IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®
This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.
(bik-TAR-vee)
MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY
BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including:
BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including:
Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. Your healthcare
Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY”
provider will test you for HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months, and may give you HBV medicine.
section.
Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get
stronger and begin to fight infections that may have been hidden in your body. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY.
Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare
ABOUT BIKTARVY BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults and children who weigh at least 55 pounds. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains: dofetilide rifampin any other medicines to treat HIV-1
BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis
infection. Have any other health problems.
provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY.
Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a
serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.
Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your
healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, lightcolored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.
The most common side effects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were
diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%).
These are not all the possible side effects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY.
Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY.
Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.
Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not
breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.
HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY
Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:
Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.
Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter
GET MORE INFORMATION
medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. BIKTARVY and other medicines may affect each other. Ask your
healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.
This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY.
Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.
Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for
program information.
BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and GSI are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: February 2021 © 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-BVYC-0085 02/22
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HUGO LIVING WITH HIV SINCE 1995 REAL BIKTARVY PATIENT
KEEP EXPLORING. Because HIV doesn’t change who you are.
BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.
Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you. ONE SMALL PILL, ONCE A DAY Pill shown not actual size (15 mm x 8 mm) | Featured patient compensated by Gilead.
Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com.
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3/2/22 11:17 AM
voice
georgia VOLUME 13• ISSUE 1 About the cover:
WOMANHOOD AS PERSONHOOD:
Cover photo by Shutterstock.com
TheGeorgiaVoice.com
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All material in Georgia Voice is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced without the written consent of Georgia Voice. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers and cartoonists published herein is neither inferred nor implied. The appearance of names or pictorial representation does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that person or persons. We also do not accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers. Unsolicited editorial material is accepted by Georgia Voice, but we do not take responsibility for its return. The editors reserve the right to accept, reject, or edit any submission. Guidelines for freelance contributors are available upon request. A single copy of Georgia Voice is available from authorized distribution points. Multiple copies are available from Georgia Voice office only. Call for rates. If you are unable to reach a convenient free distribution point, you may receive a 24-issue mailed subscription for $99 per year. Checks or credit card orders can be sent to Tim Boyd, tboyd@thegavoice.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Georgia Voice, PO Box 77401, Atlanta, GA 30357. Georgia Voice is published twice a month by Georgia Voice, LLC. Individual subscriptions are $99 per year for 24 issues. Postage paid at Atlanta, GA, and additional mailing offices. The editorial positions of Georgia Voice are expressed in editorials and in editor’s notes. Other opinions are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Georgia Voice and its staff. To submit a letter or commentary: Letters should be fewer than 400 words and commentary, for web or print, should be fewer than 750 words. Submissions may be edited for content and length, and must include a name, address, and phone number for verification. Email submissions to editor@thegavoice.com or mail to the address above.
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4 EDITORIAL MARCH 18, 2022
EDITORIAL
As much Western history has been tainted by the cultural subordination of women, Women’s History Month offers us the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments and power of women throughout time. It also serves as an opportunity to remind us of the ways women, although freer than once before, still find ourselves to be the victims of patriarchal oppression. Womanhood has been consistently defined in relation to men. For a long while, we were literal objects, the property of our fathers and then of our husbands. Now, this objectification persists. If you are seen as a sexually viable woman, your body is commodified by men. If you aren’t — because you don’t fit the strict beauty standard or you’re visibly queer — you are erased and ignored by men or your sexuality is fetishized and objectified. Even those of us who are lesbians, who are completely uninterested in men, are still subjected to their whims as men still disproportionately hold power positions over us. Regardless of where we align in comparison to the patriarchal feminine ideal, all of us are subjected to dehumanization (it is important to note here that while men are the oppressors within the gender binary the patriarchy creates and perpetuates, it is patriarchy as a system that is the true perpetrator of gender violence, a system which we all participate in and uphold in various ways, depending on the power we have). Feminism is the rejection of this objectification, the belief that women are more than sexual objects, more than wombs, more than bodies, more than caretakers. We are human. However, because we are human, we are not monoliths for good, either. We’re not all girl bosses whose success and power are inherently feminist. We’re not innately kind or caring
PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / YOURCONTENTSTOCK
or tender. We have feelings and opinions that are not always good or right. We are capable of love and gentleness, but we’re also capable of cruelty and anger. We are fallible. We make mistakes constantly and those mistakes should be simultaneously criticized when necessary and understood as part of the human experience. A tweet from user @scumbelievable in response to the often-championed claim that a matriarchy — a world whose power dynamics valued women over men — would be a kinder, gentler, and less violent society sums this up well: “[This idea] is, in its own way, deeply misogynistic. Women are complete people. This entails a capacity for cruelty and an inability to cope with holding power over others without enacting violence and oppression.” I understand the need, in response to a world that belittles us, to advocate for the greatness of women. It’s true that many women are great, and that greatness is ignored or denied by society. It’s also true that how women have been socialized does impact how we internalize the constructed gender of “woman” so that more of us have learned to be caring while more men have learned to be cruel. But this construction has nuance. We all differ in personality and experience, which means we react to patriarchal constructions in different
ways. Some women think kindness and vulnerability are weaknesses. Some women react to power imbalances with manipulation. Some women exclude and attack transgender women. Some women oppress other women, especially along lines of race and class. There isn’t one definition of “woman” that binds us together. We are not bound by biology, by menstruation or reproduction, as some transphobes would like you to believe. We are not bound by an innate connection to Mother Earth or Mary. We are not bound by some inherent badassedness. What we are bound by is oppression. Regardless of who we are, there will always be someone who disrespects us, belittles us, ignores us or puts us in physical danger. That is the nature of being a woman or, even broader, a misogyny-impacted person. It is through that shared experience that we can relate to, uplift, and advocate for one another. As Audre Lorde said, “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” I love women not because we are kind or powerful or badasses, but because we are human. That alone warrants love, and it is the denial of this humanity that we must continue to fight against.
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
LOVE WHAT IS LEFT UNSPOKEN,
MARCH 25–AUGUST 14 | HIGH MUSEUM OF ART | HIGH.ORG
What Is Left Unspoken, Love will present contemporary artworks that address the different ways the most important thing in life—love—is expressed. As poet and painter Etel Adnan wrote, love is “not to be described, it is to be lived.” The exhibition will feature nearly seventy works, including paintings, sculpture, photography, video, and media art, by more than thirty-five international artists.
What Is Left Unspoken, Love is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. F U N D I N G P R OV I D E D BY T H E
Taylor Family Fund
PREMIER EXHIBITION SERIES SPONSOR
PREMIER EXHIBITION SERIES SUPPORTERS
BENEFACTOR EXHIBITION SERIES SUPPORTERS
ACT Foundation, Inc. Sarah and Jim Kennedy Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot Dr. Joan H. Weens Estate
Robin and Hilton Howell
Rina Banerjee (Indian, born 1963), Take me, take me, take me … to the Palace of love (detail), 2005, plastic, antique Anglo-Indian Bombay dark wood chair, steel and copper framework, floral picks, foam balls, cowrie shells, quilting pins, red-colored moss, antique stone globe, glass, synthetic fabric, shells, and fake birds, courtesy of the artist. © Rina Banerjee.
NEWS BRIEFS Staff reports
ABC News/Ipsos Poll: 6 in 10 Americans Oppose ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Laws A new ABC News/Ipsos poll published March 13 found that more than six in ten Americans oppose legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school. According to ABC News, 62 percent of Americans oppose such legislation, while 37 percent support it. The results found that Republicans are more likely to support legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, with 61 percent of GOP identifiers supporting it compared to only 20 percent of Democrats and 35 percent of independents. The polling was conducted within days of the Florida Legislature giving final approval to HB 1557, legislation that is titled “Parental Rights in Education“ but widely labeled as the Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would bar Florida schools from “instruction” about sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3 and otherwise not at “ageappropriate” levels. The ABC News/Ipsos poll found; “Support for this type of legislation increases with age, but doesn’t reach majority support in any age group. Among those 65 and older, 43 percent support the ban, while it falls to about a third among those under the age of 50.” ABC News also took note that respondents who identify as LGBTQ overwhelmingly oppose this type of legislation, at 87 percent. The poll oversampled people who identify as LGBTQ, with their responses then weighted to match their correct proportion in the general population. Among those who do not identify as LGBTQ, a majority (59 percent) also oppose the legislation.
Disney Pauses Florida Political Donations, CEO Apologizes Over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Response Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek issued a memo to the company’s LGBTQ+ and ally employees apologizing over his handling of the
6 NEWS MARCH 18, 2022
ABC News/Ipsos Poll: 6 in 10 Americans Oppose ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Laws. controversy over the media conglomerate’s response to Florida HB 1557, colloquially known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. The bill which cleared its final hurdle in the state legislature is currently awaiting Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature to become law. DeSantis has publicly indicated he will sign it. “Thank you to all who have reached out to me sharing your pain, frustration and sadness over the company’s response to the Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill,” Chapek wrote in his memo. “Speaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you have helped me better understand how painful our silence was. It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights. You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.” “I missed the mark in this case but am an ally you can count on — and I will be an outspoken champion for the protections, visibility and
PHOTO VIA PEXELS.COM
opportunity you deserve,” he added. Disney’s Chief Executive Officer also informed the company’s employees, “Starting immediately, we are increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states. We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values. And today, we are pausing all political donations in the state of Florida pending this review. But I know there is so much more work to be done. I am committed to this work and to you all and will continue to engage with the LGBTQ+ community so that I can become a better ally. You will hear more about our progress in the coming weeks.“ Chapek ended his memo saying, “I truly believe we are an infinitely better and stronger company because of our LGBTQ+ community. I missed the mark in this case but am an ally you can count on — and I will be an outspoken champion for the protections, visibility, and opportunity you deserve.”
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
LOCAL NEWS
Georgia Senate Introduces Bill Akin to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Legislation Sen. Kim Jackson says it would erase LGBTQ people from early education
“This bill is dangerous because it potentially seeks to erase LGBTQ and nonconforming children. By saying you can’t talk about it, it renders people invisible. What’s particularly harmful is that it [affects] children that are already vulnerable.”
Katie Burkholder A bill has been introduced in the Georgia senate that resembles Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. Senate Bill 613, introduced Tuesday (March 8) by Sen. Carden Summers, would prohibit private and nonpublic schools from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with any child in primary school. The bill applies to private schools that receive funding through the Georgia GOAL Scholarship program. The bill was introduced after the Florida Senate passed HB 1557, which would prohibit classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in the state’s public primary schools. The bill was passed by the state House in February and now heads to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. DeSantis has previously expressed support for the bill, and it is expected for him to sign it into law. SB 613 differs by singling out private schools that have “inappropriately discussed gender identity with children who have not yet reached the age of discretion.” Sen. Kim Jackson, who made history as the first LGBTQ state senator in Georgia and remains the only LGBTQ lawmaker on the Senate, told Georgia Voice that, if passed, the bill would be harmful to LGBTQ youth. “This bill is dangerous because it potentially seeks to erase LGBTQ and non-conforming
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
— Sen. Kim Jackson The bill has ten co-sponsors, including two state senators vying for a higher office: Bruce Thompson, who is running for labor commissioner, and Burt Jones, who would be president of the state Senate if elected lieutenant governor.
Sen. Kim Jackson
OFFICIAL PHOTO
children,” she said. “By saying you can’t talk about it, it renders people invisible. What’s particularly harmful is that it [affects] children that are already vulnerable.” Jeff Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality, told Axios that because about onethird of same-sex couples in Georgia are raising children and most Georgians have an LGBTQ family member, it would have a negative effect on kids that want to talk about their families in school. “It’s a concerted effort to roll back the clock and try to eliminate LGBTQ folks from public life,” he said.
Discussions of LGBTQ issues aren’t the only thing the bill would prohibit. Jackson said it would also prohibit “talking about any type of divisive concept.” The bill’s language includes discussions of race and slavery, prohibiting applicable schools from teaching “that the advent of slavery in the territory that is now the United States constituted the true founding of the United States” among other racialized topics. The language also claims that private schools that base coursework in critical theory, or the belief that racism and other oppressive ideals are systemic, effectively “segregate[s] students, staff, and parents by ethnicity, color, race, and national origin.”
Jackson says that the nationwide influx of antiLGBTQ bills like SB 613 and SB 435, a bill recently passed by the State Senate banning transgender students from participating on sports teams aligning with their gender identity, is an “easy” way for Republicans to garner support from their base. “This is all about a political agenda that’s being pressed by the right to score points with their base,” she said, “and children, quite frankly, are easy targets.” Because the bill was introduced only days before crossover day on March 15, the deadline for a bill to pass out of the chamber in which it was introduced and move forward, it is unlikely for it to move forward. However, according to the AJC, despite senior Republicans indicating it wouldn’t happen, SB 613’s provisions could be spliced onto other proposals with more traction.
MARCH 18, 2022 NEWS 7
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
ON LOVING
Women Katie Burkholder
We love women and the women who love them! I gathered three proud women-loving women (WLW) and dear friends of the Georgia Voice to ask them questions about their identity, the realities of womanhood, and how embracing their sexuality allows them to embrace themselves.
Emily Burns
Quotes have been edited for clarity. Read the full interviews at thegavoice.com.
EMILY BURNS
22 Writer 1+ year of identifying as bisexual In what ways does homophobia make being a WLW different than being a straight woman? Homophobia is quite literally everywhere. I have experienced it from former friends, strangers, even my family. Being a woman is difficult in its own right, as our rights to our bodies are constantly up for debate. Being queer adds to that [difficulty] tenfold. All over this country we see elected officials attempting and sometimes passing laws that are essentially taking away our right to exist. For example, the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that just passed in Florida, which is now being attempted to be replicated in Georgia legislature. It is disheartening to see this country moving backwards so rapidly and feeling forced back into the closet for safety reasons after just coming out. How does misogyny make it different to be a lesbian/bisexual woman than a gay/ bisexual man? I wouldn’t say that is it more difficult, as being a bi/gay man has many of its own challenges, specifically with toxic masculine culture, but
8 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH MARCH 18, 2022
Lakisha Clay there is a big difference in the way cis straight culture views WLW vs MLM. I have personal experience having multiple men and women refusing to see my relationship as legitimate. It all boils down to a lack of legitimacy for WLW relationships. Again, I’ll say bi/gay men definitely face their own struggles with misogyny, but no one is telling them that the reason they are the way they are is because they never had a woman treat them right. Has accepting and embracing your sexuality impacted your non-romantic/sexual relationships with other women? In what way(s)? It has definitely changed the dynamic with some women in my life, and with others everything stayed completely normal. The first question from those who felt discomfort from it was always “Did you like me at one point?” Which honestly, I think is a hilarious misconception. The idea that being attracted to the same sex means that you are attracted to every person of that sex is so ludicrous to me I can’t help but laugh. Of course,
COURTESY PHOTOS
“Homophobia is quite literally everywhere. I have experienced it from former friends, strangers, even my family. Being a woman is difficult in its own right, as our rights to our bodies are constantly up for debate. Being queer adds to that [difficulty] tenfold. All over this country we see elected officials attempting and sometimes passing laws that are essentially taking away our right to exist.”
— Emily Burns
this misconception is what causes a lot of homophobia and it isn’t actually funny at all, but the idea that someone can be such a narcissist to think that they have somehow influenced your sexuality just by being present for you to look at is laughable. What does womanhood mean to you? What is means to me recognizes that is means something entirely different to someone else. Being a woman, though we all may have universal experiences, is something entirely unique to the individual. What womanhood means to me is doing whatever the hell makes you feel the happiest and most comfortable in your gender identity. There is no cookie cutter definition of what it means to be a woman. There is no checklist of requirements. As long as YOU are making the decision that is best for YOU, that makes YOU feel safe and confident and womanly in your own right, then do it. No one else
gets to decide that for you.
LAKISHA CLAY
38 Healthcare professional and interior design business owner 25+ years of identifying as lesbian In what ways does homophobia make being a lesbian woman different than being a straight woman? The ways in which homophobia makes being a lesbian woman different than being a straight woman [has to do with] all of the myths regarding being a lesbian. Such as, we had a bad experience with men, we were sexually molested when we were younger and, for the dominant appearing lesbians, we want to be men.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 9 THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 How does misogyny make it different to be a lesbian/bisexual woman than a gay/ bisexual man? I believe there is really no difference, misogyny is similar in a lot of ways in both the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities. Has accepting and embracing your sexuality impacted your non-romantic/sexual relationships with other women? In what way(s)? Embracing my sexuality has impacted my non-romantic and sexual relationships in a positive way. When you are able to embrace and accept your authentic self, there is such a contagious grace about yourself that radiates through not only you but others as well. What does womanhood mean to you? Womanhood to me is embracing every part of you especially the unique components that make you such a phenomenal woman! Tapping into your womanly energy!
KATHRYN KRUEGER
37 Photographer 6+ years identifying as lesbian In what ways does homophobia make being a lesbian woman different than being a straight woman? I came from a very religious background and moved from Waco, Texas, to Atlanta. I had lived in Waco for 18 years and built a big business over there. A lot of my clients were members of an Evangelical church. When, at 31, I realized that dating women was a better fit for me, it put me in the position where my business felt threatened if I were to live my authentic life as a woman that wanted to date women. I ended up moving to Atlanta because I felt I could not run my business successfully in Waco without a lot of resistance or loss of clientele. Straight women don’t have to deal with that. A straight woman doesn’t have to move cities because she feels like she can’t be herself and have people hire her. How does misogyny make it different to be a lesbian/bisexual woman than a gay/ bisexual man? When men don’t understand something,
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
Kathryn Krueger
COURTESY PHOTO
the energy that is met with that is hostility or anger and frustration. It’s not every man, of course, but I don’t understand why there isn’t more of an affinity for curiosity and asking questions about things they don’t understand. When you’re a gay woman, a lot of men don’t understand. So, already, there’s sort of a hostility and separateness. Maybe that’s more of my experience because I’m a femme lesbian. My girlfriend, who has more masculine energy, gets along great with guys. I find that men in general are more willing to be curious with other men. Has accepting and embracing your sexuality impacted your non-romantic/sexual relationships with other women? In what way(s)? With my close friends, [coming out] just brought us closer. When I said, ‘Hey, here’s my authentic truth,’ they were all deeply supportive and so on board. One of them identifies as bisexual, so it was a new area of connection for us. Me being my authentic self strengthened relationships with people I was close with. I never had any lesbian friends until I moved here, so identifying as gay and getting to meet other women who I’m not dating but have the same identity that I can be friends with has really helped me as an individual. What does womanhood mean to you? It just means being powerful. I love being a woman, I’ve always loved being a woman. I come from a matriarchal family, so that’s always been a gift. The greatest gift has been learning how to tap into that power and autonomy of self and recognizing how much we carry within us as women.
MARCH 18, 2022 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 9
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Concerns Over Abortion Access in Georgia: ‘This is the Most Critical Moment’ “If they’re coming for our abortion rights, they’re going to also come for our birth control access. This is really just a snowball effect of completely rolling back access to the full spectrum of reproductive rights.”
Sukainah Abid-Kons Even before serious concerns arose around the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, access to abortion in Georgia was extremely limited. Now, following the recent shift in the Supreme Court to a 6–3 conservative majority, pro-choice activists worry that should Roe v. Wade be overturned, residents of Georgia may lose access to abortion and other reproductive services altogether. “We’re obviously not new to attacks on reproductive rights and access,” said Lauren Frazier, Communications and Marketing Director for Planned Parenthood Southeast, “but this is the first time that we have had a Supreme Court that is packed full of Trumpappointed conservative judges.” According to data from NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Guttmacher Institute, access to abortion in Georgia has been increasingly restricted since the early 2010s. According to Guttmacher’s most recent data, from 2018, there were 26 total facilities in Georgia that provided abortions, 15 of which were clinics, illustrating a 12 percent decline from 2014. Georgia also already has an extensive list of restrictive legislation regarding abortion, including notifying the parents or guardians of patients who are minors, a state-mandated counseling session followed by a 24-hour waiting period, and a ban on the procedure being performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Additionally, a sixweek ban passed in the Georgia Senate in 2019 could take effect should Roe v. Wade be overturned. The restrictions will start with abortion, but that may not be where they end, according to Frazier. “If they’re coming for our abortion rights, they’re going to also come for our birth control access,” Frazier told Georgia
10 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH MARCH 18, 2022
— Lauren Frazier, Communications and Marketing Director for Planned Parenthood Southeast She also added that these bans don’t just impact straight cis women, but also individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, who already face additional health care disparities.
Protestors at the Bans Off Our Bodies march on October 2, 2001. PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK Voice. “This is really just a snowball effect of completely rolling back access to the full spectrum of reproductive rights.” Restrictions on abortion and reproductive rights impact all people who may benefit from them, but have a disproportionate effect on those who are already members of marginalized or vulnerable populations. A study on individuals seeking abortions in Georgia found that more than 50 percent of patients were Black, more than 75 percent were single, and less than 50 percent had received post-high school education. In short, the people who will be most affected by an abortion ban will be those who already face racial and economic barriers. Additionally, Black women in Georgia
So, how can individuals best support a future in which abortion is a national right? Frazier has a few tips.
account for the highest rate of maternal mortality incidents.
“Get involved with Planned Parenthood, get involved with local abortion funds,” she said.
Frazier reiterated these disproportionate impacts, noting that communities of color, poor, and rural communities face greater barriers to receiving reproductive care services, which are only exacerbated by legislative bans. She stressed the impact that Georgia’s recently proposed bill, SB 456 — which would heavily restrict access to abortion medication by mail — would have on marginalized people.
Frazier also stressed that voting and reproductive rights are closely connected.
“That disproportionately impacts folks in rural areas, poor people, [and] young people, who might not have access to transportation as easily as other folks,” Frazier said.
“If we aren’t electing reproductive health champions who are going to protect our rights to access, then we’ll find ourselves in a situation like we’re in right now,” she said. “People need to remember that these politicians work for us, and just like they were put in those seats, we can remove them from those seats if they’re not representing our interests.” For more information on how to support Planned Parenthood’s ongoing efforts, visit their website, plannedparenthoodaction.org.
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
QUEER WOMEN IN
Fashion: HISTORY AND WHAT’S TO COME Divine Ikpe Fashion is historically queer. All the way back to the 1700s, when homosexuality was illegal in Europe, how you dressed was basically the only way to signal to someone that you were queer. Fast forward to the 1920s, and this was still the case, although in a few places, such as Berlin, New York and San Francisco, there were more defined queer subcultures that offered safe spaces for everyone to be themselves and therefore even more distinct queer fashions. Around this time is when Dior, Balmain, and Balenciaga started their brands, using fashion as an outlet to express their queerness. Hence the start of queer fashion emerging into mainstream and pop culture. In the ’90s, Jean Paul Gaultier made less gendered queer fashion even more prevalent in popular media by making skirts for men and his iconic cone bra corset dress. Despite all this, fashion, like most other industries, has also been dominated by white cisgender men. When thinking about the most well-known and influential designers, people may think about Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, Karl Lagerfeld or Yves Saint Laurent — all men. There are barely any visibly or openly queer women, let alone queer women of color, who are praised in the fashion industry. When women are discussed, they are usually cis white heterosexual women, such as Coco Chanel, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and Elsa Schiaparelli (an exception is Vera Wang). Nowadays, more women are becoming designers and stylists, but queer women are still not acknowledged much in the industry. Although a majority of the major fashion houses were either created by or are currently
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Uppleva by @created.bykaylee COURTESY PHOTOS yet cisgender people are still the first choice. Trans women and nonbinary people are just starting to be more accepted in the modeling world. Although, due to the lack of overall representation, there is of course still the risk of tokenization and fetishization as well.
Eketchi Universe by @rightbe444youreyes run by queer men, there has always been a strict gender binary when it comes to collections and general designs. Designers are slowly starting to become less concerned with the menswear/womenswear distinction, but not at the rate one would expect. Most of the brands that do claim gender nonconformity just make androgynous, neutral toned, relatively shapeless clothing, which does not fully encompass the type of clothing that gender nonconforming people actually like to wear. This strict gendered distinction is not only evident in the technical side of fashion, but on the aesthetic side as well. Modeling is less toxic than it was in the ’90s and early 2000s, but not significantly so. It depends on who you interact with: your agency, the designers you model for, even the photographers you work with. Tall, thin, and light-skinned are still the preferred look. More diversity among models has been slowly advancing,
Social media is simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to fashion. The speed of social media has impacted trend cycles; trends used to cycle every 20 years or so, but due to platforms like TikTok and Instagram, microtrends now exist. Instead of overall silhouettes being trendy and staying trendy, we’re seeing individual pieces (like that one green dress from House of Sunny) worn by influencers rise in trendiness only to become “outdated” within months, if not weeks. TikTok has accelerated the trend cycle so much that we’re already nostalgically reminiscing on trends like “twee” and “indie sleaze” that were only in style less than a decade ago. However, social media is also the best thing in fashion, because of the possibility for virality. All you really need is one video to pop off for people to see and appreciate your designs. And it is a great resource to share queer fashion, from queer-dominated aesthetics like cottagecore to modern spins on vintage fashion to transforming mundane, nontraditional items like computer parts into accessories.
What is the future for queer women in fashion? With more media comes more inspiration. Film, nature (or the lack thereof), technology, trauma, historical fashion, and deconstruction are all topics that I believe will continue to be explored in fashion. Afrofuturism is a popular aesthetic on the rise among queer Black creators. Coined by Mark Dery in 1993, the cultural aesthetic and philosophy explores the relationship between the African diaspora and technology. It takes inspiration from the science fiction and fantasy genres to imagine a technically advanced and hopeful future for Black people, usually through art, cinema, literature, music and fashion. Sanaa Bell is an up-and-coming designer in Atlanta studying at SCAD whose brand, Eketchi Universe, focuses on this Afrofuturism aesthetic. Other notable young, independent designers and brands that have shown up on my radar and I think embody the future of women in fashion and queer fashion in general are Emily Erdelyan (@postmodernspicegirl), Devin Ray (@ totally_devin), Julia McGrady (@iidkkkkkkkkk on Etsy), Fashion Brand Company, Uppleva (@shopuppleva), Moldy Smith Clothing, Tora-Lily (@toralily_), and Fleur A (@ fleurasayag). Some stylists I follow are Sam (@ samanthasb30) and Chloe Felopulos (@chloe. felopulos). Fashion is an ever-evolving medium and hopefully with time, queer women will get as much recognition in the industry as queer men have had for decades.
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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Shea R. Embry: Expanding and Uplifting Cascade Heights Katie Burkholder Shea R. Embry is known as someone who lifts up communities. With more than three decades in the real estate industry and two decades in development, she’s taking her talents to her own neighborhood. Cascade Heights, just south of the Westside, is Atlanta’s hidden gem. The neighborhood is rich with natural beauty, with the second largest tree canopy in the city of Atlanta, second only to Piedmont Park; 600 acres of green space; and Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, which boasts miles of hiking trails and the only waterfall within Atlanta’s city limits. It’s also rich with history and diversity. Cascade Heights is a predominantly Black neighborhood — 95 percent of the 76,000 residents are Black — and has been since the ’60s. It’s also home to one of Atlanta’s oldest Black-owned businesses, Barlow’s Barber Shop, a family-run business that’s been operating for about 60 years. It’s also been the home for many of Atlanta’s mayors, John Lewis, Hank Aaron, and Dr. Barbara King. However, the neighborhood severely lacked commercial development — that is, until Embry. A resident herself, she wanted to grow Cascade Heights into a destination. “I got frustrated because the day I bought my house I realized that, to do anything, I had to get in my car,” Embry told Georgia Voice. “I knew instantly I was either going to sell my house or buy property and bring in tenants. I went down and bought property in the core of Cascade Heights commercial district.” Immediately, Embry worked with the state and national park service to establish the Cascade Heights Commercial Historic District. Current tenants of the commercial district include a juice bar, recording studio, beauty salon, coffee and wine house, and a fitness and wellness center. This year, the area will also be welcoming three new restaurants, each coowned and operated by Embry.
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Shea R. Embry
MORE INFO Cascade Heights
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“I got frustrated because the day I bought my house I realized that, to do anything, I had to get in my car. I knew instantly I was either going to sell my house or buy property and bring in tenants. I went down and bought property in the core of Cascade Heights commercial district.”
— Shea R. Embry
To honor the area’s racial demographics, all of the business owners and operators in Embry’s buildings are Black and the new restaurants’ owners are too. “I was looking for successful, experienced Black women who would like to own and run their own restaurant,” she said. “I knew in my heart that the right people to run it, that wanted to be partners, would show up and it would be a perfect situation. I trusted it.” She found a partner in Deborah Van Trece, an LGBTQ Atlanta favorite and the internationally recognized head chef and owner of Twisted Soul. Van Trece will co-
own and design the menus for two of the new restaurants: Oreatha’s at The Point, which will boast a globally inspired menu of dishes your mom would cook, and Serenidad, which will offer up delicious Latin soul food. Embry expects Oreatha’s to open this month and Serenidad to open in May. Van Trece’s daughter, Kursten Berry, will also partner with Embry on Dulcet, a speakeasy which is expected to open in August. Berry is the beverage director at Twisted Soul. With these new developments, Embry is aware of the dangers of gentrification, or the process of injecting wealth into a poor area and effectively displacing current residents.
Oreatha’s at The Point 2287 Cascade Road SW Unit C Atlanta, GA 30311 Serenidad 2317 Cascade Road SW Atlanta, GA 30311 Dulcet 2310 Benjamin E Mays Dr SW Atlanta, GA 30311 However, she’s making a concerted effort to support the existing community. She believes that, because of the level of income and wealth already present, Cascade Heights will maintain its identity. “One of my purposes with the commercial district is to ring in businesses that support the existing community,” she said. “We can’t ignore the fact that gentrification happens. As many communities as I have lived in and done work in and helped, I truly believe that this is the first where I think it will maintain a balance. Part of the reason why is because of the level of wealth the Black community holds here. They’ve been here since the ‘60s ... I want to uplift this community in the way it deserves.”
MARCH 18, 2022 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 13
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Gia Salustro:
SUCCESS AND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION Katie Burkholder Women’s History Month serves as a time for us to celebrate the accomplished women of history, but it’s also a time to honor the women who are doing it all today. One such woman is Gia Salustro. The self-proclaimed “one-woman operation” is the definition of a multihyphenate phenom. She’s a licensed cosmetologist who teaches wig customization classes. She’s a YouTuber with over 150,000 views. She’s an actress who has been in locally filmed projects like “Star” and “MacGyver.” She’s an influencer and entrepreneur. She has experience working with community organizations like the Trans Women of Color Collection and LaGender, and she’s been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, even speaking on the matter in a 2020 feature with Cosmopolitan. Today, she’s working as a project coordinator for a local music competition and running her own business, LOAEssentials.
“I believe in woman empowerment. I’m always encouraging other women to do what they want to do, regardless of who they are. I know how hard it is, there’s so much competition already.” — Gia Salustro Salustro is truly a woman who does it all, and she attributes her success to a radical belief in herself. After coming across the famed 2006 documentary, “The Secret,” which features interviews on how to visualize and attain one’s goals, she began manifesting the life she wanted.
Gia Salustro
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“I was in a bad place mentally in 2017,” she said. “I was on YouTube, and I came across ‘The Secret.’ It literally transformed my life. They say to speak things into existence. It felt a little fake; I was looking in the mirror and saying things I didn’t really believe in. But as the days went by, I really started feeling different. My life completely changed. I got all the things I asked for.” She believes in the law of attraction, the idea that a positive mindset brings about positive results in one’s life; in other words, that like attracts like. Applying the law of attraction to change her mindset impacted her so strongly that she wanted to spread the word — which is how LOAEssentials came to be. Launched last year, LOAEssentials is Salustro’s online store, which has everything from manifestation journals and an affirming apparel line, which includes T-shirts and hoodies bearing affirmations like “Manifest Believe Achieve,” to affirming home décor and fashion items like coats, dresses, tops, and accessories from suppliers like BCBG Max Azria and Moschino. Salustro believes in the power of manifestation and wanted to bring it to others through everyday essential items.
Gia Salustro’s shop LOAEssentials at loaessentials.com.
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“I fully believe that manifestation is real,”
she said. “I wanted to create my brand and business around this [belief ]. I know that when you write things down [in a manifestation journal] and see things constantly, it’s much easier to obtain it.” Salustro isn’t only interested in using positivity to build up herself and her business. She believes herself to be a messenger who can build up other people, especially women, as well. “I believe in woman empowerment,” she said. “I’m always encouraging other women to do what they want to do, regardless of who they are. I know how hard it is, there’s so much competition already.” Her one tip for other women looking to find success? Faith. “I believe that if you truly want it, you have to be unapologetic about what you want and go for it,” she said. “And that’s truly what I do. I have a lot of faith in myself, and I try to make sure other women understand how important it is to have faith in yourself. Faith will take you exactly where you need to go.” Follow Gia Salustro on Instagram @ giasupreme and shop LOAEssentials at loaessentials.com.
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This Women’s History Month, Read These Queer Feminist Works Brammhi Balarajan
REDEFINING REALNESS
Queer literature is under attack. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill recently passed in the Florida House and Senate, meaning LGBTQfocused curriculum will be banned in some classrooms, and a similar bill has been introduced in the Georgia State Senate.
Through compelling personal anecdotes, Mock weaves together a story that deconstructs the notion of “realness,” emphasizing that there is no singular way to be a man or a woman. For those looking to deepen their understanding of gender and the gender binary, this memoir provides immensely valuable insight.
These bills and others like them purport to ban a formative part of education that in many classrooms did not even exist. Growing up, I rarely saw a queer book in the classroom until college. In fact, many of the first queer texts I read were in college, and then mostly because I made an effort to seek them out. I sought an education that focused on queer literature, queer history and queer issues. Therefore, for Women’s History Month, I’ve compiled a list of texts that have stuck with me. Varied in format and narration, these stories are tied together by intersectionality and queerness. From theory to graphic novels to coming-ofage memoirs, here’s an extensive list of mustread queer feminist literature.
ALL ABOUT LOVE bell hooks
“All About Love” embodies the path to love and fulfillment that the late hooks advocated for throughout her life. In pursuing a healthy relationship with love, this text has it all, from self-love to love for family and friends. It provides a theoretical framework to love in all its complexity. A line that has always stuck with me is that abuse and love cannot coexist. One cannot be abusive and loving, and abusive forms of love are not love. It is incredibly complex in its
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Janet Mock
Audre Lorde
HISTORICAL PHOTO
simplicity, and it’s these messages that point us toward a greater, self-fulfilling, healthier understanding of love and relationships.
ZAMI: A NEW SPELLING OF MY NAME Audre Lorde
Lorde writes that “Zami” is a name for women who “work together as friends and lovers.” Throughout the text, she is embroiled in life-changing experiences and relationships, from childhood friends with unstable home lives to lovers in Mexico. She faces horrors, including watching loved ones suffer from poverty and mental illness, and experiencing traumas herself. This text brings together women who are vastly different in class, creed, gender, race, and more. Despite their differences, or perhaps because of them, they are able to cultivate loving and lasting relationships. Each story flows into the next, building the tale of Lorde’s life. Through many of these experiences, many
of Lorde’s friends and peers use a single-axis approach to feminism, where queer people and Black people’s experiences are treated as the same, and intersectionality is ignored. Her raw, poignant telling of her relationships sends a valuable message on the importance of intersectionality.
SPINNING
Tillie Walden Youthful and charismatic, this memoir will take every queer individual back to their first crush that had them questioning their sexuality. Walden faces the highs and lows of figure skating while coping with a sudden move and exploring her newfound feelings for women. The illustrations pop on every page. In a memoir so dedicated to the art of ice skating, it’s only fitting that the hues and tones of every page set the tone, whether it be hopelessness, passion, or happiness.
Her story is a touching glimpse into gender identity and how childhood experiences can shape our perceptions of it. It has its deeper, more intimate moments, as when she shares the harrowing journey of hormone replacement therapy. However, we also get a glimpse into the little childhood memories that are still painfully relevant decades later, some as simple as recalling the baking of a cake.
FUN HOME
Alison Bechdel Cartoonist Alison Bechdel narrates her complex relationship with her father, Bruce, as each grapples with their sexuality. In this intergenerational tale, Alison recalls her formative years growing up and how they influenced her own perception of sexuality — whether it’s her and her father simultaneously resisting the gender binary or Alison discovering her sexuality through literature. Her tumultuous relationship with her father largely stems from his inability to cope with his own sexuality and form healthy habits. Here, sexuality is explored in a myriad of different ways — Alison is openly lesbian and her father is a closeted gay man. However, the heart of the story lies in the different paths to coming to terms with one’s sexuality, and healing from years of family trauma regarding sexuality.
MARCH 18, 2022 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 15
THE GAYLY DOSE TIANA CLAY
FOR SHAME,
BODY SHAMERS! Tiana Clay, with edits and contributions by Katie Burkholder Women empowerment has come a long way, but there’s a frontier we still struggle to cross: an end to body shaming. Women have endured body shaming for years. It happens to everyone — even celebrities aren’t exempt. Women like Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Rosie O’Donnell, and even Kim Kardashian have been body shamed by others in a public manner due to their weight or body shape. This is one reason why so many women feel the need to get their bodies done, butts done, boobs done. In the quest to look like the beautiful women from social media or some magazine or just to feel like they are a part of society or a part of the beautiful woman clique, women are putting themselves in danger. The death rate for a Brazilian Butt Lift, a trendy procedure that removes fat from the stomach and injects it into the butt, has been estimated to be about 1 in 3,000, although that appears to be going down as new safety standards are implemented. Women are dying from getting these surgeries done and they are risking their lives, because they do not feel like they fit in with what society says you are supposed to look like. Body shaming has to stop — we can’t keep allowing people to make us feel unbeautiful because of how our natural bodies look. Luckily, the body positivity movement has fought against the hatred of body shaming. Now a popular online movement championing and embracing all bodies
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“The only person who must love your body is you. When reflecting on how you’ve been body shamed, take time to sit with how you actually feel about your body — not within the context of how others feel or what social media looks like or in comparison to celebrities, but by how you feel in your day-to-day life.” — Tiana Clay — not just the ones celebrated in ads or mainstream media — body positivity has roots reaching as far back as the ‘60s. The predecessor to the more expansive body positivity movement, the fat rights movement, unofficially began with the formation of the National Association to Aid Fat Americans in 1969; it’s now the world’s longest-running fat rights organization. In the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s, the movement gained even more traction, with activists speaking out against diet culture and “heroin chic” ultra-skinny beauty standards. As with many social justice movements, women of color and queer people often led the charge. Today, body positivity has become a social media buzzword and has expanded to include all bodies, not just fat ones. However, because of this, fat people have been decentered within the movement and, even though it’s more popular than ever, skinnier people who
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champion body positivity receive much less vitriol and backlash than fat people who do. If we want to champion body positivity in our own lives, that means taking accountability for our bodies. The only person who must love your body is you. When reflecting on how you’ve been body shamed, take time to sit with how you actually feel about your body — not within the context of how others feel or what social media looks like or in comparison to celebrities, but by how you feel in your day-to-day life. Existing in your body, are there things you would want to change? Not about your physical appearance, but to make you feel physically healthier and happier and better? Self-love and body positivity start with embracing all the things you love about your body, taking a more neutral approach to what you (or the world) dislikes, and working toward the best methods of taking care of your body. That may mean committing to moving your body more throughout the
day in a way that feels good or striking the right balance of healthy foods to feed your body without taking exercise or dieting to the extreme. Controlling your social media platforms may also help. While social media has offered space for the body positivity movement to flourish, it has also opened doors for more virtual body shaming. I have always been a little insecure about my body, but today I am proud of my stretch marks and little tummy. They show that I am human. Let’s focus on teaching others to be proud of who they are and make decisions based on what they want and not what the world wants. Appreciate your body and others’ bodies as sacred temples, God’s gifts that are deserving of all the love you can give. Inspire others to love themselves, and love yourself. You are competent, you are strong, you are amazing. How you feel about yourself is all that matters — just do what makes you happy and don’t mind the haters.
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REELING IN THE YEARS MARÍA HELENA DOLAN
CHA-U-KAO, LA CLOWNESS María Helena Dolan Henri Toulouse-Latrec found her fascinating, enigmatic and worthy of multiple renderings. Bourgeoise fin de siècle Paris found her “kind” shocking, objectionable and worthy of public disdain. We find her intriguing, mysterious and worthy of queer rediscovery. It goes without saying that queer historians wade hip-deep through the sweep of time and know that all too often the stories of our lives get erased, as if we never existed. And that fact means we must tease out threads from the places and times where we can find our people, even if the accounts of our lives yield only partial glimpses. To comprehend Cha-U-Kao’s significance, we need to understand what it meant to live in her pivotal time period, in a neighborhood that unintentionally but undeniably became the locus of pleasure and possibilities. Fin de siècle means “end of the century,” and here was the fundamental moment when the 19th century raced headlong into the 20th. And the times they were a changin’, at a frenetic pace. Technology now lights up cities, creates factories that displace some workers and employ masses of others, and it permits travel and communications not previously possible. New wealth amasses and changes global finance and geopolitics, which in turn reshapes societies and changes nations. Ideas
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Cha-U-Kao began her career defying convention, performing as a clown and an acrobatic contortionist. Men almost always performed these roles, and in fact it would be decades before women truly followed in her tracks. Indeed, the eyebrow-raising newness of her role causes ToulouseLautrec to affectionately call her “the clown with tits.” and information move everywhere, across oceans of newspapers, magazines, telegraphs, books, photographs, museums. Artists and thinkers take big chances, and women and colonized peoples demand change both risky and radical. And here is the Montmartre: a working-class neighborhood of Paris where a unique and heady brew of all of these forces mates with the wealthy and bored class, the sardonic and anarchic, and everyone looking for exceedingly adult excitement and entertainments (wags will later say the Decadents, the Aesthetes, the Pessimists and the Romantics all took rooms in the Montmartre). People here openly challenge bourgeoise sex roles and sexual morality, and things move even faster as the censorship laws loosen (in 1881), enough so that open lesbians and
Cha-U-Kao HISTORICAL IMAGE their establishments such as La Hanneton (The Beetle), La Souris (The Mouse) and Le Rat Mort (The Dead Rat) become visible. Tourist guides openly describe these places and their neighborhoods in publications such as Guide des Plaisirs à Paris (Pleasure Guide to Paris). There are even mentions of houses of prostitution for lesbians. We find Cha-U-Kao, the entertainer, amid this febrile mix. We know nothing of her background, not even her birth name, place or year. She’s said to be Chinese, while others say Japanese, based on her name. But this name actually derives from the phonetic transcription of 1) the eroticized version of the cancan dance called le chahut (the ruckus or riot) and 2) Chaos. (The word Chaos in French means the same as in English, but the pronunciation is more like “Kao”)
her torso arches skyward, such that her head meets the backs of her thighs while her hands grasp her ankles, forming a teardrop shape. Cha-U-Kao performs at the Nouveau Cirque, where electric lighting and a hydraulic system for aquatic stunts thrills audiences. And as a popular entertainer at the Moulin Rouge, she clowns, juggles, dances, and performs gymnastic feats (and perhaps does some sex work on the side, not unusual for working class women entertainers). In 1896, while Oscar Wilde faces his grimmest trials across the English Channel, Toulouse-Lautrec executes his famous “Elles” portfolio. In this series, he depicts the quiet, personal moments of women who live and work in a particular house of prostitution. Here we see Cha-U-Kao.
Cha-U-Kao began her career defying convention, performing as a clown and an acrobatic contortionist. Men almost always performed these roles, and in fact it would be decades before women truly followed in her tracks. Indeed, the eyebrow-raising newness of her role causes Toulouse-Lautrec to affectionately call her “the clown with tits.”
And Toulouse-Lautrec has left a legacy of lithographs that show Cha-U-Kao, clearly colorful in her yellow “clowness” costume, sometimes in butch postures with hands in unfeminine costume pockets. The final lithographs show her seated and aging, with sloped shoulders, greater girth, a downcast headdress.
The photograph Maurice Guibert takes of her, somewhere around 1892, shows a performer in a Cirque du Soleil-ish extreme contortionist pose. She begins face down, but then her hips remain on the ground while
We don’t know her death date or its circumstances, but we can remember ChaU-Kao as the unmistakably saucy, sultry, savvy performer who led her life openly, on the best terms possible.
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ACTING OUT JIM FARMER
Actor’s Express Stages Award-Winning ‘Intimate Apparel,’ Out Front Offers Gay-Themed ‘When Last We Flew’ the case at Actor’s Express, but other places. Working with COVID, there was already an extra layer of caution. It made me go back to basics of what I had learned in school.”
Jim Farmer It was supposed to hit the stage in January, but Actor’s Express’ “Intimate Apparel” is now set to open next week. Director Ibi Owolabi is proud to be able to present the show, even if it took a little longer than expected.
Also new to Atlanta is the gay-themed, “When Last We Flew,” which is making its regional premiere at Out Front Theatre Company. Its hero is Paul, a gay Black teenager growing up in small town Kansas. He has stolen the book, “Angels in America,” from his library and finds solace in it. Soon, he finds his own life paralleling the play.
Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, “Intimate Apparel” follows Esther Mills, a Black seamstress in New York circa 1905. Esther’s life goal is to open a beauty salon for Black women.
Director J.L. Reed had been wanting to work with Out Front for a while before this gig came up. When artistic director Paul Conroy reached out, Reed read the script and appreciated its framework, but also its experimental nature. It felt like the kind of theater he likes to see himself.
According to the director, Esther is coming up on the life-altering roadblock that she has never experienced love at the age of 35. In the play, Esther is very much loved, but not in the way she feels is valuable. “The play shines a light on how women can be successful in so many aspects and because they don’t check a certain box in society, they feel unfulfilled,” Owolabi told Georgia Voice. “It’s a love letter to career women, who say that their life has been devalued in a certain way.” Owolabi feels that Esther is limited in societal matters. Although she is relatively successful, the fact that she is not attached to a man is a big deal. In the play, she begins a romantic pen pal correspondence. “This is not the time period for a single woman in your 30s, unless you were widowed,” Owolabi said. “I think there was a big stigma at the time.” Owolabi credits Nottage as the reason she is in theater. “At Georgia Southern, a predominantly white institution, I knew I loved theater with
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Protagonist Paul is having to deal with not only his sexual feelings but also being Black in a small town.
Out Front Theatre Company’s production cast of “When Last We Flew” everything in me, but I didn’t really know what trajectory it was in,” she said. “We had a list of playwrights we were supposed to explore and I read ‘Intimate Apparel.’ As I was reading this, I thought, ‘A Black woman wrote this?’ I feel like it stuck with me for so much of my early career.”
PHOTO BY TYLER OGBURN PHOTOGRAPHY
Among the play’s awards are the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Best Actress for Viola Davis and the Outer Critics Circle Awards citation for Outstanding off-Broadway Play.
The play also has a lesbian angle.
Presenting a play during the COVID-19 pandemic has presented its own challenges, but Owolabi has tried to make the most of it — and come out stronger.
“It’s at the cross section of what power imbalance can be,” Owolabi said. “Esther is loved and desired, but it’s not in a way she can receive it. People who watch it will understand (the situation). I don’t think it’s stigmatizing in any way.”
“COVID felt like a gift and a curse,” she said. “I got a lot more in-person gigs because of the work I was doing on Zoom and because there was a giant racial reckoning where people were realizing they had not hired enough Black directors. That was not
“As a teenager, there is his sexual awakening, what these feelings mean and how to attempt to express them when you are not sure exactly how welcoming and understanding people will be,” Reed said. “There’s some teen angst. As a Black teen, in Kansas, [he’s dealing with] being marginalized and wondering how much more that will be if he is queer, who he is, and what challenges will come around because of that.” The show is written by Harrison David Rivers; Dayla McGee (as The Angel) and A.J. Thomson (as Paul) headline the cast.
MORE INFO “Intimate Apparel” runs March 24–April 17 at Actor’s Express “When Last We Flew” runs March 17–April 2 at Out Front Theatre Company
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SOMETIMES ‘Y’ RYAN LEE
Single, or Stumbling Toward a Soulmate? Ryan Lee Cycling beside cars in rush hour traffic often feels less perilous than riding a bike along the northeast BeltLine, primarily because everyone driving had to undergo a modicum of training and licensing, while most people haven’t received instruction on how to walk since around their first birthday. Some folks are unfamiliar with the etiquette on an active path, others are oblivious to the hazards created by a recklessly extended dog leash, and a few people walk like they were born breech and their feet have been getting in the way ever since, stumbling along the congested thoroughfare like panicked, indecisive squirrels. However notorious Atlanta drivers are, I never have to worry about a car suddenly pirouetting in front of me for a selfie. It’s surprising how unskilled people can be at something everyone assumes they have mastered, but I’ve noticed a similar overestimation of abilities in the dating scene. A lot of folks talk about being single as if it’s something they’re too good for, never considering how much they suck at it. Online profiles are littered with complaints about the games people play, but how often has the accuser ignored the flirtations of someone they weren’t attracted to, maintained ambiguous ties with someone they found marginally attractive, and allowed life’s demands or latent insecurities to sabotage a potential relationship with someone to whom they were genuinely attracted? Those are the dynamics of dating, and so much whining seems like a reaction to people we really want to fuck treating us the way we treat those we deem less fuckable. Of course, there is more to finding a partner
22 COLUMNIST MARCH 18, 2022
PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / ONEINCHPUNCH
than sex, which I know because single people love to proclaim how they have more to offer than (and are ready for something beyond) sex. This is an entirely noble desire, as long as people realize the person who becomes their activity buddy, emotional confidant and life partner tends to quickly become someone they don’t give much thought about fucking. Everyone knows relationships and marriage “take work,” but just as many people assume they can waltz through singledom without any effort, reflection or behavioral adjustments. While trying to convince others they are relationship material, many sound desperate for someone to rescue them from the boredom and frustrations they unconvincingly blame on others. Partnership has always been elevated above bachelorhood, treated as an accomplishment rather than an alternative way to navigate life. Queer hostility toward being single will intensify in post-Obergefell America, as every generation from this point forward is susceptible to believing life begins at the end of a wedding aisle rather than at conception. I worry about resentment and slander against casual sex becoming so fashionable that gay men no longer know how to fuck their way into lifelong friendships and are unable to savor the gradations of intimacy between a booty call and a state-sanctioned soulmate. Hoping every breathtaking hookup or stimulating coffee date turns into happily ever after is as immature and precarious as a baby learning to put one foot in front of the other.
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
THEGEORGIAVOICE.COM
MARCH 18, 2022 ADS 23