Charles Atlas
That’s a lot of fags and faggots in a headline but I did that for a reason. Pussy Faggot organizer Earl Dax has had his party PUSSY FAGGOT censored by facebook (and the NYTimes) an event for which I’m the proud Happy Hour and Charles Atlas Screening. (Join me tonight at 9 pm at The Delancey.)
Dax’s is a problem I can identify with. I had to scrub any mention of Art Fag City from the Sound of Art page to have it pass through the facebook’s censors and my own blog does not have a fan page, despite having made one for it several times over the past three years. It’s been removed repeatedly, though the company finally introduced a “critic” fan page, so I now have a corporate friendly Paddy Johnson account. With 21 likes, it’s wildly popular!
Now, I don’t have the fight Dax cites on Gloss Wednesday as the spark for titling my own blog. Dax was thrown to the ground, kicked and spat upon by his colleague, taunting him with the name “PUSSY FAGGOT”. I’m a straight woman, and the name Art Fag City simply uses “art fag” as a equivalent for “art fan”. Art Fag City’s name as an epithet is pleasingly jocular and knowingly extreme — like that of PUSSY FAGGOT — but since it’s unlikely I’ll ever be kicked in the gut for my sexual orientation the question of whether I have enough at stake to really be reclaiming a term is dubious.
To be honest reclaiming the term never crossed my mind at the time, because the context of its use means to express enthusiasm for a subject I deeply love and care for: art. And so, while I understand that people find the name of this blog offensive, I’ve never been able to reconcile that with the aims of the blog itself. That it would support unrepresented and marginalized art, that it would be a site for activism, and that it would provide free vodka at Pussy Faggot queer performance events.
Those wishing to discuss this topic or simply see Charles Atlas films plus art stars Nick Hallett, Shana Moultan, Ann Liv Young, Andrew Andrew and many more perform, will need a warm up. Join me at 9 and we’ll drink for free.
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