physicality of putting it on your head but everything that it represents and the fact that it ties you to other people and it’s a visual clue, it’s when you go out and you see other people wearing leather, it’s a visual clue that we’re connected, even though I don’t know you, I don’t know who you are, there’s something that ties us together and at the end of the day that’s what a lot of us are looking for- is that feeling of community and other people that we can make a connection with either just for a few hours, a night, or a lifetime.
Georgie Williams, voiceover: I was interested in asking Gary about how these histories were being recorded and preserved at the archives- because when we talk about visible queerness, or visual aesthetics, we need to address what it means to be visible. If we were to align our perspective with the assertion of French philosopher Michel Foucault and state that “visibility is a trap”, one could argue that being visibly queer, despite being a form of powerful social disruption and, at times, political resistance, also makes the visible individual vulnerable, at risk, and subject to disciplinary forces outside of their accepting social circles. With this in mind, I decided to question Gary about how pseudonyms play a role in the preservation of histories and of desired anonymity.
Georgie Williams, in interview: With regards to the use of pseudonyms in the archives here, how do you navigate the anonymity of individuals who have been engaged in these circles, but still try and de-stigmatize the histories? Because I feel it can be difficult to counterbalance giving people the privacy they need, but also effectively recording these histories and documenting what occurred. How do you work through that from an ethical standpoint?
Gary Wasdin, in interview: The use of pseudonyms or as we more commonly call them in practice, 'scene names' that people refer to themselves… it is complex, it is complicated both in real life as well as in an archival collection like this. It presents challenges but there are also incredible benefits to us and people use scene names for different reasons and pseudonyms and sometimes it’s not necessarily because of anyone trying to hide or a need for anonymity- I myself often go by 'Daddy G', and many people know me as that, many people who don’t know my name know me as 'Daddy G'- and it’s not for any reason of trying to hide my name or hide who I am, it’s just you know, almost like a nickname that people have taken to. And there are many people like that in leather in kink who use a scene name that they feel better describes their personality, their style, their interests or whatever. And it just becomes the name they’re known by. People do go by many names and people know others by multiple names- in the case of the archives and from a researcher’s standpoint, it’s both respecting the names that people wish to use and wish to identify with first and foremost and those that wish to remain anonymous and this is true to some extent in any archive, in any research collection- it just tends to be a little more prevalent in collections like the Leather Archives and Museum just because of the content- and because there is a stigma, still that’s associated for many people who are part of these communities. Anything to do with non-normative sexual behaviour is still somewhat taboo in our world today, and many of the people who have a need to be anonymous, to remain anonymous do so just for their own protection, either for career or family, for whatever reason just don’t feel safe being identified as part of this.
So I think first and foremost is, we have to accept that point blank. If, the most important thing is for the collections to be preserved and saved and housed here at the archives. And if that is a necessary step in making that happen, then we accept that without question. Usually of course, there is a time limit on that to provide an opportunity in the future when that is no longer necessary, and that gives us at least something down the road, usually past the person’s death plus a certain number of years to when things can become more publicly known or not have to be redacted in many instances. You know, apart from that, with much of it, it’s kind of a complex juggle- and the impetus is really on researchers to understand the need for that and to find ways to work with that, and the best that we can offer is figuring out where it matters and where it doesn’t. Telling someone’s story and learning about someone’s life experiences is valuable even if you don’t know that last little piece of information of their name, and who they were. At the same time, as the world changes, we do see less of that now and the slow acceptance of kink, leather, BDSM and the role that it plays in people’s lives- does at least help people make that choice a little more easily about their need for anonymity. At the end of the day, as with all of this, it’s likely something that’s going to be around for most of our lifetimes because it’s just not, the world is not changing that rapidly, and even, if you look at even ‘vanilla’ LGBT, we still have people that are uncomfortable coming out and then coming out not just as queer but as queer and kinky is just another layer of difficulty. So it can be immensely challenging, we encourage people, especially researchers coming in to find ways to incorporate that into their research and to look at that, understand, appreciate why that’s important. Interestingly enough for us, where we probably see the most anonymity is in the straight and pan[sexual] kink communities because for so many of them, and our collections, The Leather Archives and Museum is of course across all sexualities, but of course in the straight and pan communities many of them are parents and have kids and have never had that sort of ‘coming out’ experience and so for them the stakes are quite different and they even just, in kind of recording the events that they hold, they’re quite different, and there’s a cloak of anonymity amongst themselves that’s even more shrouded in secrecy.
Georgie Williams, voiceover: Queer-centric political resistance does, of course, present itself in aesthetics beyond those commonly associated with kink & BDSM circles. Gary notes the history of drag queens engaging in activism during the AIDS crisis; and this engagement is one of a multitude of examples demonstrating the enduring and pervasive nature of political critique and resistance within the art of drag. Drag is inherently disruptive; visually, it challenges notions of gender, sexuality and even class and, when done respectfully, race. Drag artists use their bodies as canvases which are not blank, cannot be blank due to the imposition of gender and sexual norms, to subvert, query and confront the expectations we place upon said bodies. At its very core is the ability for drag artists to, to varying degrees, create discomfort. Just as an effective comedian knows how to generate and dispel tension within a crowd, drag artists can invite or diffuse discomfort; if they wish to do so. It is with this power and social influence that it becomes evident how drag can and has played a crucial role in a myriad of social justice movements throughout the 20th and 21st Century.
When I originally talked to Sister Roma, the international ambassador for drag activist group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, as part of episode 2, I wanted to satisfy a personal curiosity I had about how the visual presentation of the sisters was received by wider society. For those of you who are curious about this presentation, please visit the /Queer Gallery for this episode, where I will be sharing pictures of some of the sisters in action, as well as of Sister Roma herself. The visual presentation of these activists as drag nuns is a perfect example of a community challenging ideas about femininity and religious power, creating and potentially diffusing discomfort, and utilising their aesthetics as a mechanism for generating awareness through their activism and advocacy.
Georgie Williams, in interview: The religious aspect of the sisters- how do people receive that? Do you feel like there has been a perspective shift with regards to that over the years? Do you face any hostility with regards to that? Or do people receive it quite well usually?
Sister Roma, in interview: Oh no, everybody loves us- no. It’s a huge- so we are men, mostly- we have all members of all genders, men, women, transgender people- most of us are men, presenting as women, presenting as nuns, so it’s very emotional. It’s very controversial, it’s always been… it can be very divisive and it can be very um, shocking to a lot of people because there’s so much iconry involved around the Catholic religion and presenting yourself as some sort of holy order so… some people just don’t get it and they refuse to get it. They’ll never understand that we’re not making fun of nuns, we are nuns, we’re serving our community where they live in the best way that we know how. We work with the youth and with elders and with intravenous drug users and people who are displaced and living on the streets and we do all of the things that good intended nuns do that- the sisters take the best part of religion and put it into use. And I have had experiences with traditional nuns who will come up and thank me for the work that I do and recognise me as a sister and really appreciate us. But there has been a shift overall, not just in the religious community but also in the gay community and the community at large regarding the sisters and it sort of, probably also mirrors the sort of change in drag overall, around the world. It’s just become more accepted and more appreciated for different reasons, so that’s encouraging.
Georgie Williams, voiceover: To better understand what it is that The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence do, I also talked to Sister Purrr Do. Sister Purrr Do, who I briefly mentioned in episode 2, is the Director of the LGBTQ center at Purdue University in Indiana- as before, not the same spelling. Sister Purrr Do is a powerhouse of activism who has been engaged in direct action and advocacy pertaining to queer issues for several decades now, and establishing an LGBTQ center at a university situated in the middle of a Republican stronghold state is no small feat. Purrr Do was more than happy to indulge my curiosities about what drag activism actually looks like.
Georgie Williams, in interview: What is the praxis of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence? In other words- what beliefs and ideas do you apply as part of your activism, and what does that application look like?
Sister Purrr Do, in interview: The idea behind the sisters and the world of the sisters is that we do our activism- we are engaging the world through joy. I think that it’s a very simple concept in how it sounds, but in fact it’s actually quite complex in how it sort of works its way into the world. And so you know, we, show up- some of us paint, some of us do not paint our faces- we wear our coronets, the headpieces that we wear that represent our houses, we may choose to wear jewellery or other forms of decoration. But when we engage people, we try and engage people through levity, through humour, through wit and through wisdom, in ways that shed light on some of the types of challenges that we’re experiencing in our country and in the world, some of the ways in which we may stereotype or have bias and experience oppression- and we try to engage all of this, like I said, centred through this one word- joy. And that can be hard at times, but when we do it, when we do it successfully, I think we have the opportunity to bring people together and to also, as sisters, build community. And I think that is a very unique experience when it comes to the type of activism that we do as Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. And so that for me has been, I think one of the most exciting and interesting parts of being a sister.
Georgie Williams, in interview: How have you seen drag be utilised in activism? What do you feel the art of drag brings with regards to direct action and the incitement of political change?
Sister Purrr Do, in interview: As somebody who uses drag in my activism, you know we talk about it as an opportunity for us to reflect the beauty of the communities that we serve, to reflect the beauty in the diversity of the world around us. So people come up to us all the time and say “oh sisters, you’re beautiful sister”- and it gives us a chance to turn that compliment back onto the world that we are working within and to say, well we are a reflection of you. We are a reflection of the people who we are working with and working for- and I think that that is very powerful and causes people to stop for a moment. Because they may not be thinking that that is going to be the response they’re going to receive- it causes them to smile. It causes them to have a moment of joy, right? It goes back to that joy for a second. I think that I can take a further step back and take a moment to think of ourselves as these kinds of cosmic clowns- and a historical perspective too, where if you look at the idea of a clown or a jester in society, right? And not all of us are funny inherently, or are trying to be- but the reality is that when we put on these faces, or when we put on drag- whatever drag means to us- it empowers us to be a character in our society that can potentially call out something that is happening, something that is going wrong in society. So in the old courts in Europe, the court jester played the role of not just the comic and the idiot, but they also had the ability to speak truth to power in a way that nobody else in the court could do. They could say things and get away with saying things because they did so through the mechanism of theatre, and spectacle- and that’s what we’re doing in the same way in the 21st Century as these radical queer nuns that we are as Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Georgie Williams, in interview: So, to go on to my final question, I wanted to ask you- what do you think explains the enduring history of the sisters? Do you feel that they still have a role to play in activism and political resistance as we enter the next decade?
Sister Purrr Do, in interview: The order is growing at a rate that is incredible- and so I am very inspired by the, the legacy and the enduring role that we are, right? Because we are not history, we are contemporary, we are at a point in time where we are nearing, right now, fifty houses in North America, and we’re in more than a dozen countries worldwide, and there are sisters all over. I have the great fortune of being what we call a ‘Sister Without Borders’, so a sister who connects with sisters all over the world, whether that be physically by visiting other sisters in other houses, or using the power of social media to make connections or facilitate connections- but also highlight the good work that sisters are doing, and I think actually that social media is enabling the work of drag activists like us to be seen and be heard in new ways that, forty years ago when the sisters were founded, we could have never imagined. And so I think that our enduring legacy will only be to continue this exponential growth that we’re seeing today. And there will only be more drag activists in the world- um, so i’m thrilled that we’ll see continued growth and international presence and we’ll see different ways and forms of the utilisation of joy, and the utilisation of drag to speak truth to power.
Given our national landscape, and just speaking about the United States right now- given our national landscape, given where we’re seeing politics at the moment, this is a time where the opportunity to have people who can speak out, or who feel like they have a space, or who can hold space, I should say, where others may not feel safe to do so- I think it’s incumbent upon us to speak more. And so I am actually really inspired by the fact that we’re seeing houses come out more and more in this time period- it seems like in fact, during trying times, more houses are born. And so that brings me great joy. And so I believe that this is the time for drag activism- and we will only see this future be brighter, and more glitter-filled, and more glitter blessings will happen all across the world.
Georgie Williams, voiceover: For those curious about what a glitter blessing is, please visit the gallery for this episode on the /Queer website, and you can see my very own blessing which I received from the sisters. When I was blessed by Sister Purrr Do, she used a vial containing a mixture of glitter from multiple houses of sisters from all the round the world, as well as dirt from the ground at concentration camps from the second world war, eyelashes from drag queens present at the Pulse nightclub shooting, and even fragments of wood from the post Matthew Shepard was tied to when he was tortured and murdered for being gay back in 1998. Being blessed by the sisters felt both sombre and joyous, powerful and affirming. During my time in San Francisco I met a whole host of sisters with stories to tell- among those, Sister Faegala who, as a 71 year old woman, has been present at a whole host of major American events where queer history was made- she even showed me the scar on her chin from her participation in the White Night Riots, which took place in San Francisco as a response to the lenient sentencing of the man who assassinated Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States. But, through all I learned about who the sisters are and what they do, I feel like a glitter blessing truly encapsulates the ethos of the sisters; that suffering and joy are not opposites- we can honour the former in the process of generating the latter. There may be dirt trodden deep into the grooves of queer history, but there is glitter there, too.
Before I left San Francisco, I had the fortune to meet one more person who, to me, was also exemplifying what it meant to use queer aesthetics to enact political change- and this person was Lyndsey Burcina, the youngest ever elected politician in the State of California. As an openly queer politician, Lyndsey has been using queer aesthetics to enact political change, and has arranged a drag show in Santa Rosa in February starring RuPaul’s Drag Race Winner Trinity the Tuck- which also doubles as a voter registration event. Lyndsey has kept the ticket prices low at only $25, including the Meet & Greet. When I asked Lyndsey why it is that she chose to combine drag with political engagement, she explained to me that, and I quote, “as I got into politics and coming out as a queer politician I noticed that the lack of representation wasn’t just among young people and people of color but the LGBT+ community as well. As an avid Drag Race fan, I knew that the contestants all had huge followings and a huge voice with thousands or millions of people looking up to them for guidance- so I decided that I would take what I knew as a politician and about the world of drag to put them together. Now there are a few voter registration organizations that have been utilizing drag queens but this is completely separate. I am not targeting just people that go to drag shows- I’m targeting everyone. This is to open the minds of the closed minded, to reach those who can’t afford $100+ for a ticket, and it’s different from those organizations because my biggest connections are with Congress. I am close friends with many senators and congressmen who have been so excited about this and are wanting to expand their horizons.”
What moved me about Lyndsey’s project is that this was not just about encouraging individuals to engage in politics through drag, it was about exposing individuals within the world of politics to queer culture- this event would be a cultural transaction which could narrow the divide between young queer voters and their representatives in Congress. This was about common ground, destigmatizing the stigmatized, and enacting political change through the visual arts. Lyndsey was assisting young people in having their voices heard, undeniably- but this was a two way street. She was also demonstrating to the people in power that the arts can be used to inspire, organize and motivate the people. There is, of course, a long and pervasive history of our people walking many miles at rallies, at protests, at sites of conflict, in wigs and high heels.
Symbolism occurs when an image comes to represent a movement, a resistance, and between the work of leather community members and drag activists and performers, it becomes clear how these aesthetics are coming to represent a collective of people who fight back against their oppression, who are unapologetic of their queerness and are using their power to create platforms upon which many of us can stand alongside them. We owe so many of our human rights in the modern day to those who came before us, those amongst us now, who use art and visuals to challenge, to confront, to organize and empower. Art and politics are indivisible- and when we are brave enough to use the former to address the latter, change is possible. We are heard and seen now, as a consequence of the actions of those, who demanded they were seen and heard before us.
This episode of the /Queer Podcast was edited by Charles Makemson, produced with the help of Lauren Tweedie and scripted and presented by me, Georgie Williams. A very special thanks to fellow researcher Cait Parker for contributions to content and script. Many thanks once again to Gary Wasdin at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, as well as The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, most notably Sister Roma and Sister Purrr Do for their interviews. Many thanks also to Lyndsey Burcina, otherwise known as The People’s Candidate. I would like to take this opportunity to include a very relevant outtake from my interviews with Sister Purrr Do and Sister Tara NuHole, in which Purrr was admiring her Swarovski crystal jewellery during a microphone test:
Sister Purrr Do: I mean… The depth of joy.
Georgie: (Laughter)
Sister Tara NuHole: I agree.
Sister Purrr Do: Cause you could look into these things forever and just… I would never work. I would just look, gaze upon them.
Georgie : So, what you’re saying is that the crux of Marxist revolution comes in Swarovski crystals?-
Sister Purrr Do: Correct.
Georgie: That none of us can do a day’s work...
Sister Tara NuHole: (incoherent hysteria)
Georgie Williams, voiceover: Thank you to everyone who has made the US leg of this podcast tour so special, we look forward to bringing you episode 4 and 5 in January and February 2020 as we start our research into the queer histories and cultures of Japan. One last note before we wrap up: as of Episode 3, I have now launched a /Queer Patreon. As many of you will know, this entire trip is a self-funded venture, coming out of six years of my savings, which were initially set aside for my PhD, which I will be commencing in 2020. So every leg of this journey, every piece of equipment, every aspect of this project thus far has come exclusively out of my own funds. Of course, I am more than happy with this, as /Queer is a passion project, and it is a joy to be spending my money on creating something that matters to me. That said, if you do enjoy this podcast and wish to contribute in any way to supporting this venture, it would be lovely to have your support. You can find the /Queer Patreon at patreon.com/slashqueer. That’s S-L-A-S-H Queer. The link is also available on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. It would mean the world to have your support.
This episode was recorded on location in Chicago, Illinois and beautiful, downtown, Oakland, California. Music in this episode was composed by Kevin MacLeod. If you enjoyed this episode or have any feedback, please get in touch on Instagram or Twitter at @SlashQueer or email us at slashqueer@outlook.com. As always, until next time stay kind, stay radical and stay queer.