Grayson Perry: unapologetic fetishist

'but a bloke who is a bit of a competitive twat, that sort of thing. '

Yes, I like that about him too. There were a couple of funny stories in his book about being a ridiculously competitive cyclist. He's aware of how macho it is and he owns it and can laugh about it

Would love to see the TRAs explain to Mr Perry that he doesn't understand his own sexuality...that he is actually a woman and that absolutely no men dress as women for fetish reasons...and that if they do it's because they don't understand their own journey yet.

But they won't, as that kind of chat is reserved for the wives of crossdressers.

I do like GP but have complicated feelings about him, in that he chooses typically female crafts and gets accolades for them while the women who have developed them get forgotten. I do like his art.

All of his TV work is fantastic - really insightful and bucks the trend. Those programmes have had a profound impact on me. He does have a bit of a blind spot about misogyny, but I sometimes wonder if that is a deliberate thing, or whether it is me as a woman thinking 'that's the first question about masculinity I'd want to ask', but it doesn't occur to him as a bloke.

As for him being open about his fetish, I am totally happy with that, because his fetish is pretty harmless and he seems to have a sense of humour about it - like he is parodying his own transvestism to the point of looking like a pantomime dame. If there was anything sneaky or dark or abusive about it, I'd drop him like a bag of cold sick. I like that he is so shameless, not only as a bloke with a fetish, but a bloke who is a bit of a competitive twat, that sort of thing. People who are in touch with who they are and are unapologetic about it are hard not to like.

Thanks Katherina. I didn't know that about being forced to put a dress on. What an awful thing to happen.

Ah no, Nikita, I meant the story of why he dresses up. I can't find a link but many years ago he used to say that when he was a child he was forced to put a dress on by some older boys and he loved it because he found it so humiliating and since then he has wanted to dress as a little girl...

The dressing as a grown woman I couldn't care less about but the dressing as a small child as part of his sexuality... hmm. I know a lot of people think the whole age-play idea is harmless fantasy but for me the idea of involving images/ideas of children in your sex life (even if it's all fantasy, made-up etc) is grim.

Also some dodgy ideas about little girls in there, whatever way you spin it.

I absolutely don't think there's any more to it in Grayson Perry's case but I do find it dodgy, and I think he has purposely toned down his story.

(I don't like his art either.)

I like how Grayson Perry totally owns his GNC-ity as a man, to my mind that is brave. And his pottery and textiles are stunning.

Or maybe they are and my husband was just being useless

Some of his tv work, where he separates sex and gender are no longer available in the UK but are available in Europe I think.

I respect him for being a gender non conforming man.

Yeah, unfortunately I thought his art in the bankers one was cliched and he missed some really interesting and important points about the banker guys. He could have done something very different instead of the cliched phallic ceramic covered in banknotes, and the moralistic tapestry thing.

I must say, I think he was much better on the rituals show. And I do like the way he talks about his fetish and how clear he is about what it is and what it isn't.

Katherina, what do you mean he's 'toned down his origin story'? I don't know much about it, just that he had an unhappy childhood and was estranged from his mother. What else was weird about it?

I agree sometimes his personal prejudices show but at least he's usually pretty open about his preconceptions from the start, and he does give people the chance to say what they think.

Funny how the mining community and cage fighters came off better than the bankers.

Personally I thought that was because he was hamstrung by his own prejudices about the bankers and didn't look or listen for anything about them that might have changed his prejudices.

I thought he was fairly unsuccessful with the young men from the socially deprived estate too. The cage fighters were clearly, right from the start, able to think and talk about their lives thoughtfully and insightfully. He had an easy job with them.

Agreed meglet!

His series on masculinity was excellent. Funny how the mining community and cage fighters came off better than the bankers.

Yy lang I found his conversations with the cage fighters really moving.
His programmes usually bring me to tears at some point!

I'm a big fan of his too. He owns his fetish and is open about it. He has been clear that he feels it gives him no insight whatsoever into what life is like for women and he doesn't use female facilities like toilets. I see him as a feminist ally

Absolutely, Lang: amazing interviews from those guys: really thoughtful, reflective and honest, they've really stayed with me!

I saw him once, forget in which TV show, equating his love of riding fast motorbikes (risky behaviour because you might crash) with dressing (also risky behaviour because a homophobe might hit you) - both exhilarating and both highly masculine ways to behave.

Big fan here: his programmes on masculinity were outstanding I think.

The one with the cage fighters was absolutely brilliant.

Big fan here: his programmes on masculinity were outstanding I think.

Trying to examine it a bit in my own head, I think I like how knowingly over the top GP’s dressed character is. He isn’t pretending that his alter ego is a ‘real’ woman, he knows damn well that his female contemporaries dress nothing like that.

And while he isn’t explicitly criticising anyone, implicitly Perry’s way of dressing/being exposes the absurdity of someone like Bunce.

Bunce is no more dressed for a financial exec role in his pink Lycra than Perry is for the Potter’s studio in his flouncy petticoat and Aunt Sally make up. Perry knows this, and presumably, Bunce must know it too.

Big GP fan here- of his art and his fascinating tv programmes.
His three part programme on modern masculinity is well worth a watch.

He's on Twitter as @Alan_Measles.

I like him and I almost always like his TV shows. I particularly like the fact that he is very clear about dressing being a specific aspect of his male sexuality.

I would be so fucking furious if GP ever accepted a nomination for a women’s art prize. I assumed he wouldn’t. Is he on twitter? Maybe we should ask him...

I really like him and his work. My parents were given tickets to one of his exhibitions and it totally converted them to see it in the flesh too.

With his unapologetic honesty GP is demonstrating exactly the position the trans debate should have gone to for those not actually suffering from dysphoria about their sexed bodies. It is fantastic he is open about his past and that he links his behaviour with it. We are ALL the products of our upbringing and past life events, every bit as much as our genetics. Being open about it is inspiring for other people, paves the way for genuine (not coerced) acceptance, and means he is far more likely to get what he needs to live an honest and healthy life.