“She’s like, ‘Oh great, that’s just what we all need
Another white guy in 2017
Who takes himself so goddamn seriously.’
She’s not far off, the strange thing is
That’s pretty much what I thought when I started this”
–Leaving LA by Father John Misty
Upon reading the articles for this week, I did not find myself learning anything particularly new. Before coming to Evergreen, I was already up to date on people ideas, feelings, and acceptance of gender issues. I come from an exceedingly liberal town. Everyone (myself included) was pulling for Bernie Sanders, everyone has the same opinions about hot button political topics like abortion (obviously favoring a woman’s right to choose), and everyone knows at least something about the modern interpretation of gender, as gender acceptance is a very liberal cause. I also spend a fair amount of time on YouTube in between my daily tasks, and a wide array of opinions are expressed on that platform since it’s so readily available. I took an interest for a time in watching videos on both sides about their feelings on gender, and it helped me form my own thoughts and opinions.
My opinion is this: do what you will. I really don’t care how you choose to present yourself or how you wish to express your feelings, in fact I think it’s fantastic that you are confidently doing so. I don’t mean that I turn a blind eye to discrimination or closed-mindedness, I simply mean that it is everyone’s right to learn who they are and to express themselves as such. I think of myself as exceedingly liberal in this case. People should be able to do as they please and be who they are as long as it doesn’t actively harm anybody. And I don’t categorize “discomfort” as harm. All I can say to those that aren’t accepting of others because change makes them uncomfortable is: tough.
Personally, I do not have a unique gender identity or sexual alignment. I was born an incredibly pale baby, I identify as masculine, and I am attracted to feminine. I acknowledge that that gives me privilege. I do not fear a lack of equal opportunity, in fact if things stay the way that they are I will probably be afforded more opportunities in my lifetime than someone that belongs to a marginalized group. That does not mean that I don’t work hard. I was born fairly middle class, and I have only managed to get poorer with all these college fees. What I lack in money I make up for in support from my parents and community to pursue wholeheartedly a career that I knew I could have if I put in the work. That is most certainly where my privilege comes from. I feel that it’s important to say that. I do not think that I have to be ashamed of myself. I may come from a place of privilege, but I’m also putting in tons of hard work to achieve my dream. I’ve been given an opportunity in life that others don’t have and that is heart breaking, but nothing will stop me from achieving my goals.
However, I stand by what I said about not turning a blind eye to those with less than me. I think it is so incredibly important to use the power (big or small) that you have to advocate for those that have suffered injustice. As a regular person, it is essentially civic duty to attend protests and make your voice heard. As someone that has influence like a celebrity, it is blatantly vital to use your platform to advocate for what you believe.
Before I wrap up, I want to address gender in art, since that was a large chunk of the reading we did. Art will always be linked to gender in my opinion. What is art but an expression of the artist? If gender is a part of the artist that they feel like they need to express, art is one of the best ways to do that. Art (in it’s purest most ideal form) is an externalization of what the artist feels in an attempt to connect with other people and bring them together. Gender is a huge part of what people feel, so of course they want to express that to other people.
With that in mind, I am an artist so do I use my gender for expression in my music? The answer is: kinda? I always have valued writing music because I feel so in tune with my emotions. I tend to harness my rage, hate, irritation, love, irrationality, and obsession mostly. A couple of my songs are about prominent women in my life. The Twenties and Violent Violet come to mind. I don’t want to get too specific, but The Twenties is about my strong, aggressive feelings about a relationship I had, and Violent Violet tries to examine how I functioned personally in a stressful and high intensity moment in my life. Both are presented through the lens of my love for an individual. Those both have a lot more to do with my sexuality than anything, but I do attempt to connect with a sense of masculinity in both songs as well: in The Twenties as a kind of animalistic attraction and in Violent Violet as a foil to a frustrating female energy. My music is the most important thing to me in the entire world, and these expressions of myself are probably the reason for that.