Butch — The short film bringing drag POVs into the spotlight

CHIYO GOMES

It’s hard to define Chiyo Gomes. It’s hard for Chiyo to define himself too. “I think I identify as a trans man,” he  says in Jordan Rossi’s new short, BUTCH. Once a head chef, now a full-time drag king (and self-proclaimed “burlesque [stripper]”), Gomes says the word “butch” has always felt “so dirty” and plays into “the stigmas that come with being more masculine”. As he puts it, masculinity is a “tricky one” — everything he associated with it were “awful, terrible things”. Will that cause him to shy away from the subject? Obviously not. He’s a go-go dancer after all.

ROXXXAN

Roxxxan is something of a multihyphenate. But whether she’s DJing, rapping or modelling, there’s always one thing at the forefront — “beating toxic masculinity”. That’s probably because the Birmingham-born musician has experienced her fair share of crap for being a “butch, masculine-presenting tomboy girl”. She recalls finding it hard in “spaces that aren’t for [her]” —including women’s toilets that she has been asked to leave. So, the end goal for Roxxxan? Pushing the narrative that femininity and masculinity are vital. As she puts it, they’re “like yin and yang”.

This excerpt was taken from HUNGER Issue 34: Fight Back. Stay tuned for the full story.