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Although you are assigned a gender at birth, you may not always fit into categories a person with said gender has. Gender identity is not assumed by genitalia, but by the pronouns a person prefers. Men and women face obstacles as a result of resisting gender identities and normalities. Men are taught that being vulnerable, expressing emotion and fear are considered feminine characteristics, or signs of weakness. These concepts leave men tangled in a vicious cycle where they must constantly prove themselves to be masculine, or guarded and confidant. In a photographic narrative, I included late-20th and 21st-century photos that reveal the lives of queer individuals that challenge the dichotomy revolving around masculinity and femininity as opposites. One example of artwork I included was Nan Goldin’s work. She photographed queer bodies in private spaces; her pictures may be seen as a critique of the gender-binary system, but they reveal gender alternatives and attempts to affirm those alternatives. Photography is fleeting and changing rapidly, just like society.

People identify in a multiplicity of ways. If the US electing a highly incompetent, misinformed, and corrupt individual to represent our nation says anything about us, it’s that our society is not as accepting and diverse as we think. We must engage in dialogue that ensures our unique differences, needs, and perspectives are taken seriously and the spectrum rather than dichotomy reaffirmed. We must focus not on what we do not have, but what we ultimately want and are committed to creating.

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Jennie Livingston; Paris Is Burning; August 1991

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Jennie Livingston; Paris Is Burning; August 1991

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POC's who identify as other than straight are the most targeted and oppressed group in history. Jennie Livingston's documentary, Paris Is Burning (1991) displays how this group, bound by rejection, constructs a subculture devoted to their own norms, values and language. It is an important piece of queer cinema that exposes the lives of Harlem drag queens. Livingston aimed to raise awareness by disclosing ideas about gender-defined behaviors, homophobia, and racism. Sexual identity is a product of social construction; it can be liberating or confining for people.
The film still below is of Dorian Corey, a drag queen who was featured in the film. In an interview, she was asked about her comfortability expressing gender. "To be able to blend. That's what realness is. If you can pass the untrained eye, or even the trained eye, and not give away the fact that you're gay, that's when it's real. The idea of realness is to look as much as possible like your straight counterpart".

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Ben Hopper; Ruby Bird; Digital Photograph; 2007-2016 

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Ben Hopper; Ruby Bird; Digital Photograph; 2007-2016 

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Ben Hopper created the series "Natural Beauty" to promote conversation around body standards for women. It was designed to challenge what he describes as "societal brainwashing" done by the beauty and fashion industries.
During the photo process, Hopper requested that several models, designers, and actresses limit themselves from removing any body hair to make it visible on camera. The photos highlight a woman’s beauty, her armpit hair, and the timely reminder that they are in no way mutually exclusive. Hopper writes for Huffington Post, “The whole point [of the series] is contrast between fashionable female beauty and the raw unconventional look of female armpit hair,” Hopper told Huffington Post. “I expect [the photos] will surprise a lot of people and I guess, in a way, that is one of my intentions.(Rosenberg, 2014)

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JJ Levine is an intimate portraiture photographer from Montreal, Canada. He challenges notions of gender performance in his series “Alone Time” which feature subjects who embody both female and male characteristics in single frames. Levine identifies as both transgender and queer, which influence his work and the ambiguity of his subjects. He uses vibrant color palettes to highlight the scenery with hints of a retro aesthetic. The "couple" shares an intimate moment in a domestic settings. The "male" figure sits with his legs spread, while the "female" figure has limited clothing and appears to be covering up. The subject’s genders are fluid, all through they present stereotypical characteristics of male and female. They are crafted using costumes, makeup, and body language. The strongest features one or both characters looking back directly at the camera, subsequently making eye contact with the viewer and creating a jolting effect that supports “Alone Time’s” impact. (Kulesh, 2014)

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Andy Warhol; Self Portrait in Drag; Dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid); 1981

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Andy Warhol; Self Portrait in Drag; Dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid); 1981

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During the late 20th-century, photography dominated mass-media culture. From the seventies until his death, Warhol took hundreds of polaroids to document his work. Polaroids appealed to Warhol because of its speed, ease, and flattening effects. He is widely known to use commercials and advertisements in his pieces with repetition, but this project remained experimental and out of his ordinary. Among these was a series of self-portraits in drag; Warhol collaborated with photographer Christopher Makos in the early eighties. Warhol had an interest in drag queens, and more broadly in role-playing and experimenting with the construction of identity. In these numerous self-portraits, he was less interested in revealing himself than in presenting a mask, just as he carefully cultivated a superficial, depthless celebrity persona in life. His masculine features are barely disguised behind the makeup and blonde wig, resulting Warhol to become vulnerable and exposed.

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Ryan James Caruther -Tryouts; Untitled; Digital Photograph

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Ryan James Caruther -Tryouts; Untitled; Digital Photograph

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Ryan James Caruthers’ series “Tryouts” explores the adolescent ritual of trying out for sports teams. The images are taken from his perspective and experiences as a closeted gay man learning to grow comfortably in his skin. There are multiple self-portraits of himself in wrestling uniforms, soccer jerseys, or placed in dimly-lit gyms holding equipment. His shape is long and skinny, pale and delicate. His eyes are shut, his arms raised, his face resting somewhere between exhaustion and ecstasy. Blood drips from his nostrils and sweat pours down his face like running water. In this striking photograph, Caruthers’ expression and body positions resemble classic Greek and Roman sculpture that were used to embody athletic masculinity. (Priscilla, 2016)

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Nan Goldin; Jimmy, Paulette and Taboo! in bathroom, NYC; 1991

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Nan Goldin; Jimmy, Paulette and Taboo! in bathroom, NYC; 1991

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Goldin spent her career taking candid shots of her lovers and close friends. She photographed women experiencing sexual and domestic violence, LGBTQ+ identifying individuals, drag queens, and young adults breaking gender binary. Her “tribe” would attend lavish parties and gay bars where drugs and alcohol were available in access. Goldin also identified as bisexual and explored her sexuality throughout the series.
Jimmy, Paulette and Taboo! in bathroom feature these themes. Two men stand side-by-side one another; One has their back turned wearing a large, diamond necklace, while the other figure faces the camera wearing a full face of make up. Goldin's pictures may be seen as a critique of the gender-binary system, revealing gender alternatives, and attempts to affirm those alternatives. (Skodbo, 2007)

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Nan Goldin - The Ballad of Sexual Dependency; Matt and Lewis in the Tub-Heart-Shaped Ass; 1988

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Nan Goldin - The Ballad of Sexual Dependency; Matt and Lewis in the Tub-Heart-Shaped Ass; 1988

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Although the LGBTQ+ community started to gain awareness during the early eighties, experimenting with sexuality was still seen as taboo. One of the many themes throughout Goldin’s collection was exposing the lives of queer bodies in private spaces, such as bedrooms and bathrooms. Matt and Lewis in The Tub; Heart-Shaped Ass reveal the intimacy between two male bodies. Goldin’s subjects are placed in a tub and hold each other in an embrace. Both subjects appear nude; their faces are unrecognizable and are buried in each other’s arms. The intense flash contrasts the bodies with the water. Their pale white skin combined with the flash reflects a white-orange toned glow. This candid moment presents a struggle between autonomy and dependency for another being during a time of violence, sex, heavy drug use, and the ravages of AIDS.

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Matt and Lewis in the Tub; Heart-Shaped Ass, Cambridge

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- Thomas, Skodbo. 2007. “Nan Goldin: The Other Side – Photography and Gender Identity.” University of Oslo, Norway. https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/24679/MicrosoftxWordx-xDISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
- “HIV HEROES OF THE ARTS: (4) NAN GOLDIN: A PHOTOGRAPHIC DIARIST.” 2013. PositiveLight.com. November 11. www.positivelite.com/component/zoo/item/hiv-heroes-of-the-arts-4-nan-goldin-a-photographic-diarist.
- Frank, Priscilla. 2016. “Queer Photographer Revisits Traumatic High School Sports Tryouts In Stunning Series.” HuffPost. July 11. www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/queer-photographer-revisits-traumatic-high-school-sports-tryouts-in-stunning-series_us_577faf2de4b0344d514edd69.
- Warhol, Andy. 1981. Self-Portrait in Drag. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. www.guggenheim.org/artwork/15490.
- Kulesh, Alina. 2014. “5 Contemporary Photographers Who Are Playing With Gender.” Shutterstock Blog. November 12. www.shutterstock.com/blog/5-photographers-who-are-playing-with-gender.
- Rosenberg, David. 2014. “Portraits of One Person as Two Genders.” Behold. February 10. www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/10/jj_levine_alone_time_focuses_on_the_gender_binary_in_domestic_settings_photos.html.
- Livingston, Jennie, Pepper Labeija, Kim Pendavis, Freddie Pendavis, Dorian Corey, Venus Xtravaganza, Willi Ninja, and Octavia St. Laurent. 1992. Paris is burning. [United States]: Fox Lorber Home Video.