Grayson Perry on C4 news

[zsazsagaboredom]

Talking about questioning masculinity, being a transvestite, bad male role models etc
And... changing masculinity.
Dare I say widening the bandwidth of being a man?
It's only a short segment near the end; I found him to be frank, sensible and a refreshing palate cleanser.

I like Grayson, in the same way I liked Eddie Izzard till he drank the kool-aide!

He had a piece in one of the Saturday papers at the weekend - might even have been the Telegraph. I thought it was great. I was really impressed.

He actually addressed one of the issues I have with men wearing women's clothes (the strange version of femininity they often choose to adopt) and explained why which was really helpful for me.

Backingvocals, can you summarise the bit about the strange version of femininity ? Sounds v interesting.

Here's the article:
www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/grayson-perry-whats-gone-wrong-with-men/

Extracted from his book.

It was this bit:

“Isn’t putting on a dress a rather simplistic way of trying to renounce maleness or adopt femininity? Surely you, Grayson, Reith lecturer, Turner prize and Bafta winner, are more subtle and sophisticated than that?” My reply is that, as in all of us, the basic psychological wiring of my sexuality was laid down in childhood, so is it really so surprising that I should use the seemingly childish tactic of cross-dressing?

I think the fact that he accepts that cross-dressing is a simplistic way to access femininity made me feel better about the fact that it can sometimes seem like a very narrow and unfamiliar version of femininity. Obviously his particular way of dressing is even more extreme than usual but one rarely sees a cross dresser and thinks "oh there is someone who understands womanhood". But his honesty disarmed me. And also seeing the child inside the man, iykwim.

The whole article is here

Thanks both.

Just caught up with this on 4+1.

What struck both DP and myself was the comment about white middle class men in suits are the norm & aspirational- with any deviation seen as abnormal. I know it is a huge sweeping statement to it does have the element of truth to it.

I'm really glad my son is growing up in a world where people are starting to talk about this. As opposed to the world my dad grew up in where you had no choice but to be a man in this one way and any other way would be a disaster.

I read that article too (or maybe one in the metro). I was a bit that he doesn't cross dress as much now because it's more mainstream and part of his enjoyment was the humiliation aspect. It's great he's open about it but just I'm a bit uncomfortable with people performing a fetish in public like that.