Watch Out, Everybody! She’s Published.
I’ve always been a writer, and I’ve always been opinionated. My love for my community of artistic, insane, ingenious, debaucherous degenerates is what inspires my work, and inspires my commentary. So, when I was approached by Penelope Dario of Petit Mort Magazine to write about my ideas on the changing tides of cultural identifiers, I was ecstatic to seize the opportunity.
I’d been ruminating on this topic for a while—this idea that the more hostile our government behaves with us as people, the more we look for moments to be hostile in return. And that, like it or not, we are in a continuous relationship with the structures that be, and that external relationship (no matter how contentious) affects our relationship with self.
In this article, I explore the manner by which language and identifiers become the people’s choice for casual, every-day defiance. The way we distinguish ourselves and communicate with others is often a litmus test for the status of our interaction with structural oppression. There is friction and acid in using the word “dyke” to describe oneself under fascism, for example, as opposed to describing oneself as a “lesbian” under a more stable government. And, when we use these words and make these choices, what do they mean? What do they do for us? How does “radical language” crash between the lines of casual parlance to satisfy unspoken emotional, structural needs?
Thank you, once again, to Editor-in-Chief Penelope Dario for the opportunity to scream at the top of my lungs in print. I’m immensely grateful to be published here.
Also, sharing a magazine with Amanda Lepore and Diane Brill is something I wish I could specifically add to my resume.
