HIGH GEAR/FEBRUARY 1977

By Leon Stevens

Whether Karen Lindsay is straight or not is irrelevant to the issue. Anyone who feels s/he is oppressed by some aspect of the gay community should be permitted to express him/herself. Ms. Lindsay's article was recommended to us by Lori Holmes, former chairperson of the Cleveland Area Lesbian Feminist Alliance and accurately reflects the thinking of many lesbians with whom we have spoken. As you have mentioned in your article and as Anne Rit-

RICHMOND SISTERS

these shows outraged blacks, whites considered them harmless fun, and often staged them to raise money for charity..

lethargic slob though he may be) or a canquished breed of polka-Varieties debutantes.

.BUT WHAT ABOUT WOMEN?

Mere historical precedent is no vindication for oppression. Although transvestites were active in the early European homosexual civil rights movements, they did much to misrepresent gays, characterizing us as some sort of hermaphroditic "Uranians." Transvestites may surely have suffered in Nazi concentration camps. Nevertheless, the use of abusive "camp" is no justifiable in such situations as was anti-semitic humor used by some incarcerated Poles, Russians and Austrian nationalists. I was particularly offended by anti-Slavic and antiSemitic remarks as well as a tasteless penchant for the word "bitch" mouthed by Michael Greer, a "campy" entertainer who visited Cleveland last year.

In the past, women have had no choice in regard to their A apparel. who woman appeared at a social function improperly attired would have been ridiculed, embarrassed or even punished (as George Sand clearly demonstrated). Until recently, women's fashions have been designed entirely by men to satisfy their banal masculine desires at the expense of encumbered and restricted The drag we women. accustomed to is an awkward relic. Huge lacquered wigs and wall-to-wall sequins are repidly becoming the sole province of Nashville celebrities who would "stand by their man" (Vicious,

chey (a local transvestite) explained in a recent article in High Gear most drag queens are likely not gay. In fact, early transvestite organizations in this country repudiated homosexuality and refused openly gay members.

It is true that drag has been a part of the American gay scene. The same cannot, however, be said of transvestites. In all major cities,large or popular gay bars and baths either deny drags entrance or in some other way discourage cross dressers as patrons. Most of Cleveland's major gay discoteques, for example, ban drags except on Halloween, New Year's Eve or in other isolated circumstances. (which doesn't make it right). Drag Shows Are Not Satires of Roles. I have never seen a bona fide "butch-drag" show in which "butch" impersonators made light of roles. Female impersonators are, for the most part, guilty of blatant misogyny. Many skits involve such offensive mechanics as substituting balloons for breasts, then comically deflating them, or removing artificial breasts and casting them into the audience, etc. This does not satirize a role but defames a woman's anatomy!

Drag shows are not unlike the "minstrel" shows, popular in the South and in businessmen's clubs which excluded blacks and Jews. Minstrel shows were comprised of white men who painted themselves black with stereotyped and exaggerated Negro features. Their brand of humor parodied black speech patterns and ridiculed black spirituality and music. While

CLOSED

the

Ms. Lindsay does not oppose transvestism. Rather she attacks

ELLA WESNER

false and insulting role thrust upon women by men. A transvestite who is sincerely interested in identifying with a woman will manifest the most positive woman-made image of a woman, not artificial characteristics assigned by males. True feminine traits include strength. endurance, intelligence, creativity, leadership. responsibility, courage. maturity.. humor, pragmatism, ambition, firmness, implacability and mobility. They do not include weakness, flightiness, frivolity, silliness, "sensitivity," shallowness, vanity and mediocrity. Indeed, any kind of "vestitism" is unnecessary unless some party is interested

are

segregating or confining another group.

It is for Women to Define Womanhood and not men dressed up as what they think women should look like. The best compromise in clothing is

new an-

compromise. That is, our society must adopt a drogynous mode of dress, with plenty of room for variation, but free of grotesque symbols of an oppressive past. Drags may very well be helplessly captivated by a fetish for the garb of unliberated women in which case they ought to honestly acknowledge the phenomenon rather than attempt to pass as spokespeople for biological women. Drag is non-gay. It is not intrinsic to gay people, bu merely hosted by them.

'ed how much Euro-American attire indicates our sexis: powerconsciousness. Plains Indians. for example, thought nothing of riding into battle with feathers. paint and jewelry. Attila the Hun flaunted silk. gold earrings and other flimsy finery while chepping to pieces sundry non-Huns.

Androgynous wraps are hardly new. Vietnamese highland peasants have draped both men and women in simple black coton slacks and shirts. Eskimos and Laps have adorned themselves in strict unisex for perhaps millenia. Full-length pleated and lace skirts are worn on festive occasins by both men and women in much of Hungary and Northern Croatia. Feminis's. please take note! As a gay male. I am offended by the usurpation and domination of my entertainmen by highly repetitive wigs, beads. ostrich plumes and silent lips. That is not my culture! I am embarrassed for myself and my " sisters by he mere suggestion tha: either of us is identifiable with

At this point I must confess tha: feminists have not been consistent in adapting an androgynous or originally feminist wardrobe. I have seen feminists. with high political consciousness sporting everything from khaki combat boots and fatigues to sleek silky slacks. with patent stacked heels. Trousers. denim and flannel shirts, popular among many lesbian feminists, actually convey the conventional maleaggressor politic Western male clothing, more specifically, pants, lack of pleating or excess material and dark colors imply that a man should be"ready for action," a male should be prepard to "get dirty", exert himself or demonstrate his power vis-a-vis a potential abstract challenge.

the painted. powdered. padded pariah on stage. Gay men are gay men and lesbians are lesbians. Neither of us are "ladies. Since an average drag show is gonged weekly on The Gong Show. why should we se:'le for less?

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