Using a mix of archival footage, music, spoken word performance and voiceover, this video is a direct address to the field on a rarely considered subject: queer female masculinity. Approaching this topic through my own butch identity, I first define butch, then situate this queer gender identity in relation to other identities, histories, and experiences. I conclude with identifying some of the implications of being and doing butch in our discipline.
Casey Miles is a PhD candidate in rhetoric and writing at Michigan State University, with a master’s degree in digital rhetoric and professional writing. Casey is currently a graduate instructor in the Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC) Department, where she teaches first-year writing and professional writing. Casey’s scholarship focuses on queer video-making practices as multimodal composition, queer rhetorics, and butch ways of knowing, doing, and being. She continues to work on her documentary series, The Gender Project, which explores the ways queer people compose gender, gender identity, and sexuality in their everyday lives. Follow Casey @soulsmiles.
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