Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Vogue Evolution, Family & Pronouns, Etc....



Greetings all!! Well if MTV keeps up just positive representation of transwomen, I may have to buy stock or something! As you are currently witnessing Jaila Simms blow everyone out the water on Making His Band, I advise you to also direct your attention to the hit show America's Best Dance Crew. Hosted by Mr Randy Jackson, this show is another reality competition show focusing on dance crews across the country, you may remember the famous Jabbawockeez crew (pictured top right), that have rightfully propelled to the top, that were season winners of the show. Well in this new season, there is another crew on the rise that is just amazing and will hopefully reach the same pinnacle as previous champions. This crew is known as Vogue Evolution (pictured top left) they hail from NYC and are simply amazing. They draw influences from the house/ballroom scene of the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, and making their national/international debut on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, their timing couldn't be any more impeccable. They are determined to bring the house/ballroom scene to the mainstream eye and I wish them all the success in the world! This groundbreaking openly gay/trans dance crew is nearly impossible to describe in words so I will allow the following video to speak for me.


The next thing I would like to express/ask of my readers is this; How did you handle family situations with proper pronoun uses during the beginning of your transition? Is it so much as right for me to ask my family to practice and use proper pronouns for me or should I just continue to allow them to slip until it becomes a more serious issue within my transition (living full time) I'm honestly grateful to have my family accept me and acknowledge my transition, I have recently given my mother a copy of the book True Selves and she has actually started reading and enjoying it so maybe that will give her insight before I have to. I only ask this question because me and my non-biological little sister were out dancing the other night and my biological big sister was in town and met up with us. My 'little sis' who only refers to me as Zoe and uses female pronouns with and about me (and she has known me before transition) asked me why my big sister still called me 'little brother' and the only truthful response I could think was "it's family, they can slip for now, as long as their on my side". I stood for a moment in my own confusion as I said that and began to over think, per usual. I honestly don't know how to feel about the situation, like I said, my family accepts me and loves me as my true self (well of who they know me to be, we haven't actually all formally met yet) so is the pronoun thing a big deal right now when it comes to family or not, any insight/experiences would be more than helpful, thank you all so much :)

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