In High School I knew A Guy Named She-he

2002-07-04 - 11:38 a.m.

I'm watching Vicki Gabareau (A Canadian Tradition in the making...she's bigger than Dini!) and her guest mangle their attempts to use pronouns while discussing Dame Edna.

Here is The Magus' handy guide to pronoun use when discussing gender benders:

When referring to a GB while "on" (ie Mr. Humphries as Dame Edna, or whatever) use the pronoun that is required. Basically: if she's in a dress, she's a she.

That's it. It's simple. Yeah, it does, to some degree, reinforce gender stereotypes, but in the case of drag queens and gender performers, it's an act, a show. The most enjoyment comes from being a part of the illusion. If Xi wears a dress xi is a girl. If xi wears pants and has a goatee drawn on with magic marker xi is a boy.

If you're wondering what "xi" is, check out Potatofucker's nifty diary.

Also, don't be wishy-washy in your pronoun choice. Don't suddenly decide to change from she to he in mid-speech. It's bad form. Even if you were wrong at first, at least wait for a couple other people to speak before changing.

Oh, and just to let folks know: there are some pretty convincing folks in drag out there, so never assume.

Cheers,

The Magus

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