Gender, sexuality, love, and 京.
Seeing men in drag or being “feminine” causes no reaction in me since I don’t care about things like others’ gender expression or sexuality. Yet I recognize right away that they’re a part of Kyo’s art.
And here’s what I find really interesting: in his case, it’s like a channeling of those qualities. I’m not sure if that explains it. Some dude said it’s more that “he becomes it” and I thought it means that he’s channeling this female/sexual energy into his expression.
And that’s different from those bands that dress “like women”, or drag queens, transvestites, or even actual trans women. It makes more of an impact to me that he does that, because he’s a straight man.
But that’s not all there’s to it.
When I see him do that there’s definitely a reaction because there’s a feeling to it that is unbound and purely instinctual. It’s genuine. He’s said that there are many types of love, and he wants to show all of them. I think that’s why it feels so primal to me, because it’s not an expression of individuality or identity, but of love. There’s a quality of selflessness in love that self-expression doesn’t possess. It goes beyond any construct, be it social or self-imposed. It transcends any logical barrier, and even defies the course that’s been set by our own life experience. This expression of love is present in everyone, regardless of gender or sexuality. He’s acknowledging that, accepting it, and embracing it so fully that he “becomes it”.
It can’t even be compared to a drag queen show or trans girls marching with their tits out at Pride, or visual kei. I feel nothing seeing those things but this, for instance…
It’s like watching someone conveying both yin and yang, male and female. And all the tones in between. That is, all the ways in which these two qualities meld, and then that fusion relates with another, in an expression of desire or need. He becomes not one with the witness, but whole. I find it alluring. It just draws me in.
Because I’m not gay, it isn’t sexual attraction [my tone]. I just recognize that this female energy is also present in every man, even though most won’t show it or even acknowledge it. He freely and fearlessly shows it, and he does it so well. It’s like he has no limits.
No matter what is being expressed: self, desire, love...although to me there’s nothing more important than being unrestrained, I can see that having your expression acknowledged and accepted fulfills a human need for love and belonging that not too many people are capable of giving you, unless they know you and care about you.
But he, though he might not know you, accepts you. That’s a kindness we often won’t grant strangers. It’s rooted in love, in actually knowing love, and comes from a place of self-acceptance. You are a stranger, but you’re not strange, is what he’s telling you. Probably.
(Thanks to @yridenergyridenergy for scans and @post-noseek for gif. )