Gabriella Tutino/The Mirror
If you’ve ever wanted the opportunity to cross-dress without being judged, Gender Bender is the place to be on Friday night.
Hosted by Alliance (the LGBT group on campus) with co-sponsors from Project Peg, the Women’s Studies Department and other campus groups, the dance is meant to raise awareness about gender issues while providing a fun, social environment.
Following the same format as last year, Gender Bender will be held at the Levee with drag queen performances, music for dancing, food and other activities. Said Alexander Cody’12, president of Alliance, “We’re hoping to get more people involved and to have fun with it and make it a popular event.”
While it is not necessary to dress in drag for the event, Alliance encourages it.
“With Gender Bender we hope for people to be able to step outside of their comfort zone and try to bend their gender,” Cody said. “Just be comfortable with who they are as a person and also get an understanding of how the other half lives.”
The dance is Alliance’s main event of the academic year, and allows the club to establish its presence on campus, according to Cody. It is also the closing event of Represent-Yourself-Week, a diversity week on campus hosting events such as Double Up Dance Group’s Hip-Hop Workshop and Women’s Day.
Alliance’s focus on campus is to create a safe space for people “to be comfortable with who they are, come out, and accept homosexuals in the community.” The group tries to balance having educational pieces and fun events for the LGBT community.
“With Gender Bender it is more so an event about gender than it is about being gay,” said Cody. “It raises awareness on the fact that every day, in a way, people bend their gender… It’s more gray than it is black and white.”
The co-sponsorship with Project Peg strengthens the promotion of gender awareness. According to Project Peg member Alicia Bissonnette ’12, this year’s theme for Women’s Day is Gender Image and Perception.
“Many of our questions focus around the idea of gender social construct,” she said. “It made perfect sense to team up with Alliance and make a Women’s Day that turned into a Gender Bender night.”
Project Peg will be raising gender awareness issues by making art and inviting students to make art during Women’s Day; later the artwork will be brought to the Levee to be put on display.
“We hope by the end of the day, men and women will see each other as equal people who each have something special to bring to the table,” Bissonnette said. “Our genders are different, but they are both wonderful and worth celebrating.”
The success of Gender Bender will depend on student participation. Last year, the event attracted a decent crowd from the Ignatian Residential College. Students were kept entertained by the drag queens and the various costumes.
“It was fun dressing up and made me more aware of the blurred gender line,” said Melanie Cannon ’12, who attended last year’s Gender Bender.
Added Cody, “Gender Bender is going to be fun. People should come out, if not to dress up, to come support Alliance to check it out…to experience it.”
Gender Bender will take place this Friday, April 8th at 10 p.m. at The Levee.
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