Queer bodies and open minds

On Friday Pride House opened with a conversation about trans-bodies, sex and the connection between gender and identity. Five members of the panel talked open heartedly about their thought and experiences in a way that lured the audience at Café Klara to both laughs and reflection.

- When I was young, confused and shy I did not know how I should to have sex. There was no category that I fitted into. Neither gays, dykes, nor staights seemed particularly interested in me.
Josephine is a performance artist and one of the people behind the London based sex clubs Fukk and Wotever. Under the headline "Gendered Bodies - My Genetalia and my Brain" she was one of the participants that talked about how she perceived herself in relation to her body and desires.
- You do not have sex with a body but with a person with a brain, sole and heart.

At the boundary between transexual and cisgendered

Al talked about how he as a young person did not know whether to play with the boys or girls.
- I did not know anything about transexualism at that time and I spent most of my time with my head in my hands, unsure of which group I belonged to. Today, I am comfortable in my body without necessarily having gone through a gender correction.
Johanna, living in Brighton, explains that she identifies as femme. For her, that means that she is somewhere between being transexual and cisgendered (non-transexual).
- For me it is all about getting to know myself to enable me to communicate it to others. This applies to relations with other people and sex.

Queer spaces

Josephine ended the seminar by saying that it is important that there are places where it is possible to be yourself. For her, Wotever and Fukk has been the determining factors that has enabled her to be comfortable in her own skin and what she wants.
- I have been fortunate enough to find these places. Everyone should be given that chance.