“They,” ​“Hir,” ​“Ze” Bend Gender Boundaries

“I can’t call myself a man because of how I present myself, and I can’t call myself a woman because of how I present myself,” Brian said. ​“I am in the middle.”

Brian was among the non-professional models for Gender, Projected: Exploring Gender and Identity Through Photography and Dialogue, a new portrait exhibit at the New Haven Pride Center.

“I do not identify my gender,” said Brian, who is 21. ​“I consciously choose not to because of society.”

The exhibit and its comprehensive project website seek to broaden the dialogue and demystify issues of gender expression and identity.

Like others in the exhibit, which is up at 84 Orange St. in the Ninth Square, Brian is clear about his gender and identity. Society, with its growing list of gender and sex-identity acronyms, lags behind.

While polls show Americans moving toward greater acceptance of same-sex marriage, there are a range of issues related to the LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex) communities that have yet to be explored, let alone understood.

Enter photographers Am Norgren (at left in above photo) a secondary teacher, educational consultant and LGBTQ activist, and Resse Ramponi (at right) a psychiatric mental health nursing graduate student, whose project enlisted 18 volunteers — those self-identifying as cisgender, genderqueer, or transgender, to model for a series of photographs.

Having little modeling experience, those posing for portraits wore some of their personal clothing, but most outfits and make-up were secondhand or purchased from Goodwill. After collaborating with the Gender, Projected team on a variety of gender-expressive presentations within the subjects’ comfort zone or beyond, each model was photographed against a plain white backdrop stripped of any suggestive content.

A glossary of ​“gender basics” terms and additional resources located on the Gender, Projected website were useful in facilitating dialogue around the exhibit. The word gender is defined as ​“different than sex, referring to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that society considers appropriate for men and women. ​“Male” and ​“female” are sex categories; ​“man” and ​“woman” are gender categories. During the exhibit many wore name tags that also displayed self describing gender-neutral pronouns such as ​“They,” ​“hir” and ​“ze” instead of ​“he/him,” or ​“she/her.”

Accompanying the exhibit photographs were questions or prompts followed by statements made by the models: What is androgyny? What would you be afraid to wear on the street? What makes you feel the most yourself?

In addition to the answers posted with the photos, and more expansive comments that were projected onto a screen, some models at the opening were on hand to answer questions about the project experience. Many also talked candidly about issues related to their journeys of self discovery and present gender status. Profiles and interviews of each model can be viewed on the Projected Gender website.

Aurelia (pictured), a 24-year-old from Metz, France, who works at Yale, said that she was most uncomfortable being photographed in the feminine dress (far right in photo): ​“Notice that I was looking away from the camera.” The statement under her photo series reads: ​“That’s the thing I love about the US — you can walk in the street hand-in-hand with your lover and no one is going to look at you or say anything. Where I’m from, most likely, people are going to say something.” Aurelia said she became aware that she was a lesbian at age 15, but remembered having dreams of kissing ​“the Little Mermaid when she was 6.”

“Gender fluid” is a term that aptly describes some people on the gender spectrum. For Brian, who was wearing make-up and a shade of flat-black, designer lipstick and who describes himself as androgynous, it is important to embrace and express aspects of both his feminine and masculine sides, though he said he has no intention of physically transitioning to become female in the future. Joe, a friend, is a gay male and a ​“five-time Bear title holder.” Bears, explained Joe, are hyper-masculine gay males who take pride in their facial and body hair as well as their burliness and masculine garb.

Attending the exhibit was an engaged couple, Betty (left) and Mischa (right), who will be married in New Haven in June. Mischa said she believes that the Gender, Projected exhibit represents a milestone for New Haven.

Allison, who was visiting the exhibit from out of town, said she presents as female around 35 percent of the time; she is male and married to an evangelical wife, an issue that has presented challenges for the relationship. She said she remains loyal and committed to the relationship, a work in progress, but presenting as a woman is also an important part of who he has always been. Allison believes that the younger generation has little understanding about how difficult and problematic it was to express one’s gender identity in an earlier era, when the predominant definition of gender was a binary model with male and female at opposite ends of the spectrum.

For many of the models and photographers, going through the process of modeling was a way to learn more about themselves in addition to raising awareness about gender identity issues. Kielty, who is female and gay, has taken greater confidence in wearing more male-oriented clothing since going through the modeling process with Gender, Projected. ​“Now that I have changed how I dressed, I have that confidence back. I find it interesting that a piece of clothing can do that to someone,” she said in her interview.

Preston, 51, who now self identifies as trans-male, said he was a lesbian before making the decision to transition nine years ago. With Preston at the exhibit were his two younger sisters, April and Amy. April, who is cisgender (a woman born biologically a woman), said that she always felt that her older sister (at the time) ​“was the brother I never had.” She said she had a period of mourning upon learning that her sister would be transitioning to become a man because she was ​“losing a sister,” but also felt happy and excited for him.

The youngest sibling, Amy, said she was in college when she fully understood and accepted her orientation as a gay woman. Attending the exhibit was Amy’s wife, Janis, a long-time neighbor of the family, who already felt like an extended family member by the time of her marriage to Amy.

The three siblings noted that their parents were very open-minded and accepting of their gender identities and orientations. Preston said that when he told his father about transitioning to become a man, ​“he knelt down in front of me and told me how proud he was of me.” Preston also had a message for the greater community: ​“God knew who I was before I knew who I was, and I think he’s pretty damn cool with it.”

Part of the Gender, Projected exhibit that has been gifted to the New Haven Pride Center can be seen Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 2 p.m. For more information about the display call the center at 203 – 387-2252. To read more Gender, Projected model interviews visit the website here.