What is gender?

THE Gender Intelligence Agency (G.I.A.) thanks you for taking the time and effort to read these pages. THE G.I. A. has amassed an enormous amount of research and is extremely motivated to share our findings with all interested persons. a girl and her Cock, Volume I: Natural Light begins to illuminate our vast and ongoing investigation and exploration into what we call the Gender Galaxy. Please stay tuned for the next four Volumes! Together, all five Volumes consist of a deliberate attempt to destabilize preconceived notions of the photograph, definitions of gender, and understanding of performance. Each volume separately, as well as the entire collection, is at once an archive and fine art, an intervention and activism, a playful play in all the ways that word may imply, with four different one-act monologues, and a documentary celebration of the performance of one specific gender: a girl and her Cock, in the theatre of life presented to, for, and in collaboration with the camera. This document contains four temporal experiences of gender that may and many times are, no longer current happenings of the lived experience of gender, and as a result, functions as a direct testament to the fluidity of gender identity.

We at THE G.I.A. are committed to unraveling the confusing concept, commonly assumed to be concrete, and subconsciously or at times consciously constructed and performed by us all: the lived experience of gender. Everyone has a gender. To assert that gender identity is constructed does not mean that it is easily discarded or altered, or that institutional power does not reinforce and or restrict access to such categories and therefore present real life consequences for people marginalized by such divisions. Accordingly, we at THE Agency believe that we must recognize and protect the right of each person to self-identity one's own gender. Therefore, one of our current endeavors involves the popularization of a new pronoun convention: Pe and Per. Pe, pronounced as “pay” will replace he or she and Per will replace him or her. Both are short for person. Neither is meant to be a stand in for androgyny nor a call for gender-blindness, but instead consist of a means of inviting dialog and at bare minimum prolonging the advent of applying gender stereotypes to someone’s embodied experience. A small change in pronoun language facilitates the possibility to embrace the playful, fun and most importantly fluidity of the revolutionary observance of one’s place in the gender galaxy.

We at THE G.I.A. are fond of saying "Power Pivots on Perception and Perception Depends Upon Perspective." Both photography and gender are influenced greatly by one’s point of view. Even further, photography’s potential for repetition lends itself to the necessity for reiteration in terms of gender identity because the performance must be repeated in order to claim coherence and insure readability. However problems of translation are enormous when gender identity is read. The extent to which we can predetermine the content of such interpretations are forever limited. One carries per’s predispositions and presuppositions wherever pe goes and in fact without these preconceived ideas, communication and social action are impossible. The source location of identity construction may be mere appearance, but the politics of being seen and of seeing come alive through the embodiment and action of such practice and not representation exclusively. As a result, we have included excerpts from each performer’s audio transcripts. However, THE G.I.A. recognizes editing to be a form of translation, and want you, Dear Reader, to recognize THE Agency’s bias in the selection of which words to include and which to exclude from these pages. Even further, to maintain our commitment to transparency we have included the original 30 questions asked of each performer at the end of this book so that every reader is equipped with further context to understanding the content of each one- act play.

In addition, THE G.I.A. wonders if these images increase the visibility of non-binary gender expression – or does this book present gender variance in a way that embodies a comfortable contract reached between the artistic creator, and you the reader for the exchange of the erotic exotification of the other? It gets even more complicated because we at THE G.I.A. recognize the futility of claiming the fixed ownership of the photographic images’ content and most importantly their meanings. As the Self-Appointed and Acting Director of THE G.I.A., I ponder, what happens when one tries to document or represent or make visible something that is completely dependent upon context, engagement, relationships, and activity within a “still” image.

Therefore, being cognizant about these limitations, we must let go of the need to have a cohesive linear narrative. Life is complex. Relationships are complicated. We are all modifying and adapting our behavior depending on the particular intersection of desires, context, social cues, or perceived norms, and individual states. As a result THE G.I.A. advocates for the acceptance of what we refer to as the Gender Galaxy. In this concept and model there is just space- an infinite space, a space that allows motion. Every gender has a location that may or may not be fixed. Even further, the model allows for infinite combinations of gender characteristics. For example, if one is more feminine it does not automatically follow that one is less masculine. One’s gender could be high on both axies and therefore gender-full. Each gender identity has its own axis in space. Different genders are not linearly or hierarchically related, different genders are simply that, different. Therefore, gender revolves around relationship and the gravitational pull speeds up and slows depending on ones proximity to the center of this gender universe, which is one’s expressive embodied self in interaction with another. This galaxy model encompasses self-image and its readability while demanding and recognizing movement and reconfiguration.

Remember, there is nothing wrong with change, inconsistency, and exploration especially in relation and in relating to each other. THE G.I.A. investigates the construction of images as they relate to the construction of gender identity without the promise for coherence. Our journey, evolution, and exploration at THE Gender Intelligence Agency remains continuous and embodies the contradictory, confusing and definitely compounded lived experience of gender identity.