[music) 

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Cessa  

Hello! Sorry that was loud I'm not used to using a microphone. Hi, thank you all for coming. My name is Cessa. I'm the artistic director of She is Fierce: stories from the female and gender queer perspective. Has anyone been to a She is Fierce show before? Yeah, so this is a new experience for us performing in a museum we're a recurring storytelling event for female and genderqueer or non binary people to tell stories from their lives that matter to them. And normally there are some other components to our shows like dance and music and visual arts. But today, you're gonna hear some stories about fashion and gender identity. Fierceness. Yeah, all that jazz. So without further ado, I would love to bring up our first storyteller Clara Pluton!

Honey Pluton  

Hey, everybody my name is Clara Pluton. I am a stand up comedian. I'm a real personality and I love fashion, who else come on? Whose on their period right now and loves fashion? Whose nipples are puffy right now? Like fucking a Pirate's Booty Okay, puffed. So whenever I have my period which seems to be so often I like to go back to a few crucial moments in my own fashion a few moments in fashion, history, queer history that tend to ground me and so when I was invited to tell a story here with y'all I obviously want to talk about a look that really moves me and that is none other than click -

Cher at the 1986 Oscars. This is gonna be a history lesson we're gonna learn I'm gonna learn I have to learn a lot. I love Cher. Taurus season she's a taurus who was Cher. Cherilyn Sarkisian, and she's half Armenian, the original Half Armenian queen. Oh, gee. So this is 1986. Right. Where are we? The Berlin Wall is still up. Ronald Reagan is president. This is Reagan's America, people, she's got abs like that. I mean, that is political simply. She's here but she can't do it by herself. Right there is behind every you know, woman showing off her washboard abs. There is a very small gay man who wants to make sure everyone knows how beautiful she is. That's obviously Bob Mackie and Bob Mackie. He was a fashion designer. He's still alive. And I mean, it's like to me this outfit represents it's more than Cher, right? It's this like diva worship that transcends time that still we know about to this day. She's a fucking baby boomer, and I know who she is, right? She's born in 1946. I'm making that up, maybe. But she's old. She's, you know, this is Tina Turner. This is Diana Ross. This is Chaka Khan it's like a legacy of women who were in the time period that they were that chose to say yes. Everything yes to being sexy. Yes to being themselves is why it's amazing. This is pre Met Gala camp. Okay, so this is way before. I watch clips, I wasn't alive in 1986. So I had to go on YouTube. Watch some clips. She's, oh, no offense. I mean, I mean, I think I was because I you know, I'm alive through every decade of everything. I'm nothing. I was there. I'm here. I'm here now. I'll be there tomorrow. But she's presenting the award for Best Supporting Actor. And these mad are fucking hideous they are so ugly, like Robert Loggia -  Who's that he looks like a brick and she is just so gorgeous. Like it's too much. And she also wanted to be the center of attention. Because she got snubbed. She wanted to be nominated for Best Actor for her role in Mass and she didn't get the nomination when the Oscar she got into the golden loves. She was like Mackie make me a star! And there she was. She was nominated the year before she got the Oscar she's transitioning. She wants to be you know, this double, double triple threat and so when I look at the relationship of someone like Cher with someone like Bob, it's really inspired you know these are two people who understand that if you want to be a star if you want to be famous if you want to leave a mark an infinite mark on this tiny, insignificant speck that we all have to be circling around you got to go big baby gotta make sure everyone knows who you are. And so I've always really liked grounded by that but it also made me want to think about you know what it's like to be like the Muse and the master you know, what is that relationship like what informs who and all the art that can come out of two people who truly love one another so much and are inspired by making sure that everyone knows how beautiful it is to always be seen?

Like that's what it is when you look at like Judy Garland. Or when you look at Carol Burnett, you know, when you look at these women who you know, especially at a time no one wanted to take seriously because before she even gives the award she's like, her quote is like oh, you know, obviously you can see I got the handbook on what it looks like to dress like a serious actress like the whole thing is a giant fuck you like she knows that. This is all a game this is all an illusion, and she can play in exactly how she wants to get what she needs. And I think it's it's great and I also really love Cher because even though she sells sex, she's kind of asexual, you know, like after sunny like who was it Tom Cruise? like that's fucking fake. Like none of that's real. Like Richie Sambora? Like it's not realistic, like there's no way any of it happened. And so she's a lesbian, he's a lesbian. Everyone's a lesbian. They don't tell you that but you astral projecting and someone tells you on the other side. And that's just a truth. And so when I look at, you know, pieces of work that were designed by Bob Mackie and you know, put on women like Cher, it just reminds me that when you are yourself in such an extravagant way, and want to take up space in places that want you to be quiet, that everything feels more possible and that's fashion people!!! Yeah! Free bleed, do whatever you need to do.

Okay I'm Clara Pluton thank you!

Cessa  

Clara Pluton! Clara wanted me to mention that they have a podcast called Hot Takes with Hot Dykes, it's on all of the platforms. Yes, obviously, it's hilarious so please listen to it. Next up, I would love to introduce Allison Lee Brown!

Allison Lee Brown  

Hey, y'all! Okay, so my name is Alison Lee Brown. I'm an actress. I'm not used to like using mics. So I'm - Can y'all hear me? Yeah, cute, cute.

You haven't been told you are queen.

And you had to fight yourself to believe and try to convince the person that told you that you were not the rightful heiress to the throne you know, you were born to sit on.

Bullshit.

We call it quits you see we were meant to glow.

That's why our skin is made of gold.

Our lips drip of honey, our thighs too thick.

Our mouths too quick.

Our backs are home grown and strong.

Our hips sway, our necks roll, our hair is our crown.

Our eyes glisten like the sun we are divine, we are the chosen ones.

Black Nubian sisters worthy of God's greatest love.

And yo, I love the way my style complements my sophistication.

How my yellow dress matches my yellow personality can see I was always told, my spirit was like the sun luminous.

I like the way my thighs don't hide no more how my clothes cling to the parts of me that I was once ashamed to own.

Because see, I walk different when I'm stepping in style.

My clothes are an extension of me.

It's just another way for me to tell the world who I be.

Yeah, I'm Alison Lee Brown from head to toe.

My melanin so poppin baby any color will go.

Now you know sometimes I like to rock my all black.

But I'm an actor. So that's the explanation for that.

Because see, my style is just another way to celebrate my ancestral greatness.

Because Black people invented swag.

We got do rags, box braids, FUBU and baby fat.

Yeah, we invented all of that.

Our culture, our style, our freedom, our expression our fashion.

My fashion is just another way to honor the Queen within me.

Thank y'all!!

Cessa  

Allison Lee Brown everyone! Next up we have someone you've already met but you probably already adore because I know that I adore her - Miss Tootsie Spangles!

Tootsie Spangles  

I pick up the top issue of YM, which stands for young and modern. A teen heartthrob poses seductively on the cover. You want to be like me? You want to know the secrets of being a woman through fashion, beauty and dating tips? Yes, please. Finally the guidance I have been looking for. I have been walking in the shadows but I have found the light and the light is women's magazines. I'm young, 14, probably modern, at least I will be after I read every single one of these. And I do I spend more time studying those glossy pages than I ever spend on pre-algebra. And I want to be like every actor model and singer in that magazine. They're all so sexy. I want to be sexy. And one day I spot them. I'm flipping through the magazine and bright between the advertisement for Slim Fit tampons, and the white eyeliner tutorial. Pleather pants. For a sleek new look, this fall's new must have comes in a variety of colors that won't break the bank. I spend the next several weeks saving up all my money for dark maroon pleather pants. I step to my sexy new britches and they squeak and creak in plastic coated protest but eventually fit like a very, very sweaty...  I'm gonna wear these to school tomorrow because tomorrow is school church day and at school church today I get to be a Eucharistic Minister which means I stand in front of everyone and pass out the holy bread and wine. The body of Christ. The blood of Christ peace be with you! I will bring Lord our God the most banging pair of pants possible. I get to Mass, I'm ready to shut down that aisle I'm  looking like Posh but feeling like Ginger. When I feel a tap on my shoulder "Excuse me. Don't you think your pants are a little inappropriate?" "No, they are technically well within the dress code." "Well, I was talking to my senior and he thinks your pants are a little inappropriate. You can stand in the back." Bummer. So I stand in the back. And I watched as all my classmates file in and I can feel their looks and hear their whispers "what she wearing? What a slut." In a sea of Marys it seems I was the Magdalen.

That's fine. It doesn't matter because next year, I'm going to go to high school, public high school. I won't be around these sheltered nobodies that don't know anything. I bet they don't even know the fashion fundamentals. I know you all know them. But let's review. Number one, no white after Labor Day. I'm not sure why but its what we do, right? Number two, the rule of balance. For example, if your neckline is low, keep your hemline long ish. And number three, the most important one, express yourself. Oh, I'm going to express myself. I'm 16 now and I'm going to express the shit out of myself at prom! Now the only thing that fuels my prom obsession more than YM magazine is those early 2000 teen sex comedy movies where 30 year olds play 18 year olds and everyone participates in a magical elaborate choreographed dance at prom which is super hot. I check my reflection in the minivan window one more time. It's prom night baby. I'm feeling like Ginger and looking like Ginger. My dress is a asymmetrical red cocktail number I brought from the internet. I even changed the bands of my braces of violet Scarlet type of batch. Now, my dress the suggests sexy tango dancer. But my tall teased hair says "thank y'all for the Country Music Award!" That's number two. That's the rule of balance and action. When I get to prom, everyone is wearing poofy princess dresses and sleek hair pulled back into butterfly clips and staring. That's fine. I just need to loosen up I need a song like in the movies and some of my castmates from the spring musical are here so we can do one of those magical elaborate choreographed dances. Alright, so I made my way up to the DJ booth. Excuse me, could you play something fun? That'd be maybe sexy. Brigadoon cast assemble!! Right before we start the DJ makes an announcement: "This goes out to that girl in the red dress." And then I hear my classmates: "ugh. What an attention whore. What a dumb slut what is she wearing?" and then like musical lemon juice to a fresh emotional wound, the fun sexy, upbeat song starts to play. And it's Cotton Eye Joe. You heard it right. That's fine.

Okay, it doesn't matter because someday I'm going to move to a big city and I'm going to be around people with actual taste. And I do I move to a big city I moved to lots of big cities and I hear "what are you wearing? Do you really think your body is right for that type of clothing? You can't wear that. That's too sexy. That's too frumpy. You're wearing too much makeup. You look really tired. You should probably put on some makeup. What are you wearing?" I'm wearing my favorite LBD. It has pockets. I bought it despite the fact that the saleswoman tried to talk me out of it, because you can see my thighs and quote, "your thighs are kissing."

Yeah, they're making out pretty hard. And I don't care really this time. Truly this time. I don't care because now that I'm at the age where I'm finally old enough to play a teenager in the early 2000s. I've outgrown the helpful tips and tricks of grocery store periodicals. I don't care anymore, because no matter where I go, or what I wear, I'm not dressed right. My body's not right. I don't care because I cannot spend any more time on this planet caring about if someone doesn't like my sequins or my beautiful fat ass. I do still follow the fashion fundamentals with a couple of edits. Number one wear what makes you happy. That feather boas, booty shorts. Number two say no to racist Halloween costumes. Knock that shit off. And number three most important one, express yourself!

Cessa  

Tootsie Spangles everyone! She told the story she can't get rid of us. Can you do it again? Another one of my favorite people in the world. Please welcome Alyza DelPan-Monley. 

Alyza DelPan-Monley  

Hi, I'm Alyza. I wore uniforms for most of my life. You might in fact say that I dress the way I dress today because I grew up wearing uniforms and always being told what to wear. Had a rigid Catholic school uniform from preschool through high school. In elementary school, we had a plaid skirt with a white polo top. In middle school I was stoked when they added khaki shorts and pants to the dress code. Finally, I didn't have to worry about scraping my knees playing basketball at recess or having my skirt flipped up by immature classmates. By high school I was going on 10 years of wearing uniforms, and I was pretty much done. I found every opportunity to customize my uniform within the rules. They even started modifying a few of the rules because of me. Boots were banned after I kept showing up in chunky snow boots with my plaid skirt. And this was in California where snow boots are just cosmetic. Hats were banned after I came in donning a large Derby hat accessorized with chunky jewelry.

Some people love the uniform they love not having to think about what to wear. For me uniforms were this demand for conformity that I was just looking to break free from. I sought self expression and individuality wherever I could find it. But even outside of school, I was in uniforms. In ballet, we wore pink slippers, pink tights and a leotard of the color of the  level that you were in. At church I had to wear altar server white robes with a tassel belt. All my sports teams had uniforms. It was hard to get too creative with rule bending, but I found my ways. In volleyball I Sharpie'd smiley faces onto my kneepads and one tournament we got called out by the referee for wearing too much glitter. They asked us to move the curly ribbons that we had used to decorate our jerseys, citing that the opposing team could be distracted by the glare of the flare. Even on the rare cherished free dress days without uniforms, I was surrounded by other types of dress codes and fashion expectations. Many of my classmates were wealthy, like international students whose parents could afford to send their children to American boarding schools wealthy, like classmates who spend free time shopping at Coach, Victoria's Secret, Juicy. Now this was a dress code I was not interested in or more truly one that I could not afford. So I started being very outwardly proud of my anti-brand clothing stance. Whenever the subject of my outfit came up, I would relish admitting that I got it at Ross on clearance or a thrift store for a steal.

It's been years since the last time I was in an institution that demanded what I would wear but today I have my own dress code. My own self enforced strict set of do's and don'ts. No pink, no camo, no khakis, no blue denim, no appropriating cultures that are not mine. Nothing too feminine, nothing too mainstream, no brand names or logo clothing. I mean, I love what I wear, I love my clothes. But looking back on why I came to dress the way that I do, I'm realizing that so many of my choices were actually anti choices, subtle opposition stances to what people thought I should wear. My uniform has become the manifestation of all the things I do not identify as. But the thing is, the whole point of dressing against those rules was because I didn't want anyone to tell me who I was. And now I've made my own dress code that tells me how to dress like who I want to be.

Clothing is in some ways a superficial pursuit. But it's also an access point for a deeper conversation around identity. Who are we when we're not the universal experience? When we do not fit into majority or mainstream mainstream expectations? How can we find our identity when throughout our entire lives? We've only been presented with identities that are not ours or do not feel quite right, and whose image can we create ourselves? I see the beginnings of answers to those questions as I look to our subcultures. Thankfully, there are enough people retaliating from certain mainstream standards and constructing their own positive identities. I feel camaraderie towards the bright colored costume wearing thrift shoppers with their dyed hair and tattoos. I see bits of myself in those who play around with funky over the top femme looks or bold androgyny, challenging that gender is anything but performance. I feel proud of all my POC friends who show up looking elegant as fuck letting everyone know that they should have been inviting the royalty to the table forever ago. And while I do relate to all those groups, I also have a bit of imposter syndrome in each of those spaces. I'm not quite any of those things. Sure. I'm not white, but I'm white passing. Sure I'm not straight, but I'm not completely out either. I take the Thrifty funky fashion culture. But I also don't feel completely a part of the cool people group identity that seems to come with it.

I've been feeling more and more lost in the space between what I am not and what I am. So it's time for some introspection, time to refine my style. Mine. But in the meantime, as I struggled to figure that out. I still have to put clothes on. I still have to wear something every day. When I look at my closet, what I really want is an outfit that says I don't care what I look like I exist in myself exactly where and how I exist. I am malleable and ever changing. And I don't need to explain myself to you. I started wearing pink again, because sometimes I like pink and femininity be damned. I mean, the only rules I'm breaking now are the ones I've decreed. One of my favorite things about how I dress is that it's a conversation starter, people approach me to ask about a shirt and the earrings, by the way ask me about this jumpsuit, the story is pretty funny. And maybe that is the positive identity in me that I want my clothing to capture that I love being playful and offbeat. And I want to adorn myself in such a way that when you look at me, you can see a reminder to have fun to be abnormal. A reminder that even though there are rules of conduct and society rules that guide us toward what we should be and how we should act or dress that those rules are more fun when we accessorize them. Coat them in glitter when we unzip them a little or ignore them completely. Thank you.

Cessa  

One more time for Alyza DelPan-Monley! Next up we have another She is Fierce veteran - please welcome Laurie Lynch!

Laurie Lynch  

Hello, in the words of Queen Dolly Parton: "It is hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world." I'm genderqueer. And this genderqueer person it's really important for me to have my gender expression, how I talk, how I dress, how I walk, how I present myself to the world. It's really important and it's crucial for me to feel okay in my body through my gender expression. Now I wasn't 100% conscious of this fact until I got pregnant and had a baby. You see I was sick throughout my entire pregnancy. I had dreams of being this cutest, fat, queer, pregnant dandy. And I was going to reject empire waste shirts and leggings. I dreamt of wearing overalls and suspenders with button up shirts and bow tie and the belly bigger than the one I already have.

But I was sick. And I mean, not like the dainty kind of morning sickness where the person who's pregnant, runs out of the room and throws up and then comes back in feeling refreshed and better. That was not me, and I could barely get out of bed. It was horrible. I'm really a good birth control for folks. But when I took the medication for the vomiting part, then there were this whole other host of side effects. That really all I can say is they did not make me feel like a queen, right. And then after the baby was born, I had this wound, this C section wound, that took a really long time to heal. And all I could think about during this time, was I want to wear leggings. Now, leggings have a purpose. They're damn comfortable. And some people really like their style. And that's great. And I do too, especially when they're gold. And gold lemay paired with a tutu. Now, when I came out of this fog of everything that had just happened to my body, and I, I felt who I was, I realized - I'm a dandy, right? And I realized I'm doing this thing, this thing that was supposed to make me feel all powerful and strong, and like I could conquer the world. And I did not feel that.

I felt broken and lost. And within that lost feeling, I realized my dandy-ness. That the leggings needed to be peeled off my body so that I could stand in my queerness again, and it's been coming up on two years since that birth. And I'm finally feeling my dandy self again, dandy. It's like, masculine, was a flare of feminine, you know, it's that it's all of this. It's the standing tall in who I am, right? It's the queering of being a mom. It's the queering what it means to be genderqueer, right?

And my four year old gets this, my four year old really gets this, and one day my partner was taking him to school and he said, Mama, I know. Mommy is like Rainbow Dash, both a boy and a girl. Now if you don't know who Rainbow Dash is, Rainbow Dash is a My Little Pony character. Rainbow Dash, she is a Pegasus. She has rainbow hair. She is a member of the Pony Daredevil Flight Team, and she is fiercely loyal to her friends. Now when my partner told me he said this, I'm gonna be real. I've never felt more seen in my life. My four year old gets it. Now I think you should probably follow me on Instagram because we're probably as a family going to be my little pony characters for Halloween. Or just on a random Tuesday. I love dressing up I love dress up clothes make me feel strong. I am a true best thespian archetype. I love entertaining people. I love telling stories. I love making people laugh. I love expressing myself with words and my body and behaviors and clothing.

And in the words of another queen: [sings] "I'm burning through the sky 200 degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit I'm traveling at the speed of light I want to make a supersonic woman of you don't stop me now!" Thank you.

Cessa  

Laurie Lynch everybody! I'm gonna do a full length solo show later this year so you should look out for it because they're amazing. Our last storyteller is also a She is Fierce comedian, but this is the first time that she's going to tell a story with us, please welcome Alyssa Yeoman.

Alyssa Yeoman  

Hello, wow, everybody looks great tonight. Cool. Wow. Um yeah, my story starts. I'm 11 years old. I'm living in Texas at the time. And I'm a girl scout. Anybody ex-Girl Scout? I love being a girl scout. I love being a girl scout because of two reasons. Even though I was the only Black girl in the group. I got to be in it with my two best friends Katherine and Jennifer. And oftentimes being the only Black girl was eclipsed by the fact that I won best cookie seller every single year. Because I love to win. I love to win more than I love racism. And I sometimes like racism. That's a joke. I'm sorry. This isn't what we're here to do. Man, I love Girl Scouts. I like Girl Scouts for being top seller. I love doing outdoor things. I love winning badges. We just go to field trips all the time. My favorite field trip up until the point of the story I'm about to tell was getting to go to Macaroni Grill. Yeah, right. I don't know if any of you know what Macaroni Grill is but it's like if Olive Garden was a little bit better and a little bit more expensive. Great place for birthdays. Macaroni Grill is Zara and Olive Garden is H&M.

But this is an exciting field trip we're getting to go a little store called Limited Too. If you were a mall rat like me Limited Too what's up there with 579. The only three sizes they carried: five, seven, or nine. And Claire's, another classic. I was super excited for this field trip for a few reasons. One, it was a mall across town across I-35 that we rarely got to go to we only went to this mall during Halloween time because they had this really banging haunted house that happened. It's just less crowded than the Arlington mall so a little bit quieter. And we were going to get to do a fashion show. There at that Limited too. We're going to get to take home one free item from Limited Too and I never got to shop at Limited Too because my mother deemed it both out of our price range. And not modest enough. My mom is an avid thrift store shopper, the person who can find Yves Saint Laurent at a goodwill type of thrift store shopper and I have expensive tastes. And I think the story is part of it.

We get to Limited Too it's super exciting. We're like okay, what are we going to take home tonight? What is this going to look like? We're about to get styled by the cool older teens. You know? They all live versus young teams. Who know everything? Yeah, we get to that Limited Too. Everybody starts to go crazy. They're like, Oh my gosh, what are we gonna pick out right? What are we going to do? I start joining those ranks. I'm like, okay, cool. Let's search through this Limited Too. At this time at 11. I didn't realize that my boobs were already a C size. Because I was still rocking the no bra life, right? Because I'm like boobs aren't real until I decide they're real. None of this is happening to me this is happening to all of you. Everybody's going crazy picking out stuff at the time. And still now I really love 70 style. I felt like 70 style was this perfect iteration of this carefree persona that I already perfectly curated at the age of 11. Right? Whereas like I'm so sad, but if everybody thinks I'm chill as fuck, we will be good.

Man, it wasn't really long until we're in that Limited Too where I realized that nothing was made for my body. Limited too is a place where you go if you want to look like a future Fast and Furious actor... A lot of WhaleTail that's what I saying. I didn't have a body for low rise pants. I didn't have a body for small shirts as my boobs are growing. I started looking and I was like okay, I want to find something really cool 70s style to wear because we're gonna strut our stuff in this partially abandoned mall. My Girl Scout career, fuck being top cookie seller, I'm gonna be the Tyra Banks of this mall on I-35. I'm looking around and I start to realize like, I don't know what's gonna fit, I'm picking out all the things that I like. And soon a cool teen tells me that the things in this store were not made for my body. This isn't the first time I've gotten that I grew up being a dancer and there's often times where people would wonder how do we take out shoulder pads of dance things that don't fit as our small shoulders but she's still got long legs and a big ass right? I mean, I'm sure they don't say big ass. Cause i was not old enough to refer to it as a big ass. That would help. Oh man. And I was there with a pile of clothes in the dressing room. And I was just told by a cool teen that this wasn’t the store for me and I find myself crying. I’m the last who’s going to do the walk-down-the-aisle right into the hallway of the mall. And I found a shirt, I found a brown shirt. And I already hated wearing the color brown because people told me that it matched my skin too much. So I was terrified of that color. I was like okay, this is the only shirt that even kind of fits. And these pants are too tight but I’ll still wear them because they buttoned. But here I am with this brown shirt and this beautiful flower collar, and it has this little tie on top to hide my free titties. My free child titties. I can only say that because its about my own.

I was like, I guess I’m going to do this. This is going to be the item I take home. I wipe my tears away, I strut my stuff like I don’t care that nothing else fit me. And my friends are in clothes that fit them, right? I walk back in, they’re like what do you want to take home? And I’m like, I guess I’m taking home this brown shirt, that I don’t even feel confident in, because people told me I shouldn’t be wearing brown. But whatever, I’m gonna wear it home, I’m gonna pretend like I had a great time just like all of my tiny white friends had a great time. 

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It was the longest drive i’ve ever had back. After a girl scout field trip. Usually i was excited to get home, tell my mom that i didn’t get caught for putting someone’s underwear up on the flagpole. Or that I got my fire badge which was also exciting. But I finally get home, we get back to the parking lot, where our parents were supposed to be picking us up. And my mom was always hyper aware that not everything was made for every body. My mom was white but she was blessed with the ass of a black woman. And I think that’s where we identified the most. I get in the car, she can tell that I’m upset that I didn’t actually have a good time like everyone else did. 

And my mom looks over to me, and she’s like, “that color looks beautiful on you because it matches your skin.” And she’s like, “And its also your style, you’ve always been a hippie child just like I’ve known you to be.” And then I wore that shirt for three years straight. 

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Thank you so much everybody!