I'm Not the Man I Used to Be

I just read this review of a new memoir the other day, and I think it stands alone as a critique of the "cis gaze" and how the state regulates gender and sex. Several Facebook posters have called attention to this passage from the article:

So 'transition', 'sex change' or, to some extent, 'coming out' are cis fantasies. They are cis fantasies that obscure the processes by which cis people create their own genders. Whether cis or trans or gender non-conforming, gender is never static. Gender identity has no fixed end point: it is a lifetime of changing feelings, experiences and attitudes. If gender is a set of relationships – to ourselves, to others, to the boxes others put us in – then no adults are the same gender, really, as when they were born, and in ten years they will be different genders still.

To show us that even cis guys get the blues, today's song features a gorgeously pensive Roland Gift and a whole cast of hip hop dancers. For a song whose lyrics are arguably kind of depressing, the video to this 1989 single makes me really happy. Also, that catchy James Brown sample! Uuugghhh so good.




Oh, right. Also, happy "coming out" day. I want to live in a world where there is no need to "come out" because I am not assumed to be cis and straight until I state otherwise. But until the white cis-hetero patriarchy crumbles, I'll be singing this song (and occasionally this song).