Performance GIFs 9: Dwayne Strike

This is the latest in an ongoing series of performance GIFs curated by Jesse Darling. Previously: Maja CuleLegacy RussellJaakko PallasvuoCreighton BaxterGenevieve BelleveauJennifer Chan, Marisa Olson.

Brett Ratner, director. These Boots Are Made for Walking (2005). Still from music video for song performed by Jessica Simpson.

I Know What Boys Like
Dwayne Strike, 2013

The artist's description:

I was going through ideas for this piece with a friend and I mentioned this video by Jessica Simpson where she was washing a car (These Boots Were Made for Walking). I decided to go outside to where the workers were building and stage something that would be close to that—and to other videos that incorporate the same idea of the idealized half-naked woman, washing a car that could be hers or not, under a voyeuristic gaze.

I found this move—which some might write off as "loose"—more conservative than anything; the sexual liberation of women is still finding its feet while the sexual liberation of men is strictly limited to the built man with a 6-pack. Anything that transgresses this is a minority, especially the idea of role or gender reversal.

We still live in a time in which everyone wants to compartmentalize everything – especially sexuality and gender. Through my drag persona, I try to take both sides of myself (feminine and masculine) and wear them both as badges, through my actions and dress.

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