“Norm is a setting on a dryer, and reality is a mass hunch."
July 29, 2014 8:52 AM   Subscribe

As part of their State of Sex issue, Dazed and Confused magazine presents an oral history of the trans magazine Original Plumbing [previously]. Amos Mac, co-founder and editor, asks five people in NYC who identify on the trans spectrum what being "trans in America" at this moment in time means to them. Dating columnist Arisce Wanzer discusses the challenges of dating as a transwoman of color (nsfw). Legendary NYC drag den mother Flawless Sabrina talks the ethics of identity politics and her mentorship of gay and transgender youth. posted by Juliet Banana (8 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Dazed and Confused magazine presents an oral history..."

Ha!

And yes, this pun is delightful to me. I enjoy wordplay.
posted by Fizz at 9:06 AM on July 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Not that anyone asked, but being "trans in America" doesn't mean much to me any more. I like that. Of course it helps that I have tons of passing and class privilege nowadays.

Mostly it seems to mean being befuddled and alienated by the extremes of genderqueerness found out there on Tumblr. I mean I just recently heard about someone coining a term for "cis women who wish they were trans women" and getting a huge shitstorm about that and I was just all like "what why would you want that immense amount of hassle in your life". Stuff like that makes me feel positively cisgendered; I can sympathize wih the last kid in the "trans in America" article who feels out of step with his circles because he's so binary about his gender.
posted by egypturnash at 9:21 AM on July 29, 2014 [4 favorites]


This is a well put together post, thanks.
I'm only really commenting to say that Flawless Sabrina is such a terrific drag name. (Apologies if that's not the correct term, I just mean to refer to the chosen name)
posted by staccato signals of constant information at 9:24 AM on July 29, 2014


I'm only really commenting to say that Flawless Sabrina is such a terrific drag name. (Apologies if that's not the correct term, I just mean to refer to the chosen name)

Dear gods no that is not the correct term, it's incredibly offensive to refer to someone's name as "drag" just because they're trans. If the part about them choosing it is relevant use "chosen name", but in this case it really isn't - it's just her name, and it's terrific.
posted by lisp witch at 9:58 AM on July 29, 2014


It was founded and run by a fag from south Philly named Jack Doroshow. At 19, Jack slipped into a custom-made old-lady suit with wide hips and low tits, adorned in the best blond wig that money could buy, and thus adopted the non-competitive mother image and became the queen Flawless Sabrina.

Sabrina goes by both Jack Doroshow and Flawless Sabrina. Here's some more background, in an video interview by James St. James.
posted by Juliet Banana at 10:11 AM on July 29, 2014 [3 favorites]


“Norm is a setting on a dryer,” says Sabrina, after pulling a rubber scrambled egg out of her desk drawer and sticking it on top of her head, “and reality is a mass hunch.”

That's not a scrambled egg (on Sabrina's lapel). It's obviously sunny-side-up. With this kind of inaccuracy, can we really trust anything the reporter writes?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:48 AM on July 29, 2014


"I mean I just recently heard about someone coining a term for "cis women who wish they were trans women""

Just for the record that was hoax/troll.
posted by Corinth at 2:25 PM on July 29, 2014 [3 favorites]


Dear gods no that is not the correct term, it's incredibly offensive to refer to someone's name as "drag" just because they're trans.

Not if she's actually a drag queen.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:39 PM on July 29, 2014 [3 favorites]


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