music: "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" by En' Vogue
Gender constructs are so strange to me ... even in environments where the constraints of gender are "out of the box” there are still rules and regulations that one must abide by. This story is a classic example … I used to live in Philly and when I was a lil’ spring chicken I would rock the streets till about 6am on the legendary strip in Philly called 13th Street.
The straights would be on South Street while the gay/bi and whatever else folks would brave the grime, excitement and drama of 13th Street. After about 1am nearly all the white folks left the strip with the black folks finally out – you know we only hit the streets deep in the night. Anyway, there were so many legendary happenings and there is one I will never forget ...
On 13th Street gender constructs were thrown in the air, but they still fit particular places. For example, a male to female to transgender couldn’t act like a mildly masculine woman – she had to be “pussy” as they put it, or extremely feminine. No remains of their boy self was acceptable. She had to adhere to the role of what women are perceived to be in and if she didn't, she wasnt considered to be “real” -- the same would go for female to male transgenders.
I vividly remember one femme queen (male to female transgender) who, I will call Jewels, and a butch, who I will call Jay, were in the legendary Wawa (a convenient store that was open twenty four hours) getting a lil' snack. Supposedly Jewels and Jay had some evil history and would constantly bicker at each other … running into each other in the Wawa on this steaming summer night was not great timing. Let me describe Jewels ... she was well over six-feet, big body and more silicone in her chest, ass and face than Pamela Anderson and Dolly Parton's knockers.
She was known to carry weapons in her “purse” such as mace, a hammer (yes, a mothaf%!kin' HAMMER) and a massive blade that looked like it could be used to cut sugar cane on a Jamaican plantation! Unfortunately she didnt pass very well for a woman – but the minute “trade” tried it, she would whip out her hammer and prepare to SMASH! Trade would always run while she slipped the hammer back in her purse, adjusted her five-inch mane and continued on her way. Nonetheless, Jewels was a nice person to all that respected her …
Now for the butch Jay … she (I'm still calling her “she” because I don't think she actually identified as a man) was a young girl, no more than 5'4" who looked like she was drowning in her overly baggy clothes. She would walk in this contrived pimp stroll and attempt to lower her voice a couple octaves with this hard look on her face that was just laughable.
I don't get why if someone (male or female) is masculine why would they want to imitate a thug .. out of ALL the images of men, or more specifically, black men, why a thug? But back to the story … so Jewels and Jay are in the Wawa and the minute Jay sees Jewels she starts screaming all types of names … tellin her she looks like a retired football player, tellin her if she had a coochie it would stank .. all types of names that were actually a cackle, which is sometimes (I stress sometimes) rare for the lesbians!
Jewels is tryin to be a f%!ckin' lady swinging her mane over her shoulder, speaking in a dainty voice, “You better leave me alone, Jay – Im not feelin it tonight.” Jay keeps pushing her, enjoying that she's getting under Jewels skin. Jewels proceeds to walk to the cash register having to pass Jay who was standing next to a massive pyramid of Snapple bottles. When Jewels walks by Jay she yelled something about the shirveled dick between Jewels' legs -- almost as if the “man switch” turned on, Jewels pulls her arm back with her purse on her shoulder and with what looked like all the force she had in one arm -- UPPERCUTS that tiny butch right in her jaw.
The butch flies in the air with her feet coming off the ground like a scene from Mortal Kombat and CRASHES on the pyramid of Snapple bottles, causing it to collapse. The manager begins screaming at them, the “kids” in the Wawa are LIVING for the drama and Jewels yells in a deep voice that sounded like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, “You wanna feel like a man, bitch? Well, I'll beat your ass like a man! I still gotta dick!”
Everyone was completely mortified as Jay laid in the mess of Snapple crying like a white woman from a 1930s black and white movie. Jewels turned on one heel, slipped out her compact, made sure the face didnt look bothered, paid for her snack and pumped out of the Wawa. From that day on Jay never disrespected Jewels again! The Wawa shortly closed after that ..............
The moral of the story is what it meant to be a “man” or a “woman” still existed in this world. Jewels was expected to be a certain way and so was Jay. However, when it was time to truly break free of what was expected – SHA-WHAM! If sometimes you feel like you got a coochie between your legs then so be it – if sometimes you feel like you got a dick between your, legs flopping around like a fish out of water – then do you sister girl!
Labels: STORYTELLING
