Sydney’s Performative Masc Competition Gets A Shout Out In Parliament
Image: NSW Parliament/Instagram
Mascs have finally breached the NSW parliament, with an actual elected official drawing attention to the Performative Masc competition held in the Inner West earlier this spring.
Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong officially recognised and congratulated the organisers of the competition in state parliament on Friday.
“Over 100 people, including butches and femmes alike gathered in Campo Memorial Park to see who could be crowned the ultimate performative masc lesbian through a series of gruelling rounds of challenges and questions,” said Leong.
“Congratulations to the Lesbian Film Club, the judges, the competitors, and all involved in the competition. It’s events like these that keep Newtown, Newtown- a place where we can all celebrate our beautiful lesbian and wider LGBTIQA+ community.”
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What’s a performative masc?
Inspired by the wave of celebrity look-alike and performative male competitions we saw earlier this year, performative masc competitions took off in queer spaces all over the world these last few months, poking fun at lesbian stereotypes the way we’ve always done.
Contestants showed up armed with giant carabiners, copies of Stone Butch Blues and Female Masculinity, and little bottles of T in their low-rise jort pockets, with performer Star Gayze taking home the honour of Most Performative Masc.
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Earlier this month, the Lesbian Film Club, alongside community organisers Jaz Pras and Eva Akyol, hosted an evil femme competition in the same vein- think knee-high heeled boots, rings on every finger, and a simmering desire to bring mankind to their knees.
“The Performative Masc competition inspired us and organising Evil Femme reinforced for me how meaningful it is to build joyful, inclusive spaces,” Pras told the Star Observer.
“It also encouraged me to finally start creating my own platform for queer people called ‘Queer Haus Collective’, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, because community, for me, is everything.”
The events are a fun way for the community to come together and celebrate lesbian culture, but also to informally analyse the ways we navigate gender and queer binaries.
It might seem sort of weird or silly for Leong to be bringing up these competitions so they can be documented in offical government records, but in a time where LGBTQIA+ rights are increasingly being stripped away, and our history erased, it’s more important than ever to spread queer joy and whimsy as far as we can.
Newtown has been celebrated for its unique and eclectic events for decades, and it’s queer events like this that keep the #KeepNewtownWeird spirit alive.
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