Photographer, sydlondon.com
Photo by Maro
1. What is your relationship with the word or identity “butch?”
When I think of “butch” I think of the women I’m attracted to rather than myself. Butch is beautifully mind blowing to me. It’s the contrasts of masculinity and hardness in a person who still has the soft skin of woman that drives me crazy. It’s the refusal of butches to kowtow to society’s “should’s” that I continually admire. There truly is nothing sexier than butch to me.
2. What kind of words and labels, if any, do you use to identify yourself?
This is a question I’ve yet to truly answer. I think of myself as a proud dyke and many other things but haven’t found a word that truly encompasses all of me. Though my drag name Syditious does contain a bit of me. In the end I’m just me. I love to play with the biggest power tools I can get my mitts on but I also like to make soap and developing fragrances. Go figure.
3. What do you wish you could tell your younger self about sex, sexuality, or gender?
There’s is so much I wish I could tell my younger self. In many ways I try to communicate those things to our queer youth now through my photography. Above all I’d tell myself to hang on. Life isn’t easy, that’s part of the nature of it – BUT things are going to get so much better than I ever dared dream. If you told me ten or fifteen years ago that I’d be a pro photojournalist covering our exquisite community I never, ever would have believed you. I wish I could tell myself about the queer family that I’ve found and am lucky enough to be part of. And I wish I could tell myself that one day not only will women actually cheer for me as a drag king but also there are women out there who will like me for me ( when I came out at 15 I thought no woman would ever like me, let alone kiss me. I wish I could tell myself about a few of the hot make out sessions I’ve had over my life). And I wish I could tell myself about the love and support the community gives me, though I don’t think I could have believed me. Or you. Or anyone.
Bonus: Anything you’d like to add?
As un-butch as it sounds, I wish I could give all the butches who came before me and helped pave the road a big bear hug of gratitude.
amazing. i love this description of your relationship to the term butch. i have an often rocky relationship with it myself, both in describing myself and the women i am [typically, though certainly not exclusively] attracted to. there’s something so empowering about finding butches attractive, and telling them so… :)
I don’t think there’s anything unbutch about hugs…