Combining my love of crafting, and my frustration at the binary society I have to exist in, “THEY’RE EATING ME!” is a satirical photo series posing a genuine thought provoking question about how ingrained gender stereotypes are in our society.
Growing up, my younger brother and I did a lot of the same things, both of us often crossing the stereotypical gendering society gives to many activities. As we got older and spent more time with our peers and in society, the activities we did started to diverge from each other more and more, veering towards the stereotypically masc for him, and femme for me.
When I was a kid, I collected porcelain dolls, because my grandma did. As a teenager, I was told by many people that porcelain dolls were ‘creepy’ and a part of me found great joy in being other than the ‘norm’. I have had them boxed up for years now, not parting with them, but not feeling them as a part of me anymore. This photoshoot, in some ways, as well as my intention to make a statement, was also a part of my process of finding myself.
T-shirt hand embroidered by me, & marguerite beard made from embroidery stumpwork, also by me.
I pondered my word choice for my t-shirt carefully. I opted to go with the directed statement, rather than a more general one, as I feel it is more impactful.
My aim is for anyone seeing these photos to consider themselves as the “you” in some way, be that as a parent, teacher, community member, clothes designer, shop assistant, advertising executive, film director, health care worker, songwriter or peer. Everyone plays a role in the upbringing of a child.
You cannot escape the fact that regardless of if you personally have children or not, everyone is a part of society, and contribute to the continued normalisation of gendering people based on the genitals they had when they came out of the womb.
My statement is intentionally vague regarding any other potential sex traits, as a way of also highlighting intersex traits, and how still to this day, intersex people are operated on as babies for the sole purpose of trying to force that person to fit into the narrow, binary opinion western society has of gender.
Vox Margo
they/them
Vox is a nonbinary, neurodivergent, disabled human who likes alliteration and is irritated that they can’t think of a word beginning with N that means disabled.
They are a voice teacher and peer mentor, specialising in working with trans and/or neurodivergent folk via online lessons and workshops. They also write songs and poems, plus love making things, especially for others.
Their usual craft mediums are embroidery, beads, sewing, and mixed media. They are also the inventor of the hands free dilation harness.
“Being a member of Queer Creatives has helped me with so much of my personal and creative growth. The biggest thing for me though, has been the confidence to not take things so seriously, and to just show up as me, however that looks at the time.”