Masculinity is something to hold, to caress, and to care for ever so gently lest you let it take control over you and become that which you learned to fear. I grew into my masculinity gently at first then at full force, never stopping to take time to take pleasure in who I was becoming. From the multitude of masculinities around me, I absorbed the parts I thought I didn’t have: a hard exterior, a tendency to hide what I was feeling, the ability to ignore my needs in favor of others’, and rejected the parts of myself which I thought I did not need anymore: a soft and gentle attitude toward myself, time for inner reflection, and a release of that which I had bottled up for years, in desperation to achieve the masculinity I thought I lacked.

After a few years of pretending, I am slowly learning that there is no ultimate masculinity that I must strive to recreate. My masculinity is my own, no matter how many times I am misgendered, no matter how many people I scare in the women’s restroom, and no matter how many times I am told that I’m losing touch with who I’m supposed to be.

In this project, I showcase the pleasure that masculine, androgynous, and genderqueer women, nonbinary, and transmasculine people experience simply from being themselves. I take inspiration from the first presentation of self-defined masculinity that I saw: Original Plumbing. I draw from the raw and exposing interrogative style of The Aggressives and present Masc Mandate.

Please remove your mask and enjoy.

Love,
Claire Jensen