User:Jhubert2112/Resources for Masculine of Center People of Color

Resources for Masculine of Center People of Color new article content ...

This is the culmination of a semester’s worth of work done in a private reading. I wanted to compile resources that I felt were useful and/or interesting for Masculine of Center (MOC) identifying people of color (POC) who are discovering themselves or just seeking to have more outlets to keep in touch with their different identities. This project started because, as someone who identifies as an MOC POC, I found it difficult to discover that part of myself and embrace it, even on Oberlin’s campus. I felt isolated, like there wasn’t anyone who I saw myself in, who could answer questions or point me in the right direction. Naturally, a lot of how I discovered myself and learned about the greater MOC community was through different internet sources. Just doing basic Google searches, I came across so much from blogs, to fashion websites, to community building accounts. These were all instrumental in making me who I am today, but having these resources readily available, or at least someone to tell me all about them, would have made the process less taxing. So, based on my personal experience, I thought it could be helpful to compile all the sources I rely on, plus some, for any current or future MOC POC’s to access and use for their own journey’s. The resources I’ve compiled are divided into a few categories: physical/mental health, expression/presentation, community, academic reading, and personal narratives. My hope is that people can sift through these resources and find something that speaks to them, and maybe even find new resources based on what they find here.

Physical/Mental Health

Freeing Ourselves: A Guide to Health and Self Love for Brown Bois

The Brown Boi Project

This book is an encompassing and relevant guide to all forms of mental/physical health and self love, written by and for individuals who identify as MOC POC’s. What makes this book unique is that it relies heavily on what would usually be considered “alternative” forms of care, such as herbalism, and talks in depth about taboo experiences, such as survivorship or navigating pregnancy as a masculine presenting and brown person. The book is really exceptional in all aspects and I would consider a must have. The book can only be obtained online via a $25 donation but it is well worth it. Below I will paraphrase some key sections.

Expression/Presentation

DapperQ: DapperQ is an amazing, all encompassing site for any MOC individual whose personal style is more on the dapper or androgynous side. The website is a collaboration between a few individuals, and so is very inclusive concerning different identities that intersect with being MOC. This website has featured articles on celebrities in the queer community, advice on what to wear/what’s in style in the queer world, guides on how to buy clothes that fit, how-to’s for tricky things like tying bowties and buying button ups, a list of queer owned or queer friendly stores, an advice column with questions from readers, and lifestyle guide that speaks to relationships, health, and empowerment. Any MOC person just starting out or a pro in the game should check out this site because it’s very helpful for figuring yourself out as well as for enhancing you’re your style.

FtM Products: Some MOC like to have extra gender expression gear, and if this is you, then FtM Essentials is a great website. Boasting over 10 years of experience, FtM Essentials sells a plethora of packers, packing underwear, binders, and STPs. What’s special about this site is that they make a real effort to be inclusive with their products. So a lot of their packers come in different shades in an attempt to make them more realistic for the user. They are also one of the only brands to offer uncircumcised packers as an option.

Chest Binding 101: This is a BuzzFeed article that can essentially be treated as a Binding 101. I find this article particularly helpful because it answers a lot of questions that beginners to binding inevitably have. It also closes with some links to some of the most highly rated binder vendors as well as some binder recycling programs.

AFROPUNK Fashion: AFROPUNK is a hub for all things black and queer. Most people know of the annual music festival, but AFROPUNK embodies many things, including culture, fashion, community, social justice, and music. The above link goes to their fashion blog. I think this link is really important because it introduces the reader to black and or queer fashion designers. Although not the most useful for everyday wear, I think that, just as the white, cis, heterosexual community has high end fashion, so does the black and gay community, with an emphasis on letting ones roots and background play into the designs. However, with some searching, there are also some articles highlighting black designers with websites for clothes for the public.

Community

bklyn boihood bklyn boihood is a collective of MOC POC individuals based in Brooklyn, NY. Their goal is to build community through communication, art, and love. Specifically, if you go to their website, they have posted a video of a presentation they do called “Un-doing Masculinity.” It’s a workshop they do where they discuss how to do masculinity without also doing all of the negative, violent, and oppressive things that are tied to masculinity. It’s very informative and engaging and a topic that most people in the queer community don’t consider. Further, they are due to come out with a written anthology on a similar topic, undoing masculinity and how your masculinity manifests itself in different spaces. If interested, I would suggest visiting this website every once in awhile to check for updates on its release.

Black Girl Dangerous: Black Girl Dangerous is a website run by Mia McKenzie, a queer POC that dedicates her time to discussing a number of different issues online. If you go to the site you’ll see tabs organizing the content by race, transgender, gender, feminism, etc. making navigation easy. Being a femme, this website promises more articles on femininity than masculinity, but still has interesting things on the topic. This website is particularly useful, though, as a way to stay connected with issues within the greater queer/trans community of color. And by issues I don’t necessarily mean instances of violence that are on greater media outlets, but what instances of systematic oppression are plaguing the community? What does solidarity actually look like? What can you do to support each other after the community has experienced violence? Why we shouldn’t trust Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders? It’s just a really great site for talking in a very real way about issues that are very real but not necessarily noticeable because people are so normalized to the violence, oppression, status quo, etc.

Readings/Things to Watch “I Am Just So Glad You Are Alive”: New Perspectives on Non-Traditional, Non-Conforming, and Transgressive Expressions of Gender, Sexuality, and Race Among African Americans

By: Layli Phillips & Marla R. Stewart This is a really interesting read that can be easily accessed by googling the part of the title in the quotations. This is an academic paper, but its language and concepts are relevant and accessible. I chose this article because it talks about the limitations that categories of gender, gender identity, sexual expression, etc have, especially on black and brown bodies, and aims to strategize new ways to engage with these identities and topics that doesn’t erase people’s experiences. I found this article particularly interesting because it used multiple famous black and brown individuals as case studies. I found this not only relatable, but enjoyed learning more about high profile POC who identified as queer, gender non-conforming, or in some other way refused to fit the binary or confines of the current system of labels that we use today. This article presents a lot of food for thought and is a good starting point for researching more on your own.