Some thoughts on queer partying

Dear Community,

In light of the recent discussions regarding Queer Bash, its themes, guests’ costumes and photos/promotion, we at Prance wanted to talk about some of these issues and share what we have been thinking about and processing amongst ourselves. As party organizers in the queer community, we feel that we have a responsibility to address the concerns that we have heard and also to educate ourselves through this experience—which we hope everyone will join us in doing. The best thing to come out of all this is that people are engaging in conversations about inclusivity in our communities, and we think this is really great. We are all at different places in our lives, we all come from different positions, and we all encompass various identities and privileges and oppressions. None of us are perfect, and we are all at various stages of learning and unlearning. This is important to realize and we are really excited about having this opportunity where we can ALL learn from some of the valid criticisms that have been made. For those of us organizing Prance, we think this is particularly important as the majority of us are white, and none of us are Indigenous to North America.

First off, we want to acknowledge the chain of events that we have seen happen, since not everyone is up to speed, and some things have since been edited. These have led to some of the comments you may have seen on Facebook or the Queer Bash blog.

• Pansy Pilgrims vs Monster Tops theme party which merged Hallowen and Thanksgiving themes, where guests were encouraged to dress as “Pocahontas princesses” and several party-goers dressed up in head dresses and face paint. Pictures promoting the party and showing these costumes were later posted on facebook, youtube, and blogger. Click “read more” below for a discussion of why this theme is problematic.
• Creatures of the Night vs Ladies of the Evening (originally ‘Ladies of the Night’) upcoming theme party, encouraging folks to dress up as “possum hookers.” Read more below.

What’s important to remember in all this is that we are not criticizing people, we are criticizing the behaviour. We realize that in all likelihood, the Queer Bash organizers and the costume-wearers did not intend to offend or exclude. They probably just didn’t think about the implications of their themes or costumes, and how that might affect people. It seems that most of the time, people don’t mean to offend when they say something inadvertently racist or sexist or homophobic. But that’s the thing: when you come from a place of privilege (i.e. being a white person, being heterosexual, being a man), you often don’t think about how your actions might be offensive to others (i.e. people of colour, queers, women), because you’ve never had to think about that. That is your privilege! But this is why intention is not the issue. The issue is that the behaviour was offensive, and people are (understandably) angry, frustrated, and feel marginalized and excluded.

We at Prance think it’s important to listen to people when they feel this way, and to try and address their concerns as best as possible. And if you pay attention, a lot of the people speaking up are people who are most often marginalized in society (and in our queer communities), as well as people with direct lived experience of racism, doing sex work, and so on. And we think it’s important to listen to the voices of everyone in our communities, especially those whose voices aren’t often put at the forefront (i.e. people of colour, poor/working class people, people with disAbilities, etc.).

So again, we think this is a great learning opportunity. Let’s take the time to stop and actively listen, and hear, what people have to say about this. And let’s talk about it! The best way to learn is to engage in these kinds of conversations. It’s ok to make mistakes, and it’s ok to ask questions, but what’s not ok is refusing to learn from mistakes or refusing to listen to people when they call those mistakes out. Let’s try and create truly inclusive queer spaces and events where everyone can have fun!

On that note, as we have said before, we Prancers are really into having these kinds of discussions (we are pro-processing after all!). So if you ever have any concerns or criticisms about our parties, our themes, our party-goers, our shoes, whatever, please bring them up with us!

A note on themes & costumes:

One of the most fun things about costume parties is that people can dress up like something different from their everyday life or identity. But more often than not, this “difference” is demonstrated through gender, culture, race, class etc. Especially during Halloween, we see what people around us consider to be “different,” “funny,” “abnormal” or “scary” and this reminds us what is considered to be “normal.” Just stop and think… In your life, how many guys do you know who have dressed up as girls, how many people from one racial background dressed up as members of another, how many people from middle or upper class backgrounds dressed up as “trailer trash” or “hobos”? From hyper-sexualized costumes to “cross-dressing” to costumes of cultural & racial stereotypes (geishas, gypsies, Native head dresses, etc.), we can see what is considered “different” and thus we can see what is considered acceptable, normal & idealized in our society. For people of colour, trans and genderqueer folk, disAbled folk, folk from poor/working class backgrounds who are already made to feel “different” and excluded from today’s society, seeing people wearing a costume that simplifies or mocks their identity will further exclude them and make them feel even more “different” or “abnormal.” And that’s not something that we think the queer community should support.

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Analysis of Queer Bash’s First Theme:

Comments about the first party’s theme “Pansy Pilgrims vs Monster Tops” referred to the facebook event and blog post encouraging party-goers to dress as “Pocahontas princesses,” which many people interepreted literally. The party’s theme specifically centered on the October festivities of Thanksgiving and Halloween.

Aside from “Pocahontas” being a stereotypical racist and sexist caricature of Native Americans (among other things), the tradition of Thanksgiving can be interpreted very differently, depending on whose version of history you are looking at. Many First Nations and other Indigenous peoples argue that the much celebrated “holiday” was in fact the beginning of a colonial genocide on their people that continues to this day. (Check out this site for some more detail on this point of view.)

On top of this very loaded history between white folks and Indigenous peoples, reducing someone’s real and personal identity (whether their cultural or racial identity or otherwise) to a Halloween costume can be very hurtful and insulting. Similar to how Disney’s Pocahontas reduced Native Americans to cartoonish ‘mythical creatures of fantasy,’ wearing someone’s racial/cultural identity as a costume works along the same lines, maintaining that stereotypical and narrow idea of what defines them.

Analysis of Queer Bash’s Second Theme:

There have also been issues brought up with Queer Bash’s theme and write-up for their second party, “Creatures of the Night vs. Ladies of the Evening” (originally “Ladies of the Night”). The “Ladies of the Night” theme brings up the long-standing connotation of a female sex trade worker (and a quick google dictionary search confirms this), and the initial poster included the suggestion of dressing up as a “possum hooker.” This writeup was changed after some people voiced their concerns, but Queer Bash never acknowledged that they had changed it. So despite Queer Bash’s recent argument that the theme refers to “drag queens and cabaret girls,” it was clearly not so innocent initially, nor was it interpreted that way by many people.

It should go without saying that sex trade workers often face extreme levels of oppression, violence, abuse, marginalization, and criminalization in our society. Many are living in poverty and lack access to a variety of resources (such as healthcare, housing, other employment options, anti-violence organizations, etc.). And in light of the disappearances and murders of dozens of sex trade workers in the DTES (and in BC more generally), nowhere is this more obvious that Vancouver. Choosing to host a party with “Ladies of the Night” intended as a lighthearted theme is not only completely neglectful of the harsh realities of most women working in the street-level sex trade, but it is especially ignorant of the context of what sex trade workers have faced and continue to face, in this city, right now.

In addition, we feel it is important to note that there are many women (and other folks) working in the sex trade who are queer or trans-identified, many of them also people of colour and/or Indigenous. So again, Queer Bash’s second theme can be interpreted as having a very narrow audience in mind, and of excluding a significant portion of the queer community. Whether or not it was done with intention, this exclusion and these stereotypes are, again, hurtful to many people.

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