Gender Bender Ball opens safe space for self-expression
Written and photographed by Marian Carrasquero
Students left gender preconceptions at the door and filed into the Student Center this past Saturday, Oct. 17. They made their way up to the second floor where the annual Gender Bender Ball was held. The SCAD Queers and Allies club presented the annual ball with a Space Invasion theme.
“I think this is a really important event because people who are and are not necessarily queer can come to the Gender Bender Ball without judgement. Anyone can express anything they want to express,” said Brooklyn Wians, a third-year sequential arts major. Wians is a supporter of the queers and allies club and stressed the importance of having a comfortable space for self-expression, no matter what gender you identify with.
Makeup, costumes and dancing are some obvious means of self-expression during the ball. But this open space brings both queers and allies a comfortable environment in which they can socialize, flirt and meet people that have similar interests.
“It’s a space for our queer students to express themselves, experiment, come out with their friends in just a really safe and secure environment,” said the SCAD Queers and Allies Vice President Hannah Patellis, a third-year service design student.
The environment was filled with enthusiastic students that demonstrated their creativity in ways that may be out of the ordinary for some, but inspiring for others. The idea that gender is not a fixed characteristic of modern day individuals is one of the ideas that brings all these students together.
“If you’re a male you can come dressed as a girl if you want and vice versa. It’s fun!” said Wians who, like most participants in the event, is completely open to the idea of gender bending which challenges the traditional norms by exhibiting androgynous behavior and atypical gender roles.
“We have some amazing performers tonight. While most of the night is a dance night, we are going to have some great [and] really talented performers to revitalize the crowd and pump them up,” said Queers and Allies President Ryan Workman — a fourth-year fashion design student — describing the drag performances that took place.
The drag queens that performed — also SCAD students — showed how drag is only one of various ways that self-expression can be channeled to become an art; in this case, performance art that engages others and evokes the idea that gender does not have to restrict itself to a single characteristic.
