jill posner, photographing butch, from dagger: on butch women,Ā edited by Lily Burana, Roxxie, and Linnea Due, Cleis Press, 1994
[Jill Posner is a British photojournalist whose work has been published internationally in publications ranging from On Our Backs to The New York Times and The Village Voice, and in anthologies like Stolen Glances, a lesbian photo collection. She has published two collections of photographs of political graffiti, Spray It Loud and Louder Than Words, (Pandora Press).
The photographic process is for me a type of seduction. Not a sexual seduction, but a process of asking and coaxing someone to reveal herself, reel by reel. I find it hard to ask a butch to reveal herself because it makes me feel vulnerable. Perhaps Iām uncomfortable with even the hint of a sexual dynamic being present with another butchā and there can be a sexual aura during a photo shoot. Itās less threatening for me to ask a femme to be more daring, more explicit, and though I am attracted to femme women, there is less of a sexual charge during a photo shoot. I wish I had more rapport with butches because I love to photograph them and Iām always excited by the results.
People have said that Iāve been experimenting with genderfuck for years in my work. Iāve always resisted that. I am ambivalent about the issue of gender dysphoria, the idea of gender fluidity. Iād like to photograph the process of someoneās transition from femaleā]
