Lady Peaceful, Lady Happy

As with so many inherent personal qualities, people often realize very young that they are girly girls. Dislike of kickball; love of pretty things to wear, although not necessarily the color pink; and being told by adults that you could never play the male lead in the school play: These are all screaming clues that you may be a femme. At "Queer(y)ing Femme," filmmaker Kami Chisholm is on hand to not only screen FtF, the documentary she made with Elizabeth Stark featuring comments on girlhood by famous femmes including Guinevere Turner, Leslie Mah, and Bitch of Bitch & Animal, but also to give a lecture titled "A Brief History of Femme." Are we gonna get to claim Mae West? Madonna? The more serious aim of the evening is to place femme in its proper context: Although they won’t set off any alarms about whether they're in the right or wrong bathroom, the struggle continues for lesbian femmes to maintain the perspective and dignity all humans — even kickball players — deserve.
Sat., May 24, 7:30 p.m., 2008