Paris Is Burning Stereotypes

Cisgender and heteronormative privileges challenge those that do not fit into these categories, yet dare to be different which I will discuss throughout this paper. Since transgender people have begun to come out and talk about their gender identities, death rates have risen greatly. It is sad that we live in a society in which people have to live in fear for being different than others and expressing who they are. A difference should not get someone killed because we are not objects and should not be categorized as such. We do not all fit into the binary categories that have been opposed on us, why should those who standout be punished for what they have no control over. We are all humans, yet we are acting like savages over such a little

Balls are a place where gay men, drag queens, and gender fluid people go and they would have competitions between each other. These competitions were somewhat like dance offs, the best performer would win a prize such as a trophy. These balls only existed as performances and those who participated were not always in drag. The people who went to balls were primarily people of color, but that is not to say that white women and men did not partake in balls. This was a place where they could be themselves and feel 100% okay being gay or gender fluid. The balls were a playoff of a fantasy most possessed of being a star/model, something more than what they saw themselves as being. Balls are their world where they can be close to the reality of fame, fortune, and stardom because for them being poor or middle class was never felt okay. Drags are expressed more in Venus Boyz which is a complex performance about gender identity. They perform the identity that they feel more closely related to and it is an over the top performance consisting of excessive make-up use and prosthetics (a molded penis often used during the performances), and is idealized way beyond what it actually is. Houses are classified as gay street gangs which differ slightly from other street gangs, in gay houses street fights occur at balls and are basically

These privileges possess so much power that when people do not fit into these binary categories they are seen as being outcast and have to learn to be strong because they are mocked, threatened, harmed, and often killed for merely expressing themselves. Cisgender identity with ones gender is seen as being normal and is known as heterosexual privilege. When we think back to the film with IO she is either seen as a boy or girl even though she is gender fluid people still try to put her into binary categories. She had difficulty deciding who she was, fluctuating between genders. She learned how to hold her urine because she feared using public bathrooms because she was judged for using the “wrong” restroom. The heterosexual questionnaire that we read for class clearly demonstrates how idiotic it is to ask gays, bisexuals, gender fluid people, lesbians, etc why they are the way that they are and what made them that way. Instead of questioning who they are and why they are that way we should be accepting them for their differences and stop trying to categorize