How Twigs Approaches Agatha: Presentation and Gender
I wrote this awhile ago and posted it over on my bird app page, but I wanted to clean it up and share it over here. I tend to write and draw Agatha as handsome, more leaning towards masculinity and potentially as a butch woman a lot. And so, I sort of wanted to unpack why and how I ended up with that shape for Agatha in my works.
I personally love that Agatha wears the pants, prefers men's tailoring, and that I internalized her as a handsome woman. So! Please enjoy my ramblings.
So, I get asked a lot why I read Agatha the way I do, and there have been times it has been disparaging, and other times it is genuine. Because of that, I want to personally take apart why I read Agatha the way I do, and why I tend to echo that in all of my iterations of her (this is just a holdover of me being primarily an OC artist and writer first, I tend to keep things like my reading of a character’s gender and presentation consistent or within a limited range across iterations). This is a very surface level pass at this ramble, only gesturing at points, but it should give everyone an idea of some of what I am thinking about in how I write and draw and think about Agatha and her gender.
While I understand not everyone interprets Detective Agnes as a genuine iteration of Agatha’s personality, I do. I read her as a version of Agatha shucked clean of her masks and playacting. (As well as a full disconnected from a full understanding of her own grief and history). This is the woman Agatha shapes herself into, feels comfortable being to bring herself out of the spell Wanda has her under. And, in my opinion, is in many ways a reflection of very genuine parts of Agatha.
For me, Agatha’s movement from Nosy Neighbor Agnes into Detective Agnes is such a fascinating one, given that we know it was Agatha taking control of the spell there. She chose the genre, something that specifically resonated with her, and she shaped herself in it.
Nosy Neighbor Agnes is an act, it's a way to ingratiate herself and appeal to Wanda. Agatha does this constantly in her cons. I think even in The Road cons we see down the line--she does this. I don't think it is a jump to suggest that she softens her appearance and leans into femininity to fit in and lure in other witches, especially after how we saw her craft the nosy neighbor. That role was made to appeal to Wanda and her worldview/the world she was crafting.
So then Detective Agnes? That's all Agatha, especially given Jac said she's pulling the strings of the Hex now.
I think that includes some core part of her gender identity. Agatha identifies herself in this role as a working class queer woman, something that is central to historically butch identity. This is also not outside of the realm of who Agatha is within the context of the broader world. While she is has risen beyond her Salem days certain, Agatha is a woman from a more salt of the earth coven (whether they were actually embedded within the Puritan sect of Salem itself is up for debate).
This continues as we move forward and find Agatha in 1750 having Nicholas. Agatha is not ornate and made up in the way Rio Vidal, her lover, is but instead, prefers practical looks. Her style and preference for dress is said to be utilitarian and neither fussy nor ornate. She works, she moves her way through the world active and providing for Nicholas and herself. Her work is unusual, certainly, as a conning grifter of a woman, but it is, I believe key, to my reading of her.
The concept of a working woman is brought up again when Agatha is under the spell as Agnes. As Abilash examines her brooch, he names the triple goddess on it, and Agatha comments: “What no working professional goddess?”
While it is a stab at the genre, I think it is also very true of Agatha. She is a working woman, she has been for centuries. (Her job just is murder and accumulating power.)
So it is interesting when a woman who is, in many aspects a working class woman, who has lived through centuries that way—shapes herself into a very specifically masculine woman, potentially read as butch. We know too that Agatha is a woman with a preference for men’s tailoring in her clothing. According to Daniel Selon’s telling, Agatha, as Kathryn approached her saw her as beyond gender.
They even made certain to include in Agatha’s wardrobe once women moved into the work force, that she moved to regularly and preferring to wear pants. During her Agatha’s murder spree throughout history version of “The Witches Road" the clothing she wore up to that point were more traditionally feminine, but largely still practical. But the moment her preference became available, she moved right to it. Again, this allows her to complete and act out her cons, which interestingly is how she moves in Wandavision as well.
Nosy Neighbor Agnes wears far more stereotypically feminine wear, and behaves in a very conventional role of a housewife. However, the moment she drops the act, she is wearing trousers, wild hair, and sweater. As well, her entire physical demeanour changes, no longer as languid, but far more akin to the sharper woman we see in Agatha All Along.
Her coat on the Road, while giving her the shape of a dress, also does have something of men’s tailoring to it. And one of the things they echo throughout her outfits are strong shoulders and that sort of tailored coat top. This can be seen in her outfit in episode 4, where she is wearing a modified tux top, and in episode 7’s outfit continuing with pants and strong shoulders, despite being the Wicked Witch of the West (Billy’s hex taking into account to an extent her personal preferences). Even her ghost dress seems to echo that coat to an extent in some of the upper and back of the outfit.
I think for a woman who has lived through as much history as she has, clothing is a very powerful identifier and a way to craft the self. She certainly uses it to craft her identity during a con, but when she is left to her own devices what she gravitates towards is an interesting reflection of her preferences. And thus why I think Detective Agnes is so fascinating, that in the context of her own mind, that was who she made herself into. (And this is especially true given it is a television show where clothing is used as indicators and symbols for the viewer to learn more about the characters without it being outright spoken.)
Agatha, interestingly, as well, fits the role of a protector. Protecting her coven during their time on the Witches Road journey. She guards them with her arms as Rio emerges from the grave. Even while powerless, she uses her body as a shield (despite herself too, given she is a selfish person in many aspects of her personality). She also steps down from hiding once she sees her ghost a mother approach towards Rio during the trial, despite the fact Rio is Death. Agatha gathers herself and draws Evanora’s attention to her.
We also see her entire charade on the Road to protects Billy. She makes sure he gets his chance at a second life. She keeps Rio’s eyes off of him as long as she can. She also bodily protects him when the coven first notices his sigil, keeping him behind her. She often places her body between those she wants to protect and whatever she sees as the threat.
In conjunction to me reading Agatha as potentially a butch woman, I do see her as the provider within her relationship with Rio (the bodies), even if she gets her own little something out of it (her power). There was a butch meme that sort of summed up how I read her dynamic with Rio to an extent, where it was like: my hands look like this, so her hands can look like this. Agatha’s hands are metaphorically covered in blood and are the ones that go out and gather magic, so that Rio can wear her fancy little soul cutting jewelry and go through a million manicures in 24 hours (this is a joke, but I do mean it in some aspects very genuinely).
For me, again, for me I find this to be a really fun reading and interesting way to approach a woman who has spent her life not really fitting in. A witch without a coven. A witch who was too much for her own coven and, I think, can be read as “failing” the way a proper witch/woman is meant to behave. Agatha is not dainty, not demure, she is not willing to play the role and fall in line with how society (her coven) thinks she should be or behave. Instead she takes up space, is willing to work to build and make herself.
I think her gender identity is complex and leans heavily towards masculinity, and in some circumstances towards butch womanhood. And for me, that is part of why I find her so compelling. There’s a lot more I could get into, but that’s sort of the gist of what has been bopping around in my brain.
