there is a black and white background of nyc with a grid if instagram symbols laid over top a line of red lace crosses the center of the feature as though to say "no" and three scarlet hands, all matching, reach up in the center of the image
AF+

What If It’s a Woman?

“We spoke up. Hell, this was post-#MeToo era. We were heroes. I was… a hero. So, why did I feel so much shame when, a year later, a woman sexually assaulted me?”

an image of drag king rusty broadsword in pink barbie drag with a pink axe and blonde beard that is reflected horizontally so he appears twice
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Becoming Myself Post-Divorce Through Drag

“Po’Chop asks us to list adjectives we associate with masculinity. I think of men I want to emulate — Stanley Tucci, Mandy Patinkin, my dad. We pace and pose with these adjectives in mind, cheer each other on through acting out these poses. It’s the most I have thought about existing in my body in a long time, and the awkwardness starts to give way to appreciation, and even a bit of confidence.”

A young school girl is seen carrying anither school girl as they try to navigate a flooded road after school hours just after the rain in Lagos, West of Nigeria on October 6, 2022.
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Love In A Sinking City: A Queer Timeline

“Today I am 28. It is 2023. In Nigeria, it is illegal to do the things I did freely at the beaches in Toronto; watch my queer friends kiss under the eyes of a cloudy sun, hold hands with a woman on a rain-less night intoxicated by wine and wishfulness. I lie to a taxi driver, tell him that I have a fiancé. I show him a picture, a man. My cousin doesn’t know how often his image has saved me from lecherous men. Here, fiction can be a raft in a sea…”

BOULDER, CO - MAY 01: John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of JonBenet Ramsey, meet with a small selected group of the local Colorado media after four months of silence in Boulder, Colorado on May 1, 1997. Patsy holds up a reward sign for information leading to the arrest of their daughter's murderer. Their 6-year-old daughter was found dead on Christmas night 1996. (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/ The Denver Post). Photo has over exposure stains on it.
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In The Movie Depicting My Childhood

“Legislators pass laws enabling families to control children and defund social services that support them, all in the name of protecting the wealthy, white, girl body. These policies, which are part of the theater of stranger danger discourse, endanger children by isolating them in their homes, where Lego fortresses can become wine cellars, tombs. JonBenét as a symbol becomes the sacrifice used to sustain this system. Her story becomes a dark illustration of the consumption of the violence and abuse inflicted on girls and women.”

a young boy is submerged in water surrounded by flowers, light streams up from the bottom of the photo in a blur
AF+

The Flood Came Later

“I’ve always loved the water. Before top surgery, when my discomfort with my body was at an all time high, swimming was the one thing I could do that gave me a sense of freedom. It felt safe to connect to my body in an environment where I could be weightless and enjoy moving with ease. I could be held by something when I was too self conscious to be touched by other people. I learned to swim in the pool at a hotel gym near the house I grew up in. My father taught me…”