We talk to Scott one of Bournemouth’s loved drag artists, Rougie. Read on to hear how he got into the wonderful world of drag and what inspired him along the way.
As a little gay boy hiding in the closet for many years I was always slightly jealous of my sisters and of the strong woman in my family, watching them spend hours getting dressed for parties and events and I would just be there in a white shirt and trousers with a lump of V05 gel in my fringe. Watching them on the dance floor their outfits always seemed better than mine, I just loved the way the fabric moved as they danced and the way the light would hit the sequins of the dress. It was camp, it was fun. One of my sisters used to be a ballet dancer as a child, so every year at Christmas she would perform as part of the cast in the local pantomime. It was here where I first twigged and realized that there in front of me was a man in a dress on stage and people were laughing with him and not at him. It was then In the early two thousand I remember I regularly stayed round my Nanas house on the weekends and I would convince her to let me stay up past Emmerdale instead of going to bed. This is how I ended up seeing the likes of Lily Savage and Dame Edna on tv and that was my first introduction to Drag.
Growing up I was privileged enough to come from a very excepting and loving family. There are plenty of photos of me and my siblings growing up playing with each other’s toys and dressing up in each other’s clothes, even back then my parent never pushed the ideologies of masculinity and femininity on to us. My first pair of heels was my Nana court shoes when I was four years old; I also looked great with a giant sun hat on. Through out my late teenage years, I had the best friendship group a boy could hope for, we would describe our group of misfits as if Skins met Glee. Every weekend we would want to party but being under eighteen we had to improvise from beach huts and garages to friends houses when their parents were away. And our second favorite thing was fancy dress. I would love a shake and go wig and a stolen pair of my mum’s fishnet tights. A few years passed and I ended up going to university, here I met some of the most amazing people of my life, And the same thing happened
every Halloween I would dress up as a “woman” because for that night I loved being the center of attention, I enjoyed be comical aspect of it all. It wasn’t until my final year where I had hacked my housemates Netflix’s account that I stumbled across a series called Ru Paul’s Drag Race. And that was it I was hooked I instantly started watching every season and finished it in about two weeks! I then made/forced my housemates to watch it, we ended up watching it back to back every day after lectures. From this, I felt that I had to do my own research to understand some of the references that came with a gay culture I had only just dipped my toe in, from there I would watch documentaries and movies, read interviews. I was obsessed and had fallen in love with the idea of drag. When I’m out I have this tragic misconception that I am Beyonce and that I love to infectiously move around the dance floor and let all inhabitations go and just have fun. So at the core that’s where my own drag comes from, to spread joy and to have fun and not take it all too seriously, after all, I’m a grown man in a dress, let it be camp. My Drag journey has been a bit of a whirlwind as I only started doing drag One year ago. The first time I was a mess but I felt fantastic, I felt empowered, even though it took me 20minutes to get ready and I look liked I shoved my face in a unicorns ass. With my own drag, I never wanted to be a character I just wanted to be an extension of myself, that’s why when I’m in Drag I stick to ginger coloured. Wig’s and I am all about body positivity and to love yourself. These things were also the basis for choosing my name “Rougie.” Rougie Arrives from the words Rouge meaning Red and the slang term Bougie which come from the word Bourgeois. Basically, I like to pretend I’m a sassy middle-class woman, when In reality I’m just beautiful trash. I often think about a surname but Madonna never had one. Since doing drag I’ve learnt to give zero fucks about what other people may think or say about you because if you don’t value their opinion then why should it concern you and now I translate this into my boy self when living my life. At the end of the day be you, be proud and don’t be a dick.
Bryony talks to us about her difficult time at University and overcoming her eating disorder.
Doing this shoot with Bryony was probably the most fun I’ve had whilst working. Not only is she such an inspiringly strong person, after what she has overcome, she is also the most kind hearted optimistic person I have ever known. With both of us growing up in London, we attended the same all girls Secondary School together and have been close friends ever since. For 10 years now we’ve been through our teen years together, the ups and downs and all the in-betweens. Meeting her at Westminster Station she greets me with a small squeal, a giant hug and an even bigger grin, this girl has always greeted me like this no matter what. Bryony is a creative just like me, we both have an eye for what looks right and what doesn’t, and getting her opinion and input on what I wanted from the shoot was really nice. I really wanted Bryony’s personality to come out of the shoot and I feel like we both captured this well.
So please, read Bryony’s story and we hope you find some help and guidance in her words. Tell me a bit about you and your struggles / where they stem from and your coping mechanisms. It was when I started at University that I developed an eating disorder. I was determined to be independent and the excitement and chaos of my first term of Uni offered me a chance to prove this. I had made a decision in my mind to do things on my own, so at times I was struggling I wanted to find a way to cope without turning to anyone else. Somehow, this turned to controlling my food. There wasn’t one specific trigger and my fear of food and obsession with weight loss crept up slowly. By the end of the University year, it was all-consuming. I was anxious all the time and my need to control meant I was barely seeing friends. I knew my coping mechanisms weren’t sustainable but it was a real struggle for my eating disorder to loosen its grip.
What do you wish you’d known looking back? I wish I’d been shown the scientific facts earlier. With a BMI lower than 18.5 as a woman, you can’t maintain regular hormone function and this affects your emotions. I thought how I was feeling was normal and everyone felt as crazy as I did but was just better at controlling it than me. Having a normal BMI means there’s a cushion under all my feelings. I’m not nearly as anxious or emotional and obsessive about the little things as I was. Do you find that your friends treat you differently or get uncomfortable discussing your struggles? Definitely. Anorexia had thrown my judgments completely off and I had no idea about how I looked objectively against the rest of the population, or how much a normal sized meal. It was so frustrating because all I wanted to do was get honest opinions from friends about what was a normal amount of food or whether they could gage the struggle I was going through. But everyone knew it was a touchy subject so if I brought it up no one said anything. I wish they had just been honest with me about what they thought. Do you feel like struggles such as yours are stigmatized which makes it uncomfortable for people to talk about? If yes why do you think that is? Weight is a definitely an area people are reluctant to discuss, but the more okay it is to talk about emotional eating and problems concerning food, the more people can ask for help. In not saying anything to someone with a food issue when you know they’re struggling is enabling them to carry out they’re detrimental behaviour.
Eliza Hatch’s platform for inspiring young women to come forward and speak about sexual harassment.
After the controversy of the #metoo campaign women have been bravely popping up over the world to share their sexual harassment stories. However, one empowered woman has been giving women a platform to share their experiences since Eliza Hatch, a photojournalist born and raised in London, and attended Brighton University graduating in 2016, has created a website and Instagram page, “Cheer up Luv”, which features young women from all over the city who have experienced sexual harassment on any scale in their everyday lives. Not only has Eliza created a visually appealing website but she is also encouraging women to come forward and share their stories with one another, and in doing so, raise awareness of the commonality of sexual harassment. Q: What initially sparked you in to starting “Cheer up Luv”? Have you ever experienced sexual harassment and can you relate? The themes behind Cheer Up Luv have been a
constant factor in my life, but it was only when earlier this year a strange man on the street walked past me and told me to “Cheer up”, that It really bothered me. That single phrase, which I am used to hearing, finally irritated me so much to the point where I needed to do something about it. It prompted me to have a conversation with my girlfriends about harassment and we ended up story swapping for over an hour, talking about sexual harassment like it was the most normal thing in the world. This really shocked me, how we where speaking about this topic in such a blaze way. However, It was only when my male friends interjected with their disbelief and horror that we actually could experience it as much as we did, that prompted me to start the project. I realized that it wasn’t just the harassment itself that was the problem, it was the lack of awareness surrounding it. Q: With the Hollywood scandal over sexual harassment in the news do you think it is even more important for women/men to come forward and share their experiences?
I think it is more important than ever to hold the line, and respectfully give men and women the security and safe space to speak out against oppression and sexualisation. The media has an unpleasant way of making the movements with the best intentions turn into a frenzy. I really do hope this moment in history doesn’t fade out, but keeps consistent and affects real change. I’m for sure not going anywhere! Q: Some of your work has been featured by i-D magazine and BBC News, how did that make you feel having you work recognised by such major media platforms? It has been an extremely overwhelming year, and my project has been featured my by most media and press. I never initially would have dreamed for the project to have grown as big as it has now, but the whole thing kind of snowballed! It is very humbling and surreal, but it also feels like a huge achievement, I am extremely grateful! Q: What was the initial response from the women when you reached out to them with the concept of “Cheer up Luv”? I wasn’t sure initially how the project would be received, I wasn’t even sure if this was something women wanted to talk about openly. When I first started asking the question, I got two kinds of responses. The first was, “Oh yes, which of my 10 stories would you like to chose from?” and the second was, “Oh, I don’t think anything that bad has ever happened to me.” After hearing the second response, I would then say, has a man ever shouted something from a moving vehicle at you? Has anyone ever given you an unwanted compliment? Have you ever been made to feel uncomfortable in a public space? And then, as if affirming their experiences, the flood gates opened.
Q: Do you ever hear back from the girls that you’ve featured are they thankful for the experience that you have given them? Yes I often stay in touch with all the girls. The wonderful thing about having an online Instagram community, is that you are constantly in touch, engaging and in contact with the girls. Its a very supportive digital community, and made even more special by the fact that I have met and spent time with all of the girls I feature. Q: Are there any exciting plans for “Cheer up Luv” in the near future? The project’s lifetime is as long as the women who want to be involved. I have not lost enthusiasm and momentum, if anything it has given me more fuel for the fire to keep expanding and growing the Cheer Up Luv community. I am pleased to say that I ended my year with an exhibition at the ICP in New York, which was a really proud moment for me and great credit the work that I have been doing. I hope to develop Cheer Up Luv into a book, and collaborate with more people in the new year. (working on collaboration with Gurls Talk and Great Women Artists!) Q: What advice would you give to empower women trying overcome sexual harassment? Keep strong and speak out. Tell one person if you have to, your friend, your mum, me! Don’t live every day protecting that person who harassed you and suppressing your own emotions, come forward and tell someone about it. We have to combat the normalisation of harassment.
Q: How do you get in contact with the women you interview? Are there any of them friends or relatives?
Q: What would you say to women who are unsure whether some of their experiences ‘count’ as sexual harassment?
At the beginning I just asked all of my close friends, and friends of friends. And then as soon as I launched the project on Instagram, I have had almost a constant flow of women coming forward with their stories wanting to be featured.
Have a look at my site, @cheerupluv and read through the stories and feel empowered.
Bougie Rougie Page.
Bryony Carney Page.
Home Page.
When designing the website Home Page it needed to be clear what was being featured on the site as well as not too overwhelming to new users. With the use of white space, clear images as well as using the same colour palette used throughout the site, it makes it easy to navigate your way around with the most recently updated stories at the top of the page.
Discover Page.
With the discovery page it needed to be clear the different stories that are featured on the site, so when scrolling over the images on the discovery page a small synopsis comes up describing what the story is about, so users can find the relevant content that they’re after.