Organizer for the Butch Voices conferences, www.dreadedmemes.org
1. What is your relationship with the word or identity “butch?”
I proudly use that word. Although it took me about ten years after I came out before I truly embraced that identity.
2. What kind of words and labels, if any, do you use to identify yourself?
Butch. Geeky butch. Nerdy butch. Nerd. Geek. Geekgirl (or geekgrrl). Academic butch. Scientist. Alpha Geek.
3. What do you wish you could tell your younger self about sex, sexuality, or gender?
I would tell myself, “Self, don’t worry about how others look at you. Don’t worry about how this might play in the black community. Embrace who you are because you ARE sexy, you ARE beautiful, you ARE alluring—but not in the conventional manner that women are seen as expressing those attributes. And yes, Virginia, you can be as academic and urbane as you wish and still be a butch.”
AJ, that’s beautiful, I love your advice to your younger self. We need every young queer/trans/geek/oddball to hear that message.
AJ is very butch and uber-geeky.. excellent choice for a Butchlab spotlight.