#ncatbs

Although I am a man – and have spent a fair amount of energy writing about that – I have actually never felt any real allegiance to my masculinity; there was nothing particularly invested in it, and even though I was more or less heterosexual, I have always felt pliant in my navigations between maleness and femaleness, even – and perhaps especially – growing up within the overtly masculine Australian culture. It just wasn’t of any special focus to me – my interests were elsewhere – art, music, image, clothes, etc. – of which many of the students at the school I attended, back in the 70s, were deeply suspicious. My small group of friends and I were known at the school as the "art poofs" – we kind of liked it actually, and happily appropriated a certain queer and rarefied air, as it ring-fenced us off from the rest of the school, and in retrospect it toughened us up for the world to come. I am happy that your girlfriend acknowledged my "drag-queen energy" – which means to me, defiant, courageous and savvy; to quote Camille Paglia, “The drag queens of old knew how to handle themselves on the street.” As for me being a role model, well, you could probably do better, but I am honoured to serve as a placeholder until someone more suitable comes along.