Alok Vaid-Menon says that his aunt, renowned gay activist Urvashi Vaid, was his first “queer protector”.
Says Alok, “Having an openly queer person in my family changed everything and made it possible for me to do what I do today.” “Urvashi was my first queer protector.”
Alok – who identifies as gender non-conforming and transfeminine – is a writer, comedian and performance artist who gender politicselevates themes onIn 2017, Alok released her inaugural book of poetry, “Femme in Public”, a meditation on oppression against transfeminine people.
last yearThe Man Enoughappeared on the podcast
Addresses in the live show tour. They visited Europe in July, August and October before returning to America
for his race and gender expression, describing the experience as “horrible” and “difficult”.
Vaid visited the family several times over the years and gave Alok emotional support and guidance from one row to another.
Vaid, who died of cancer last month, left an indelible mark on Alok.
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“From a young age, I learned that patriarchy was a thing. I learned that homophobia was a thing. I learned that people can love people regardless of their gender,” says Alok.
“Urvashi would always buy me clothes and always encourage me and my artistry and my creative expression.
“I always knew that even if I was being bullied or harassed, there were people called activists who did not tolerate it. He was the chief,” says Alok.
“I knew that the phase I was going through was not permanent. I knew there was a way to change society. I knew that there are people like me out there somewhere in the world,” says Alok. From a very young age, I was likely.”
In an interview with Q Voice News, Alok, 30, accompanied her tour of being on the road, looking at toxic masculinity in comedy and the gender binary.
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Tour: ‘Let’s go big’
” I’ve wanted it for so long. I told my agents, I was like, let’s go big. Do what we can. I’m going all over the world, which I’m really excited about.
“For me, as a performing artist, the pandemic has made it so difficult to find out whether I truly believe in the preciousness and purity of living art. I believe it can’t really be replicated, even if you have videos or photos. This is the ultimate. You had to go there to experience it.
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“It means a lot to me spiritually, personally, being able to bring my heart to full display whenever I’m performing Happen.”
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Why tour is important
“Things have been tough and difficult for people like me,” says Alok. “In 2022, we will anti-trans laws more than ever before in American history. Trans people are being scapegoated for cheap shots at political and financial gain.
again,” says Alok”I feel this deep need to respond to time in many ways. One, providing your community with a safe place to laugh and feel joy and celebration amidst so much invalidation and rejection.
“And then two, artistically, poetically and comically, show how absurd it is that people are coming for us,” Alok says. “Comedy presents a unique way of doing this because for so long, people like me, who are gender non-conforming, have only existed.
” But the real joke is that people have been able to divide billions of complex souls into two genders. How much money, time and energy do you spend? It is a spectacle for me,” says Alok. “What I’m really excited about in this show is that it’s the reverse of the show, you think I’m kidding, see for yourself.”
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Toxic masculinity in comedy
‘. It’s the men in comedy. We need to protect jokes from men in pants.
“It seems to be at a fever pitch right now, where so many VCs are facing the obsolescence of their hegemony and their last breath. They stick to whatever they can to re-establish it.
“Weird. It’s funny how desperate they are to stay relevant. It’s funny how pathetic their jokes are because they’re not even funny anymore. It’s not humor anymore,” says
Alok . What an exciting time to be a comedian. We have re-imagined the genre in the past and made it relevant time and again.”
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They Heard About Gender Non-binary
Pushback”This is what often frustrates me about contemporary LGBTQ politics. LGBTQ people behave as if we were born with pride. And really, I had so much self-loathing, so much self-denial, so much hatred of myself.
“I had to work. I had to work on really healing myself to be proud, which was a process that would take my whole life,” says Alok. “In my own life, I have seen that How I’ve gone from so much self-loathing and self-loathing and self-denial to so uninhibited and openly that I believe change is possible.”
Responds to Hostility: ‘It’s Not Really About Me’
“When I face this kind of complete hostility, I know it’s not really about me. It is about people’s relationship with themselves,” says Alok. “They have curtailed their freedom. They have repressed their arbitrariness. They have revoked their own dignity for the sake of possibility.
” When they look at people who are living their lives freely, So they’re definitely going to retaliate. It is easier to discredit me than to be heartbroken. Their disappearance has only been conditioned so much that they have been shown love. They are really under so much pressure.
Facing the Gender Binary: ‘It’s About Everyone’
“What makes me really happy is that people are really waking up to the fact that gender norms are ridiculous and need to be used to describe it. Looking for a new vocabulary for
“It’s all about. I really want to see the gender binary as a universal concern,” Alok says. “People still assume that when I say I want a world without gender binaries, it means that I should be male and female. Without the world must and it is not true.
“I have to constantly clarify for this to happen, no, this is really a world where you get a choice to be a man or a woman. A world beyond the gender binary is one in which people define their gender for themselves. Can determine. It’s about challenging a society that gives people gender without their consent.
” That’s the missing link. My concern for the future of gender politics is how we focus on the disproportionate violence facing trans and non-binary people, but understand that within the artistic resistance of trans and nonbinary people lies the creation of a world that is truly gonna help everyone?
“It’s going to be a world where we have undefined masculinity and femininity, so that people eventually have a place to write it for themselves. What does it mean to you to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman to you? ?”
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Q Voice News is a digital news magazine that shuts down LGBTQ news. It serves the LGBTQ community in Los Angeles and beyond.
