“Butchness or presenting in a masculine manner is really only about how one chooses to dress or present,” Maraki says as a way of explaining her gender expression.
Our fifth podcast focuses on butch or masculine presenting queer women.
How does our society understand these women that it calls, when literally translated from the Amharic, “like men”? What is their experience?
Queer people, like everyone else, are products of the patriarchy, and as such, our thinking is heavily influenced by it. We live in a society that equates bravery, leadership, and giving with masculinity, while weakness and receiving are associated with femininity. This thinking shapes our day-to-day lives, including our romantic relationships.
“You are expected to pay because you are masculine presenting,” says Fitsum when talking about being forced into traditional gender roles.
The conversation between these four women covered topics such as gender roles, their daily lived experiences, and how they overcome the challenges that they face.
As people who grew up in this society, this conversation will help us develop a better understanding of gender and it will help us tackle our misconceptions around these issues.
"Queer family" is an alternative space created by a group of queer Ethiopian women. It is designed to be a space for a diverse group of Ethiopian queer women whose sexual and gender identifications vary. It includes cis and trans women who may be lesbian, bisexual or asexual. This is a space where the experiences of queer people takes center stage. We hope to include personal experiences from our daily lives as queer people, various stories, interviews, original artwork and poetry. We hope it will also serve as a place where Ethiopians in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the diaspora come as themselves to explore and create an online community.
If you would like to send us something, please send us an email via etqueerfamily@gmail.com
«ኩዊር ኢትዮጵያ» የተለያዩ ፆታዊና ወሲባዊ ዝንባሌ ላላቸው ኢትዮጵያዊ ኩዊር ሴቶች እንዲሆን ታስቦ በኩዊር ሴቶች የተመሠረተ አማራጭ ምኅዳር ነው። ይኽውም ሌዝቢያን፣ ባይሴክሽዋል ወይም ኤሴክሽዋል የሆኑ ሴቶችንንና ትራንስ ሴቶችን ያካትታል። ይህ ምኅዳር የኩዊር ማኅበረሰብ ታሪክ እና የሕይወት ልምድ ትልቅ ሥፍራ የሚይዝበት ነው። እንደ’ኩዊር ማኅበረሰብ የዕለት ተዕለት ሕይወታችንን ገጠመኞች፤ የተለያዩ ሰዎችን የግል ታሪኮች፤ ቃለ-
መጠይቆች እንዲሁም ሥነ-ጥበባትን እንደምናካትት ተስፋ እናደርጋለን። ከነዚህ በተጨማሪም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ እና በዳያስፖራ ለሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ቤተሰቦች ራሳቸውን ሆነው
የሚመጡበት የበይነ-መረብ ማኅበረሰብ መድረክ ሆኖ እንዲያገለግል ማስቻል ፍላጎታችን ብቻ ሣይሆን ጥረታችንም ጭምር ነው።
etqueerfamily@gmail.com
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