Art Murmur – Oakland – 2009

We met at Art Murmer in Oakland. We talked about art for a bit and about my gender activism. I love her tattoo on her leg, it is the alphabet in a retro letter type. There is a casual dissonance as well. The shirt, the skirt and the sandals, nothing even attempts to match.

I just returned from a weekend at Harbin Hotsprings in northern California. It is a post hippie, freak place where I used to study Watsu. It is a fairly tolerant of gender non-conformity. It is the only place I have ever seen anyone with tits and a penis sunbathing naked. That is an edgy form of gender activism. I saw a three or four trans girls while I was there.
It is a nice place to go if you want to push some gender presentation edges in a relaxed supportive environment.

Post-Straight Riot Grrl

S. always has an interesting look. She is mixes patterns without overwhelming. Perhaps, because she is sticking to red, black, white.
The jacket is terribly interesting. I would wear everything here except the skirt. I like skirts on curvy hips, not straight hips like mine.

Punk gives an interesting palette of ideas to play with. I would label this look Straight Queer Riot Grrl. I have been taking more shots in ‘straight queer’ settings. To become postgendered we must transcend gender in all its facets, including the homo/hetero. Post gender leads me to post-maculinism, but it also implies post-fags, post-dykes and post-straights.

Street Fashion – SF – Dolores Park Cafe

Here is a queer street fashion shot from my archives. She has the Butch look and attitude down. Somehow female masculinity is more gentle than male masculinity. There seems to be less entitlement and more reciprocity.

Street Fashion – SF – Tenderloin

Looking beautiful at Ships in the Night. I asked "Is this High Femme?" She answered "Finally! someone get it."
This is a different interpretation of femme than I am used to. I am used High Femme looking dangerous. Our Femme is on the cute side of the danger spectrum.

Street Fashion – SF – Tenderloin

Queerdo fashion taken at Ships in the night. P. looks is very playful. I am envious of her glasses. I like how she deconstructed her shirt.

Street Fashion – SF – Tenderloin

These lovely women identified as very Femme, but not High Femme. I like both of their looks. I took this pic at Ships in the Night.

Street Fashion – SF – Tenderloin

I love the dress, the shoes and her attitude. I took this pic at Ships in the Night.
Ships in the night is a inclusive queer dance party at the Gangway. It is one of my favorite fashion events in the city.

Natural Androgyny on Hippie Hill

She and her guy live in a tent in Golden Gate park. She used to own a business, now she is an urban camper. I find her face compelling.
She has a natural androgyny which I find beautiful.

Street Fashion – Oakland – Capricorn party

Cherry Flamingo looking fabulously femme at the Capricorn party.

Cherry is playing with femme presentation. The outfit is over the top femme, but the outfit includes pants under the dress.
I would not label this High Femme. My question is why do I feel this way? I think it is intention. What separates queer gender from outfits or costumes/ I feel it is intention. Is there an intention to denaturalize femininity, or to express it? I feel that Cherry does privilege artifice over realness, but she I do not feel that her intention is gender transgressive. I may be wrong. Cherry may tell us if we ask nicely.

Street Fashion – Oakland – Capricorn party

SublimeFemme has defined high femme as ” a highly stylized form of femme gender expression that tends to privilege artifice over realness.”
In this context i find J.’s outfit very interesting. She is beautiful, very femme, and her costume privileges artifice, but she presents a different “queer gender” than the high femmes I have run into. High femme often seems to be very faithful to hollywood femme fatale dress conventions, whereas J.’s outfit is more postmodern in that it integrates goth and showgirl elements like the platform shoes and the glittery fabric. This mixing is very much in line with Burning Man type style experiments.
I am feeling that I am tending towards a definition of “High Femme” and indeed any “queer gender” that focuses on produced effects both on the internal self and in interaction with others.

Joyous Playfulness

I love C’s fashion. I feel that he is a kindred spirit. He does not let himself be boxed by a narrow interpretation of trans guy fashion. He crafts his clothes with a lot of color. His fashion veers off the gender binary and explores joyous playfulness.

Street Fashion – SF – Mission

I love C’s fashion. I feel that he is a kindred spirit. He does not let himself be boxed by a narrow interpretation of trans guy fashion. He crafts his clothes with a lot of color. His fashion veers off the gender binary and explores joyous playfulness.

Femme Mafia

T. looks fantastic in her high-femmitude. I wish her luck in extending the Femme Mafia across the globe. Empowering and extending femme is powerful at our historical juncture. Earlier generations tried to erase it. For me to be femme is to be human. The female-bodied among us should be encouraged to get over ‘femme shame.’ Now if we can only find a way to extend the privilege and power of femme to the male-bodied, we will have a real revolution.

Katja again

I love this portrait of Katja.

Beautiful Femme at Tingle Tangel

Katja Smirnoff-Skyy is a singer/performer. She sings regularly around the San Francisco area. Her dress fits beautifully, and her makeup is awesome. She is over six feet. Looking into her eyes gave me goosebumps.

Tingle Tangel was a great event. More male femininity than I have seen before. The drag scene seems very welcoming to me as a male-femme. It is an interesting mix of gay men, straight queers, radical faeries and cabaret artists. I would have to say that the fashion is a good deal more interesting than most of what I have seen in the lesbian/trans scene.