CAMP and The Tearful Beauty of Identity

Alex Meyers, in his workshop on Tuesday, introduced a front page of a newspaper whose
headline read “Ex-GI Becomes a Blonde Beauty,”or something along those lines. Alex
Meyers spoke about the fact that this woman’s transition story was posted on the front
page of a newspaper, making it public, and the whole “before and after” comparison it
was making, which is still prevalent in newspapers today. Looking at the “before and
after” pictures of this newspaper, something in particular stood out to me. In the “after”
picture, the woman is facing away from the camera, showing her profile, like old victorian
paintings that never depicted a woman looking at the viewer because that was seen as
scandalous and promiscuous. While the woman is facing away, the old “before,” picture
of her, as a man, is looking into the camera, like the way men were painted, since straight
on gaze showed power in a victorian portrait of a man. In Alex Meyers’ convocation
presentation, two of his own  photographs imitated the Ex- GI headline pictures. He showed
a picture of himself in highschool, prior to coming out, dressed in hockey gear and facing
away from the camera, in profile. At the end, however, he showed a picture of himself,
looking straight into the camera, after coming out, during his senior year of highschool.
Although the Ex- GI headline was not exactly the same, I found that similarity interesting.  

Alex Meyers’ workshop also reminded me of the CAMP exhibit in New York. This exhibit
in The MET explored the over the top fashion statements and LGBTQ fashion inspirations
in history. Camp, which is a form of art through fashion that uses irony to mock what is
known as ordinary or expected and push the boundaries of fashion and art. The word
Camp, which at first came from the French language to mean wearing outlandish fashion,
was later repurposed to describe middle to lower class homosexual men between the
40’s and 50’s, I believe.  Since Camp is everything outlandish, the concept of drag becomes
a key component. In the CAMP exhibit at the MET, I remember learning about two men
who would dress as women, publicly, and asked to be addressed with female names.
They were recorded to be lovers, sending letters back and forth, each signing with female
names. The whole exhibit was centered around Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp,” which
examines the meaning and connotations of the word. This exhibit, in its entirety, really
stuck with me. I remember walking through it in utter awe at all of the amazing work of
the designers, of the fascinating history, of the enlightening irony, and the celebration of
queer culture. Needless to say, I spent hours walking through the entire exhibit, which
lead to my mother losing me in the basement of the MET (where it was set up) and
calling security. I am not, however, relating all transgender people and their lives to that
of the over the top senses of Camp, just that Alex Meyers’ workshop on transgender
people in history reminded me of this exhibit which left me with a great feeling of
appreciation and sympathy for the queer men and women who were highlighted in the
exhibit. 

Although I admire Alex Myers' new approach of starting the book after his main
character has already came out because, like Myers said in convocation, a whole
life ahead, his writing style was not what I prefer. Despite that, it felt really eye-opening
to read about the life of a trans man through his point of view. I have met a few
people who are transgender, but that’s as far as the interaction went, I met them,
one time, for a brief second, then never saw them again. The transgender community
has always seemed so far away from my life, having never been in a close
relationship to anyone apart of it. So, to read about the struggles of Ron Bancroft,
get to know the character intimately, showed me how challenging even the little
things can be to a member of this community. For example, in chapter 8, when
Cassie finally kisses Ron,  before he gets fired from the ranch, Ron kept thinking
about how it was a bad idea and would “only lead to problems.” I never really
thought about what this aspect of Ron’s life is like. For a man, who was born a
man, this would not be a problem. The troubles of dating and finding people to
date is most likely even hard for Ron in the future especially since that area of life
is already incredibly difficult for everyone. Reading about how stressed Ron opened
my eyes to such everyday actions that are struggles for members of the transgender
community after coming out. It just shows how the coming out part, is not where
the uncertainty and troubles end.