Gender F-ck Gender and sexuality in modern culture.

I recently accepted an internship at Lakeshore Theater in Chicago, IL. While I haven't even technically started yet, the perks have already started appearing. This weekend I was able to see Sandra Bernhard (on Valentine's Day, no doubt) at the Theater where she did four or five shows over the weekend.


I'm actually a pretty big Bernhard fan, considering I've seen every single Roseanne episode ever taped (probably five times.) I knew she was just as crazy and amazing (though much more posh) in real life. She walked onto stage in a Cheetah-print coat and covered in crystals. Her comedy had me in terms, her songs had me smile. She's always been outspoken politcally -- expressing her opinion on what Bush did wrong and on what Obama has yet to do.

She joked that the abortion politics are getting out of hand and that when she was a teenager, getting an abortion was a rite of passage. She said, "We earned those abortions!" It's crazy that we're even having this discussion about abortions again. She spoke about sending her daughter to camp during the summer and how they had begun planning her daughter's Bat Mitzvah. She talked about how her girlfriend was able to sway her from Kabala and how Madonna maybe had even more in common with Michael Jackson than she claimed at the VMAs.

The pinacle of her show was her cover performance of "Circus" in closing the show. Bernhard's comedy was the perfect amount of zshha, jewess, lesbian, offensive and chic to claim me as a huge fan.

(Photo via Sandra's Myspace)

Glee is perhaps my favorite new show this season. While it may have gotten off to a rough start critically, the show has really stepped up its game the past couple weeks. Last week Kristen Chenoweth gave a stellar performance as an alcoholic has-been.

This week, Mr. Schuester pegged the boys against the girls in a competition meant to spawn a little more excitement and energy among the cocky crew. Both the boys and girls performed mashups worth gawking about (with help from a few "legal" drugs). The series token gay Kurt Hummel bridged the gap between the boys and girls by telling the girls after the boys used their performance enhancers. Sure, I can identify with Kurt -- usually being the boy who bridged the gap between the boys and girls, but the show is definitely ridden with stereotypes right down to the football quarterback who loves to sing and the white nerdy/hot girl who is probably not quite as talented as the sassy "girlfriend" black girl, but continues to get solo after solo. That being said, a few stereotypes here and there can't hurt too much and I really look forward to what this witty comedy musical will bring in the future.

He deserves to be punished and extradited. No one is above the law. And we're talking about rape. Not rape-rape, Whoopi Goldbergs of the world -- there is no such thing. Rape is rape. A child is a child. These are black and white terms to describe exactly what Roman Polanski did years ago.

Also, a point to the Catholic Church: Yes your preists are pedophiles and a church problem (nothing to do with the fact that they molest BOYS -- gay does not mean pedophile). I might even go as far as to BLAME the church... well, that's what they're doing to the gays, aren't they? And yes the children they molested were, in fact, children. [Queerty, Jezebel]

(photo from Mika's MySpace)

Last week, flamboyant international pop star Mika came out as "Bisexual" in an interview with "Gay & Night" magazine. He claimed he puts no labels or limits on himself or his sexuality, but if people feel the need to label him, then call him bisexual. I think humans are very quick to need to categorize something that doesn't really need a category -- very often the case with sexuality. It's often this way because each of the sexuality labels (gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian) have some sort of political and definitely a cultural connotation to them. It's easy to associate yourself with others you have things in common with, especially if that trait makes you a minority.

Bisexuals are a very widely discriminated against group and behaps the most interesting and diverse category sexually. First off, bisexuals are often thought of as an imaginery group. People have no problem wrapping their head around same-sex attraction or opposite-sex attraction, but both will blow their minds. People think that simple can't be. It must be black or white with many people in regard to sexuality -- not gray. I have a hard time finding this train of thought logical. After all, we honestly must know that sexuality is more complicated than that. No two people enjoy exactly the same sexualities. Everyone enjoys different things, is attracted to different people and experiences different feelings.

However, many claiming to be bisexual use it simply as a stepping stone. Going straight to gay is often a much longer process involving a period where the comfort of bisexuality means you can always go back to what society deems normal: "opposite-sex attraction." This lessens the strength of the bisexual category -- seemingly full of people fooling themselves into thinking they can still be part of "the norm."

My favorite blog, BastardLife (probably NSFW), is bisexual genius Neal Bouton's tribute to actual bisexuality in a graphic, beautifully vulgar and enlightening way. Bisexuals do exist. They're not greedy, they are open to love and sex in whatever way life decides to give it to them.

Sorry to be a little bit 2000 and late about my write up on the September Issue, as Gawker, the New York Times and everyone in a big city was on it, well much earlier in September. However, living in Michigan, tonight was my first real opportunity to see the documentary as The Maple in Bloomfield Hills started playing it over the weekend.

While it wasn't quite what I had expected (much more glamour, clothes, designers, models), it was a fascinating look into the business of fashion -- an industry that gets a lot of flack by anti-fur activists and for the importance placed on body image (thinness as opposed to health in many cases). However, what I saw was an industry that celebrates, elevates and inspires women.

We receive the first real intimate look at the genius of Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington and the Vogue staff -- which aside from a few editors seems to be a wonderfully female-based. While Vogue as a magazine isn't necessarily my taste, the respect I have for Vogue as a brand is infinite.

Anna Wintour lives up to everything an editor-in-chief should be. She's strict and efficient. Considering all she does, she has to be expecting things now because she has something else to do in 5 minutes. She pretty much expects things to happen right when they're supposed to and that's really all she expects. The team knows her tastes well enough. There were plenty of "Anna will hate this" and "Don't even show that to her" that working at Vogue should be easy enough. Anna is a powerful woman, who is annoyed by inefficiency and has no time for warmth when it comes to business. She shows a particular warmth when speaking with her daughter, Bee, that reminds you there's a part of her that's not all business.

As all of the reviews have stated, Grace Coddington is really the best part of the documentary. She's two parts crazy and two parts brilliant. She self-describes herself as a romantic who loves models, obviously has nothing to do with Sienna Miller and is the perfect yin to Anna's yang. She's pushes the envelope, show's Anna the side of fashion that is a little less practical and a little more whimsical. She's tough yet loved by all and obviously a creative genius when it comes to styling and clothes.

Aside from a few other cuties like Thakoon and Raquel there wasn't much more to the documentary. I'm not quite certain what André Leon Talley does at the magazine, but Anna has no time for inefficiency so I assume it's quite important. The women: Anna, Grace, Tonne are all powerful strong women who are good at their jobs and have worldwide influence. Overall, the documentary really gave me a new found respect for the fashion industry as a whole and how much goes into decisions at the top that affects what each of us wears every day.

I also would like to make a point that in its conception, I hope this blog encourages conversation. Gender and sexuality are issues people (especially myself) are very passionate about. I would love questions, notions and even disagreements as long as they're founded in something legitimate -- not just ignorance. So let's get the discussion going!

-MUAH! Jordan

I have no intent of trivializing what happened to Mackenzie Phillips. She was raped by her father, while addicted to drugs that he supplied to her. I will never blame the victim in any situation where rape is involved. That being said, she was an adult. I know nothing is easy about rape, but after being raped, consenting to a sexual relationship with your father for years, isn't the next logical step, whether or not you're on drugs. I think most can agree that her father was continuously raping her despite the fact that she thought she agreed to it. Many women are put in a position where they fear they have no way out -- which no doubt Phillips experienced to a degree we will never know and clearly, she believes she was consenting. Once you're raped by someone, I can't imagine sex with them would ever not be about rape.

My issue lies with how she's handling her healing. She's written a book and made a memorable appearance on Oprah -- which will no doubt launch her book to the #1 spot. This is all fine, if she were taking an activist role, educating and helping people in similar situations, but she continues to play a sad victim, timid to answer questions and upset by her situation. Then profiting off of that roll? If it's the case that she has not yet healed enough, she shouldn't catapult her story into the public eye. If she is at peace, she should own up to that fact and make what was a terrible, horrifying, disgusting situation and help others (which I have read she is also doing) -- not just make a buck. (read more from CBS news)

As a writer, I have had many an idea for blogs, and even blogged regularly, but never felt a strong connection to what I was writing about. Giving personal opinions and analysis is one thing, but I've never been fully comfortable putting my life out there -- not for privacy reasons, but more because of the idea that "Who am I? Why would anyone care?"

Upon graduating for Michigan State University, I've thought about the things that are important, that I care about and that I can speak intelligently on. While my bachelor's is in journalism and my specialty is the Spanish language, I have made it a point to be extremely educated on women's issues, sexuality and gender. That coupled with my thirst for information (Google Reader says I read 9,000 blogs a month) about fashion, politics, queer culture and news, I figured I could use my unique outlook to analyze such topics through the gender and sexuality lens.

As for the name, while I've toiled with this for a while, naming a blog something as vulgar as "Gender Fuck" could be positive. While I personally enjoy the vulgar things in life, I know it's not for everyone. I ask that those who disagree, do so with respect and an open mind.

Genderfuck is a "self-conscious effort to "fuck with" or play with traditional notions of gender identity, gender roles, and gender presentation." We live in a society where a transgender (FTM) man had children and made national news, where menswear becomes the hottest trend at the women's runway shows and where we, hopefully, challenge ourselves to understand gender identity, why we have them and what they mean and encourage others to do the same. Gender and sexuality are inherently linked because society says so, but more about that later.

So sit back, hold tight, and get ready for the ride of your life.

-MUAH! Jordan