Yesterday evening, I saw a few queer lectures at a space called BOOM! in Pittsburgh. The presenters were thought- provoking, entertaining, serious, political and funny. The final lecture was a masculine person discussing Peter Pan. They talked about how they identified with the character and how they have always wanted to be a perpetual boy. They talked about how Peter Pan queered gender roles because he is always played by a woman dressed as a boy. They talked about how the fact that beneath Peter's exterior was a female allowed them to fantasize about adventures and chasing pirates and never growing up. They talked about how Peter Pan was a lesbian as evidenced by his romantic and semi-sexual interactions with Wendy.
It was a great lecture. The story of Peter Pan was familiar but looking at it through this lens was fun and exciting. The speaker was funny and knowledgeable. The stills from the films and productions were relevant and confirmed the story they were telling.
It was a great lecture. The story of Peter Pan was familiar but looking at it through this lens was fun and exciting. The speaker was funny and knowledgeable. The stills from the films and productions were relevant and confirmed the story they were telling.
When they were done speaking, there were questions from the audience. Someone said that the lecture about Peter Pan made them think about Wendy. About the ways in which Wendy might be queer. They asked the lecturer for their perspective. The lecturer spoke once again to Wendy's desire for Peter Pan. They mentioned that a 1928 production starred Eva la Galliene and Josephine Hutchinson who were offstage lover and how that proves the point of Peter Pan as lesbian.
Another person in the audience mentioned Wendy as maternal, always patting boys on the head or giving them food. The lecturer responded something along the lines of, "Oh, the part where they make Wendy into a mother so that people will be okay with the rest of the story. I just ignore all of that." BOOM! indeed.
Someone who recognized that there was something not quite right going on here gave a shout out to the queer mothers in the audience which the lecturer then also stumblingly acknowledged. I cheered for queer mothers along with everyone else, but knew that this was not the heart of the matter. My thoughts are still somewhat disjointed and unclear like the bowl of water a sorcerer looks into to see the future, the past or the faraway present. Here's what I'm thinking though, this abrupt dismissal de-queered Wendy and made her worthwhile only as she provided proof that Peter Pan was a lesbian.. This de-queering indicated something to me about how the femme that I am is valued in queer world.
The thing is, Wendy is not a mother.
Wendy is a feminine young woman who chooses to nurture. The people she cares for are wild and posturing young men who reject and have been rejected by everyone. They are unloved and unwanted. In fact, collectively they are so far removed from proper society that they are called The Lost Boys. Wendy doesn't think of them as lost, however, because she finds them. She sees their wounds and their longing. They move her to offer solace, comfort and love. She manifests this by touching them, scolding them, feeding them.
These are queer and transgressive acts. They are not socially approved or appropriate behaviors. Young women are not supposed to fly out into the night with strangers. They are not supposed to look at dirty, rowdy, angry, banished boys and find them lovable let alone actually love them. They are not supposed to create chosen family out of a bunch of misfits. They are not supposed to heal the broken. They are supposed to sit quietly waiting for a man to bring them to life, usher them into womanhood and make them the mother of beautiful children at the appropriate time.
Wendy is not waiting around. Wendy is taking action. Wendy does not embody traditional womanhood.
Wendy is a revolutionary.
This matters to me. This is one of the ways I femme* I am called to soothe and care for those who are scarred by this patriarchal, queer-hating world we live in. I am called to love queer bodies. I am called to feed and nurture and fuck those bodies.** I believe what I do is powerful and radical and healing and ever so queer.
I find that femme is sometimes de-valued in my corner of Queer World in just the way described here with, perhaps, a bit more subtlety.*** I think that we think of folks whose appearance rebels against the gender they were assigned at birth as more radical or queerer. I think we think that femmes have it easier. I think that we value the masculine more than the feminine. If you know me, you know I have no desire to reduce the value of the queer masculine. I do, however, want us to pay attention to the small and large ways that we discount femme or take it for granted and stop doing that shit. I want us to lift up femme in thought, word and deed.
Smash the Patriarchy.
Fuck Shit Up.
Queers Take Care of One Another.
Femme Solidarity.
Queer Solidarity.
Wendy is not waiting around. Wendy is taking action. Wendy does not embody traditional womanhood.
Wendy is a revolutionary.
This matters to me. This is one of the ways I femme* I am called to soothe and care for those who are scarred by this patriarchal, queer-hating world we live in. I am called to love queer bodies. I am called to feed and nurture and fuck those bodies.** I believe what I do is powerful and radical and healing and ever so queer.
I find that femme is sometimes de-valued in my corner of Queer World in just the way described here with, perhaps, a bit more subtlety.*** I think that we think of folks whose appearance rebels against the gender they were assigned at birth as more radical or queerer. I think we think that femmes have it easier. I think that we value the masculine more than the feminine. If you know me, you know I have no desire to reduce the value of the queer masculine. I do, however, want us to pay attention to the small and large ways that we discount femme or take it for granted and stop doing that shit. I want us to lift up femme in thought, word and deed.
Smash the Patriarchy.
Fuck Shit Up.
Queers Take Care of One Another.
Femme Solidarity.
Queer Solidarity.
*Yes. I am using femme as a verb here.
**By no means do all femmes feel called to this. They femme in their own ways. Some nurture. Others most decidedly do not.
***Mileage may vary in your corner of Queer World.