i just sent this email to about 60 people, but there are probably some folks who fit the bill that i forgot to ask for an interview from, or don't know. spread wildly if you want. go!



hi friends.

here is what i’m working on as my own contribution/groundwork for a zine that should be published by the end of winter, and here is the call for submissions i put out a couple of months ago fmi - http://wildandcheap.tumblr.com/post/10164333212/up-the-smart-punx-call-for-submissions-reblog-pls

so, as i’m paying attention to my own panic upon allowing myself to realize that queerness/transness and punkness are not mutually exclusive, i need to know who else is thinking about these sort of somewhat whole, somewhat dichotomic things on the daily, also while i’m constantly evaluating my own masculinities, which ones belong to me and which are inappropriate perpetuations of a monster i don’t want to kick it with. so i'm inviting my cismale friends and allies to sit with an answer a handful of interview questions about allyship, accountability, violence, etc. all under the cismale privilege umbrella, existing within punk circles, to talk to me about a kind of masculinity that i can’t possibly know firsthand. i’m also inviting my cisfemale, trans and gender-nonconforming friends to sit with and answer a very similar handful of interview questions about violence, accountability, cismale privilege, allyship, etc. existing within punk circles.

i’m conducting these interviews via email because what i’m asking you to respond to is somewhat throaty and dense, also it is the best way for me to stay organized. once i receive answers from all who participate, i could follow up with some more questions/conversation where desired.

you don’t need to answer questions that you don’t want to answer, and of course ask clarifying questions if necessary. also you may want to read all of the interview before beginning to answer because there is probably a bit of overlap. would you, also, please let me know how you would like me to write your name in the zine, or if you’d like to remain anonymous.

most of you are the real maine punks or punks who get down with the real maine punks, and it feels important to be writing this zine with the help of the kids who i have been through so much with so close to home. though, if you can think of friends you’d like to forward this email to who might enjoy answering these interview questions for me, that would be the shit.

i would love to receive responses by january 15th, so have that on your radar if you can. send responses to brodyoystr@gmail.com. also, if you can’t seem to get next to this interview but you want to write something else for the zine that applies to that vague call for submissions, please, please do.

i seriously appreciate, firstly, that you are all people that i trust to chat about this with, and i seriously appreciate whatever work you’ll decide you want to put into this project. i anticipate your answers, whether gentle, tough, or both.

enough longwindedness! not really because here are thee interviews which is also longwinded. go!



******** interview questions for cismale comrades ********

1) PASSING AS A PUNK: BEYOND BEING A POSER

- It was recently revealed to me that somebody in this town who, for years, I’ve understood to be a punk, who has shows at his studio and shitty tattoos, that he simply, unapologetically refuses to use correct pronouns. This keeps happening. How dangerous/problematic is it when kids pass as punks, who wear all the right clothes and listen to the right bands, only to end up lacking a radical politic?

2) IN THE PIT / AT THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS FUN

- Plainly, what does cismale privilege in the pit even look like, to you?

- How do you navigate taking care of unwelcomed guests, unsafe people, perpetrators, etc?

- Is there a clear difference between inappropriate protective behaviors and kind supportive actions? For example, extending your support for women and transpeople’s experiences in a way that all parties have agreed on, instead of playing protective boyfriend? Where does the abuse of power begin and the consensual having of your pal’s back end?

3) HARD WORK FOR LIFE

- Are there pieces of internalized transphobia, internalized transmisogyny, and internalized sexism that you are committed to holding yourself accountable for that punk rock is a helpful vehicle for?

- How can you approach other cismen, folks who operate upon a similar set of privileges as you, who run punk spaces/venues to talk about what it would take to make a space women- and trans-friendly? What does it actually take to make it a safe space?

- What does is mean to be a bad punk!? Or a good punk!?



******** interview questions for cisfemale, trans, and gender-nonconforming comrades ********

1) PASSING AS A PUNK: BEYOND BEING A POSER

- It was recently revealed to me that somebody in this town who, for years, I’ve understood to be a punk, who has shows at his studio and shitty tattoos, that he simply, unapologetically refuses to use correct pronouns. This keeps happening. How dangerous/problematic is it when kids pass as punks, who wear all the right clothes and listen to the right bands, only to end up lacking a radical politic?

2) IN THE PIT / AT THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS FUN

- Plainly, what does cismale privilege in the pit even look like, to you?

- Is there a clear difference between inappropriate protective behaviors and kind supportive actions, displayed by cismales friends? For example, extending their support for women and transpeople’s experiences in a way that all parties have agreed on, instead of playing protective boyfriend? Where does the abuse of power begin and the consensual having of their pal’s back end?

- In the pit, do you find yourself trying to pass as more masculine by way of taking up a different amount of space, throwing yourself around, hitting dudes, etc? When is this a healthy, exciting, appropriate endeavor, and when is it a reactionary masculinity that reinforces normative regimes of strength?

- Which actions continually illustrated by cismen constitute unsafety and call for self-defense, rather than unconstructive reactionary violence?

- How do you navigate taking care of unwelcomed guests, unsafe people, perpetrators, etc?

3) HARD WORK FOR LIFE

- Are there pieces of internalized transphobia, internalized transmisogyny, and internalized sexism that you are committed to holding yourself accountable for, or that everyone in your life should want to hold themselves accountable for, that punk rock is a helpful vehicle for?

- How can you approach cismale friends and allies who run punk spaces/venues to talk about what it would take to make a space women- and trans-friendly? What does it actually take to make it a safe space?

- What does is mean to be a bad punk!? Or a good punk!?



THERE IS IT. I LOVE YOU
sincerest,
brody wood