Respecting Purple Non-Gender Conforming Narratives & Media Represexntation By Kally Compton
Billie currently attends Elon University in Elon, NC, and majors in Film & Cinema Arts with a double minor in Philosophy and Gender Studies. “All of my time is spent studying gender in our space,” ey says while reaching for a red can of Cheerwine, then taking a big swig of the North Carolina classic. Purple is often misunderstood People confuse it with pink or blue They cannot comprehend change The synthesis of something new
Billie shares that eirs gender expression has defined and informed eirs personhood, meaning how ey interacts in a gendered society.
—Anonymous poet in the “non-binary” section of HelloPoetry.com
People try to understand transness as a word you identify as,” Billie shares. “It’s not just a label; it’s much more an experience, a relationship with the social systems around you and the people around you.”
... We sit face to face with a wall of pixels and hundreds of miles between us. This pixel wall is a window into Billie’s world. Billie, whose pronouns are ey/em, wears a dark green sweater. Behind em is a metal rack packed with mostly black jackets. Beatles, Journey, and Billy Idol album covers are fixed diagonally on the wall, and plastic leaves hang from the ceiling. “My mom wants me to look like Billy Idol,” Billie laughs. “She goes, ‘you should grow your hair out more, to look like that.’” Billie’s bleached hair blocks the camera as ey looks around.
Unfortunately, those social systems have been slow to catch up. … Farrah and I are in the same city, both sitting on our beds and preparing to communicate through our screens. Farrah, whose pronouns are they/them, wears a pink t-shirt and a thick silver chain that cradles their neck. Their brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail revealing their bare face. Farrah says “hello,” then puts on lip balm with their fingers.
“Everything revolves around gender for me. Whether it’s my art, or my literally everything creative about me, I try to relate it to gender and my fluidity,” they say, twirling their fingers in the air to illustrate.
Fluidity is like water, Farrah says. It is not a solid thing, but flowy and molding into something new. … The norms of this society are informed and pioneered by media, especially TV and film, and heteronormative aspects of gender and sexuality have always been at the forefront of the mainstream TV networks. Nevertheless, people who do not conform to societal norms often find liberation within their identity and seek out parts of themselves in the media. Billie and Farrah tend to see only fragments of a mirror when watching films and television.
“My wall space is covered with various shit,” ey admits. A small plastic pumpkin sits on the corner of the windowsill. “It’s a light-up pumpkin my dad used to keep out year-round,” Billie says. “My dad gave it to me last year, and I’ve kept it out just to remind me of home.”
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The Lexington Line • S/S 21 • vol 7 • no 2
Farrah’s square world consists of dorm walls like Billie’s, but only one wall is decorated. Prints of historic fashion from the MET and ripped out notebook pages with pencil drawings of artistic pencil drawings are taped to the wall.
When Billie was young and considering transitioning, they found inspiration in an unlikely place: the Disney character Moana.
