A Necessary Performance

Minneapolis’s Performative Masc Contest

Shraddha Potti

I found myself in a haze of knitted mohair grandpa sweaters and compostable cups of matcha, a sea of well-loved acoustic guitars and lipstick kiss marks on shoulders. Coconut and sandalwood scents drifted through the autumn air, grass and leaves caressed denim knees, and mischief danced through the eyes of the assorted gays gathered at Van Cleve Park for the season’s first Performative Masc Contest. A long line of seductive masc lesbians began to twine around the park, each vying for a chance to display their charm to a crowd of cat-eyed onlookers. 

I watched keenly as masc after masc prostrated their raw queerness to the audience with winking eyes and flashing teeth. They balanced cups of organic, ethically-sourced caffeine on top of sticker-covered skateboards and dog-eared copies of Audre Lorde. They shouted praises to femininity and called out apologies to their many, many exes and marketed themselves as the “masc-est” of them all. The crowd responded with eagerness, swooning at seductive gestures, encouraging those with less confidence, and positively hungering for those whose charm had hoodwinked them completely. 

As a relatively new member of this community, it was a joy to share a space with so many like-minded, masc-loving individuals, especially for this occasion. Seeing queer peers not only gathering together, but vehemently flaunting identities that are so often stifled, sparked a flame of pride in me. I stoked it with each unified round of applause, each collective inhale of laughter, each movement or emotion or memory that this group of young and beautiful gays experienced together. 

In a political climate of uncertainty, fearmongering, and threat to identity, I am filled with gratitude for an opportunity to share space with a community I love dearly, a community that must blaze even more brightly under such stress. Relishing the freedom to laugh together and openly love one another is a precious pocket of calm within a much larger storm, and highlights the importance of queer attendance and representation at such events. It is a privilege to be present around these “girl-lovers,” and a duty of ours to encourage and promote this love by performing proudly as who we are.