More Good Vibes From Ru Paul

"Honorary Trans Nazi in Male Drag"

It seems one of my all time favorite performers "Ru Paul" has drawn an Estrogen line in the sand on his "Drag Race Show"
If you really care "William Belli" was recently kicked off the show for "undisclosed" reasons.
The only relevant part of the whole affair was some of the fallout which helped to recognize differences in our cultures in the "Huffington Post".

"Last week's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race promised to be the "most shocking episode ever." Viewers learned, after watching two drag queens compete in the "lip sync for your life" elimination round, that neither contestant would be disqualified. Instead, one of the other Season 4 contestants, Willam (Belli) was disqualified for breaking the rules."

"William Belli"

"While it's been advertised that we'll have to wait for this season's reunion special of RuPaul's Drag Race to find out exactly what went down, this hasn't stopped fans from creating speculative theories. Whether it was promiscuity, drugs, or behavior, Willam's departure can be used as catalyst for a larger discussion on tensions between the worlds of gay men in drag and female transgender performers. I'm not too concerned about why Willam was eliminated, but I am concerned about certain types of justifications use to explain his dismissal, specifically speculation regarding the use of estrogen or hormone therapy.
To help you locate me in this discussion, I should point out that for the past three years, I've documented the lives of 10 self-identified effeminate gay men for a documentary series called 50Faggots. I've spent a lot of time entrenched in the worlds of individual nightlife personalities and drag queens, as well as having gone out many times in drag myself as a gay man. I believe there is an ongoing undercurrent of different privileges, benefits, and consequences for both gay drag queens and trans female impersonators when individuals perform in specific nightlife venues. In the controlled, television space of RuPaul's Drag Race, there is an expectation that these performers should identify as gay men, and that has allowed for certain assumptions about what differentiates a gay man from a transgender woman. There seems to be a certain level of criticism attached to the speculation that if Willam was taking estrogen or hormones, then a) he could not identify as a gay man any longer, and b) this would somehow be cheating and giving him an "advantage" over the other contestants.
Well, let's address this. I have a hard time understanding why the idea of estrogen use would be threatening to being a gay man, when in fact, personal identity is a delicate balance of choice, personal representation, and lived experiences. I believe some gay men can take estrogen or be on hormone therapy and still identify as men, just as some trans folks choose not to take hormones at all or refuse body-modification surgery. It would also be ironic if this were the real reason for William's departure when fake breast plates, body modification, and plastic surgery have been openly used by many gay men who commit their careers to drag."

I underlined what I feel to be the most important part of the article.
Now I'm trying to connect the dots between this and "Jenna" the disqualified Miss Canada participant.
If I can!

Quote of the Day

The new midlife crisis. Why get a new woman...become one! -
unknown

Taking the Night Off!

I was going to take the night off and just lay around and watch some my favorite brainless television shows.  For some reason I have moved upward or downward from "Mob Wives" or "Jerseylicious" to quality shows like "Swamp People" and Mud Catters". (I'm too ashamed to even give you all any links!)
I just couldn't stay away though, came down to the library here in the "Condo" and  checked out what a few of my blogging girlfriends were up to.
Truthfully, my mind has grown weary for the moment with the endless gender dialogue here and elsewhere.
The highlight of the day was the wonderment of how "my girls" became so sore so quick.
In the midst of my "night off" I found some one else to do the heavy lifting.
Her name is "Andie" and she writes a beautiful blog called "Andie's Place".
I am too lazy to steal any of her thunder and too impressed not to pass is along.
Her post is called "What is a sense of Gender" and here is just a touch of it:

"A section in my new poetry book is called ‘A Sense of Gender’, and it is a really curious thing. What is it to be self-aware of being a man or being a woman? Is it just a feeling of consonance with others who have bodies like yours? Or perhaps dissonance with those who don’t? That seems a bit thin somehow. I am sure that with a bit of research I could unearth psychological studies that would dip into the gendered mind, the ways we think, that place us more comfortably in one camp or the other. Except that drags us kicking into the binary conflict that simply doesn’t suit everyone."

Her post is simply a wonderful look of how many view our gender (s).