‘I live in a queer fantasy’: Alex Jenny
Alex Jenny talks about her life in a “queer fantasy”, the dynamic between doing drag and being a therapist and the issues that are plaguing the trans community.
“For a long time, I had facial hair and wore my beard and still proclaimed proudly that I was a trans woman,” Alex shares.
“I don’t always need to come out into a cis, heteronormative world. People should be working to come into my world! My queer and trans utopia fantasy”, she adds, noting that her drag allows her to manifest “that fantasy in her real life”.
When she was in grad school though, studying to be a therapist and a social worker, she thought that she needed to keep those parts of her life “separate”. However, she’s actually learned the opposite, and has been able to accommodate her drag alongside other areas of her career.
“I have come to find that, actually, there’s a really beautiful marriage between what it means for me to do drag and also to be a therapist. I get to accept all the different parts of me,” Alex reflects.
“I think some of the biggest challenges facing trans women right now is definitely the trans misogyny that we’re seeing,” she adds.
“Trans women are continued to be seen as perpetrators of violence or potential predators. We really need to undo what we define as womanhood. The standards that we have to face in order to not face violence is so, so high,” she details.
“We have to perform a type of femininity that keeps us safe and keeps people comfortable, and I think we really need to push back against that.”
Through her work, Alex is “changing her body” for herself – not to please anyone else.
“I’m not changing my body to look like anyone else’s idea of a woman. We need to focus less on these impossible beauty standards for women, period, and focus on allowing women and allowing everyone in this world to express themselves.”
